When I’ve been able to be at the Hmong Community Center, the headquarters of Ethos, and groups have returned from their Ethos-led tours, invariably the travelers are bursting with enthusiasm, and anxious to share the adventures they’ve had. Also, invariably, they say it’s the best travel experience they’ve had in Vietnam or, sometimes, their best travel experience ever.
Ethos trips are individually customized to your interests and abilities, and their guides are highly trained and very personable Hmong women, who lead groups often through their own home landscapes. Often, homestays and meals are involved in the Ethos experience. They’re so friendly and happy to share aspects of their culture and terrain and natural world that it’s easy to forget you’re a visitor from far away. There’s just about no other equivalence that allows for this kind of deep penetration into a world’s culture and ritual and art and nature so different than one’s own. All shared with a vibrancy and friendliness that is characteristic of the Hmong people in general and in Ethos’s guiding philosophy. It is indeed an org that’s committed to being the Spirit of the Community and after even a single day, you’ll quickly see how apt is the name.
It should also be said that Ethos is far from being a large corporation owned by outsiders or big business. Indeed, all the revenues generated are dispersed locally to employees or to members of the community who are in need.
I recommend highly trips of several days’ duration as they allow for maximum immersion, tho if, like myself, you are mobility challenged, there are workshops and classes in traditional arts and cooking and home visits that can be arranged. And I have no doubt you’ll walk away declaring that it’s been ‘the best travel experience’ you’ve had in Vietnam and possibly ‘the best travel experience’ you’ve had, ever.