Ngai Thau Village

White mist rolls along the flank of the mountain like the surface of a sea. The first sun of the day slowly pushes the cloud down into the Y Tý valley. The terraced fields appear one step at a time, turning gold as the light reaches them. This is the moment many people climb up to Ngải Thầu to meet.

First, a word about the map. Ngải Thầu used to be a commune of its own. It lay in the Bát Xát area of Lào Cai province. On February 11, 2020, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly passed Resolution 896. It merged the whole commune of Ngải Thầu into the commune of A Lù, and it took effect on March 1 of the same year. Today "Ngải Thầu" is used as the name of a village and a place on the map, and it belongs to A Lù.

The Lào Cai newspaper places the village of Ngải Thầu Thượng at more than 2,000 meters above sea level. The village sits below the peak of Ma Cha Va, and it is a Hmong village. Local sources mention it as one of the highest Hmong villages in Vietnam.

The wider area has long been home to the Hà Nhì and the Hmong. It takes in the neighboring commune of Y Tý, as well as A Lù. The Hà Nhì are one of Vietnam's ethnic groups, and they live in the high mountains of the north. The same newspaper describes Y Tý as a highland commune of the Bát Xát area, also above 2,000 meters. There the Hà Nhì are the main residents, and their life follows the rhythm of the farming seasons.

What the region is best known for today is cloud. On clear mornings after rain, or when cold air sweeps in, white cloud gathers in the folds of the mountains. From Ngải Thầu a sea of cloud spreads out below, and the higher peaks rise from it like islands. The best time to watch is usually between 5:30 and 8 in the morning. The cloud is thickest in the cold, dry season, from September to April of the following year.

When the cloud lifts, the land underneath comes into view. There are terraced fields stacked in tiers, and Hà Nhì houses with walls of rammed earth. There are plots where corn, rice and thảo quả are grown. The climate here is temperate, with cloud and mist all year round. In winter there is sometimes frost, and the roofs of the rammed-earth houses turn white. The breath of the people and the breath of the mountain blend into one thin wisp of smoke.

Cloud at Ngải Thầu is not something to be caught. It comes, and then it melts away on the mountain wind. Layer after layer drifts past the rock face, then settles into the valley below. And whoever stands up there, at 2,000 meters between sky and earth, can only watch quietly as the cloud moves on.