The afternoon trek was shorter and we mainly walked through concrete paths in villages, crossing through Dao Chai Village to Ta Van Village where we had our overnight stay, inhabited by Dzay minorities exhibiting a strong Chinese culture. Our homestay, owned by a Dzay family, was at the top of a hill and we arrived around 4pm after having walked 12 kilometres. The homestay was a two storey wooden house with a basic kitchen, a dining table and outside bathrooms but it came to my surprise that they had hot showers and wifi! On the second floor mattresses were laid down with concrete dividers and mosquito nets. It all felt very cosy. We spent the rest of the day around an indoor fire (under the table!) and getting to know each other as a blanket of mist covered the village shortly after we arrived. There was Ana and Paco from Seville (nice and close to us back home) and Helenou, Olivier and Vincent from France. The house kitten spent most of it’s time curled up on my lap with it’s head tucked between my arm and body as it was so cold. Before our guide left around 6pm to go back to her family she kindly answered questions we had about the tribes. Each family was self sustainable, that is, they grew and farmed their own rice and vegetables and bred their own chickens and pigs, for their family only. There was only one harvest annually so rice was usually stored on the top floor of the house to last the dry season. Buffaloes used for harvesting were rented from wealthier families just when needed and like previously mentioned, fire wood was also provided by the men of the families. She also mentioned they grow their own indigo and marijuana which they make clothes out of and smoke legally, which we found quite humourous. Dinner that night was substantial and quite tasty and we were offered rice wine so we all had a shot of it, my goodness is that stuff strong! I could feel it burning its way down my throat. We ended the night playing UNO, having not moved from around the fire the entire night. Bed time was around 11pm which gave us enough sleep before our 9am wake up. 

    Breakfast pancakes and tea and coffee was a good start before we began our second day trek. That day we walked for 5 kilometres up until lunch time. We were greeted by another set of tribe helpers outside our homestay but this time we were wiser and the terrain was not as bad as the previous day so we felt less pressured into purchasing anything from them when they left us past a waterfall and crossing the suspension bridge at one of the villages. During this trek is when we saw the log trails and small huts on the mountains where people lived. Many households had pigs, dogs and children running around. We hiked through terraces and bamboo forests to Giang Ta Chai village to see the Ref Dzao people and continue to H’mong village further on.