Meeting children in Lang Sang village – a Taxua’s refreshing memory.
Our journey to Lang Sang – the wildest mountains of Son La province.
During our inspection trip to Taxua, I was taken to Lang Sang – a village to the far end of Son La province. The name “Lang Sang” in H’mong language means “hard to think”. For H’mong ancestors, climbing mountains is as easy as riding a scooter for us. Yet going to Lang Sang is tiring enough for them not wanting to think about it.
In order to get there, we had to ride 4 hours from the city town, passed a virgin forest to go up into high mountains where the phone network did not reach.
We met the Lang Sang’s children in their break time while riding to the furthest village of Lang Sang. Their school is their only cement building in the whole ward, which is newly painted in yellow.
They were all looking at my camera with sparkling eyes. The girls were so shy they were standing so close to each other, the boys were more confident running around us looking. I took their pictures and showed them, they were all beaming.
We said goodbye to them to explore more things ahead. And the memory with children in Lang Sang ended.
Not just yet.
We came back to them later during their lunch time.
They were all sitting in a wooden girder overlooking the mountains below. It’s such a luxurious dining place that Hanoian have to pay a ton in order to dine in.
Their lunch was so simple. It was just rice with some chilies and bamboo shoot pickles. In isolated mountains, the weather is harsh and food can be hardly imported from outside. No wonder why their meals are this humble.
Those who had finished lunch started to make fan origamis, it must have been what they have learnt in class today.
Excited to join the game, Tuan, my senior, taught them how to make origami planes. They gathered around in a circle to watch us do the paper plane. Confused on how to do it at first, but then we finished the planes and did them a flying demonstration. They enjoyed it greatly.
Next time, I would definitely learn some origami tricks to play with these children.
After days of riding in the mountain trails, while the scenery was amazing, sometimes the atmosphere was down. But meeting these children was refreshing. Their active energy, their innocent enjoyment toward such simple things are truly the day’s highlight.
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