Tourism has changed life for me, my family and many other families from my village. It has given us a new way to earn money.
I still belong to the village, but I spend most of my time in Sapa town selling souvenirs to tourists. My mother and other women make the handicrafts I carry, and I can make some of them myself. My mother remains at home to care for the house, my father and my brothers and sisters.
In town, I share a house with other young women. I miss my family, but we need the income, so this is where I stay. My friends have become another family. We look after each other, and when one girl sells nothing while another has a good day, we share the money.
My friends are my family in town—when one of us earns nothing and another sells well, we make sure nobody is left without food.
I enjoy meeting tourists. We laugh, talk and sometimes become real friends. I do not like every visitor, but most are kind. Not everybody buys something, and I accept that. On good days I sell a lot; on quiet days I try not to worry. Usually I earn enough to eat and save a little for my family.
The people who live in Sapa town are mainly ethnic Kinh Vietnamese. Some treat people from the hill tribes as if we are less important and speak badly about us. Others buy our handicrafts cheaply and resell them to tourists at a higher price.
There are also generous people in town. Some give us food, money or other help without expecting anything in return. My experience is not simply that one group is good and another is bad. It depends on the person.
We make the handicrafts and walk the streets to sell them, but somebody with a shop can often earn more from our work than we do.
I attended school for only a few years. I do not always feel that I missed very much because working in town has taught me many things. Conversations with visitors became another kind of education, and some tourists helped me learn English.
Still, learning on the street is different from having choices through school. I know how to approach visitors, explain what I sell and bargain in another language, but my future remains tied to whether tourists buy.
If I could ask visitors for one change, it would be simple: please bargain less aggressively. I understand that people want a fair price, but we also need to earn a living. A very small saving for a tourist may be the money we hoped to take home.
Tourism gave me friendships, English and an income, but my classroom became the street—and every lesson still depends on persuading a stranger to stop and buy.