Living in harsh weather of -3 degrees Celsius in the 'village in the clouds'

(Dan Tri) - People in Ngai Thau Thuong village (A Lu commune, Bat Xat district, Lao Cai) are struggling with harsh weather during a severe cold spell, with temperatures here dropping to -3 degrees Celsius at times.

For many years, every winter, the people of Ngai Thau Thuong village (A Lu commune, Bat Xat district, Lao Cai) have had to find ways to adapt to the harsh conditions in what is considered the highest village in Vietnam.

Ngai Thau Thuong village has a total of more than 90 households, most of whom are Mong people. With an altitude of up to 2,300m above sea level, this place is covered in clouds all year round, and the temperature often drops below 0 degrees Celsius, which has become familiar to the lives of the people here.

The temperature in Ai Thau Thuong on January 23 was measured at -3 degrees Celsius, but there was no ice or snow yet.

To combat the cold, the Mong people in Ngai Thau Thuong live in houses with mud walls nearly 1 meter thick, both the main door and windows are quite small.

Inside each family there is a fireplace in the middle of the floor, both for cooking and for heating. Mr. Sung A Tung's family gathered around the fireplace when the outside temperature was below 0 degrees Celsius. Mr. Tung said that his family mainly does farming, the harsh weather has delayed his and his wife's work, and they cannot go out to the fields.

In a small house built of mud walls, Ms. Vang Thi Mo (right) and her relatives take advantage of the opportunity to sew clothes for the family, preparing for the upcoming Lunar New Year. Although her Kinh vocabulary is not much, Ms. Mo still tries to share that the family does not have buffaloes or cows, but has prepared a lot of firewood in advance to keep warm.

Outside each house, there are piles of firewood of different sizes to cook and warm the family and livestock.

With temperatures warned to fall below 0 degrees Celsius, households have moved buffalo and cows home, prepared food such as straw, stubble or cooked hot bran to take care of them in the harsh weather.

Ms. Thao Thi Tai said that to cope with this cold spell, 2 days ago her family brought the buffalo back to the barn, prepared food, and if the temperature drops too low, they also have dry firewood available to burn for heating.

Some families, because they had not yet grasped information about this cold spell, only started to bring their buffaloes and cows home to avoid the cold when the cold air dropped.

Dry firewood is indispensable for people here to cope with severe cold. Although each family has plenty of firewood in reserve, people still proactively go out every day to collect more firewood to prepare for a prolonged cold spell.

A Mong woman ties bundles of grass she just cut from the mountainside onto a cart to feed her cattle because she cannot drive her buffalo far away to graze.

Students in Ngai Thau Thuong village brave the cold rain to go to school.

Manh Quan - Dantri.com.vn

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