A long-term anthology: Stories in A Ban
You may not know that most of the founders of A Ban are children in the highlands. Before opening A Ban, we spent a lot of time in the highlands, not just the place we were born but in other villages where we’ve only heard of but never been.
Living in the days among the people in the village, eating together, living together, we just realize that happiness is so small, simple and easy to achieve. It is to eat delicious rice every day, to have warm sunshine to dry rice, and sometimes to pick fresh cucumbers by the field. Sometimes we keep looking for happiness but we can’t find it, perhaps because we mistake happiness for something very noble, far away.
For us at that time, the material value became extremely small in comparison to the vast cultural treasure that the people had cultivated for thousands of generations, which overwhelmed us. It also leads to concern when these precious identities seem not to have been highly rewarded. The aunts and uncles of Thai and Mong ethnic groups with kind smiles or the elderly who are almost wrinkled wave their hands when they see a group of guests coming to this place, Northwestern children’s faces are stained but their smiles are pretty bright, and the dishes are simple but the taste can evoke an entire culture.
Let’s forget all the daily chaos. Instead of that, let’s immerse yourself in the golden color of ripe rice, the cool aroma spreading in the wind, the dawn on the fields in the early morning or the sunset on the pass. Traveling around the streets, we come back to the city with luggage full of inspiration, love and desire to build a different A Ban version among the skyscrapers, carrying the culinary voices echoing the mountains.
Almost one year since our birth, we are still improving to bring happiness every day when you come to A Ban. See you at A Ban, enjoy and explore together!
*Photos were taken during our Y Ty and Moc Chau trip by photographer Nguyen Trung Duc.
