Into the "oven" of beautiful girls
"Want to eat white rice and clear water,
Crossing Ach Pass into Muong Lo".
Ach Pass is located in Van Chan district ( Yen Bai ), about 20 km from Nghia Lo town. The road is winding and dangerous, but the scenery is impeccable.
After passing Ach Pass, going a lower mountain pass, suddenly a vast plain opens up at the foot of the slope. That is Nghia Lo town or Muong Lo field, one of the four largest fields in the Northwest (Muong Thanh, Muong Lo, Muong Than, Muong Tac). Muong Lo field includes the entire Nghia Lo town and some communes of Van Chan district.
It is said that at the end of the 10th century, a Black Thai tribe led by Lo Lang Truong from the north passed through Mai Son and Phu Yen provinces, stopped by the Nam Thia river to reclaim this vast land, and then established a Muong. That is why this place was named Muong Lo (Muong of the Lo family). Then Muong Lo became more and more crowded, in addition to the Thai people, there were also Tay, Nung, Mong, Kho Mu, and Dao people.
During the days of being “lost” in Muong Lo, what I easily noticed was that the Thai ethnic women here all had white skin, long hair, slim waists, and graceful gait... Some people said it was due to the climate of Muong Lo, but the legend of the Thai people said that the secret belonged to the Nam Thia lineage.
It is said that drinking water from the Thia stream and bathing in the Thia stream helps Thai girls have white skin, smooth hair, and a perfect figure. Combined with the dress that is "tight where it needs to be tight, and loose where it needs to be loose", the girls are even more beautiful and their gait is more graceful.
Thai girls love bathing in streams.
Try looking at the beautiful Thai girl in traditional costume: a black skirt hugging her thighs from the waist to near the ankles, a short-sleeved blouse hugging her body to reveal her smooth white arms, combined with a blue belt that accentuates her beautiful curves. The tight skirt makes the Thai girl unable and not need to walk fast, just gently and gracefully...
It is not known whether the water of Nam Thia stream has any properties that help nourish the skin or smooth the hair, but the stories that the people in the area tell each other from generation to generation have shown the beauty and charm of Thai Muong Lo women looming under the water of Nam Thia stream.
The Thai people of Muong Lo recount that: Long ago, at the foot of Tram Tau mountain (now in Phuc Son commune, Van Chan district), there was a Thai village. There was a strong young man who was good at hunting and playing the flute. He fell in love with the most beautiful girl in the area. She was good at weaving, singing and dancing, and had long, silky hair that always gave off a fragrant scent. Every time the young man played the flute and the girl sang, people flocked to the foot of the mountain to see the beautiful couple with their own eyes and hear the magical sounds of their love songs.
But then the landlord tried every way to break up that love affair. Relying on his power, he had the beautiful girl taken home to be his maid and sent the young man away. With the help and protection of the villagers, the girl escaped from the landlord's house and found her lover. Then, the lovers held hands and ran into the forest. They ran and ran, and the night was pitch black, but they did not stop. When the couple climbed to the highest mountain, the sky was bright. Both were hungry and exhausted. They leaned against each other and cried. The girl cried so much that her tears wet seven large forests and nine high mountain peaks. Her tears turned into a large stream, pouring down the foot of the pass into a large stream.
Feeling sorry for his lover, after vowing to live together and die together if they could not marry, the young man jumped into the blue water and drowned himself. His body shattered as soon as it touched the water, turning into thousands of pieces of stone lying deep in the water. The girl also jumped into the water, her long hair spread out. The strands of hair attached to the stone created a shiny moss, sparkling in the sunlight, stirring like thousands of waving hands. The Thai people call this moss Cay Hin and take it home to make a delicious, rich dish for their engagement wine parties.
Since then, the stream flowing through the Muong Lo basin has been called Nam Xia (tears of lovers). Over time, through oral folk tales, Nam Xia has gradually been mispronounced as Nam Thia, Thia stream or Thia stream as it is now...
The beauty of labor
I asked for directions to Sa Ren village, Nghia Loi commune, located right next to the Nam Thia river. This is a first-class tributary of the Red River, flowing through the western districts of Yen Bai province. The river is about 165 km long, with a basin area of 1,563 km². The average elevation of the Ngoi Thia basin is up to 907 m, the difference in flow between the flood season and the dry season is up to 480 times. The river meanders through many communes, and when it reaches the Coong Keng area, it flows into the Red River through an underground estuary under the mountain.
I walked along Nam Thia, past Sang Dom village, towards Sa Ren village. Going in the opposite direction was an elderly woman, wearing the black clothes of the Thai people. Her white skin, oval face, combined with her “tang cau” (a high bun on top of the head, a sign of a married woman) enhanced her beauty, both proud and simple. “ Sa Ren village is less than a kilometer away. I am also from that village ”, she said. Before I could think of a way to ask her name without being shy, the “beautiful lady” had already walked away.
Sa Ren is a Thai village that still retains the pure beauty of Thai ethnic architecture, with wooden stilt houses hidden among old bamboo groves and golden rice fields. The village has all four major Thai families: Lo, Luong, Dieu and Ha.
Mrs. Luong Thi La - 76 years old said that, from the age of 10, Thai girls are taught by their mothers to wrap a woven silk belt, green for young girls, purple for older girls. The belt is used to hold up the skirt, and it makes it difficult for boys not to be attracted by the waist and graceful gait of Thai girls.
Mrs. La said that in addition to taking care of their hair using traditional methods, such as washing their hair with sour rice water and gotu kola, Thai girls also regularly soak in Nam Thia stream water. Is that why the skin of the girls in the area is always white and bright?
Beauty is both gentle and a bit haughty
Walking around Sa Ren and Sang Dom villages all morning, I noticed that all the women kept their bodies in balance, no one was fat, and no one was too thin.
Lo Thi Thuy - 23 years old, in Sang Dom village, explains: " We women in the highlands work hard all day, never resting. From the fields to the gardens, planting, harvesting, embroidering, knitting, so there is no chance for excess fat." The girl smiles, her eyes narrowed.
That is the beauty of health, the beauty of labor. That is why Thai people everywhere often praise the young girl who knows how to work in the fields, go digging, weave and embroider/ Throw a handful of rice straw and it turns into a flock of chickens/ Swing a pestle and it turns into white rice/ Touch the grass and it dies from the sun/ Stroke the rice bushes and the rice bushes bloom/ Gently lull the baby to sleep late at night/ Whisper to be gentle when the husband is angry... Likes to wash her hair with lemongrass leaves, her hair like moss... (To be continued)
Source
Comment (0)