At noon on July 20, tour guide Vi Mai Loc, 25, was leading four tourists from the US, Canada, France, and the Netherlands on a motorbike tour through Ha Giang. When the group stopped at Tham Ma Pass in Pho Bang Commune, several local children approached, offering hair braiding and flower accessories, and gently led each tourist to a separate spot.
Initially, the visitors were drawn to the children's friendly demeanour. Within minutes, some of them and a few elderly locals began braiding hair and pinning flowers, with five to seven people attending to a single tourist at once, according to Loc.
He advised the tourists to give just VND 10,000-20,000 as a gesture of support, but one American female tourist was charged up to VND 200,000. He was quite upset and asked the children to return the money to her.
However, the tourist later said that when she opened her wallet, the children and an elderly woman pointed to a VND 200,000 bill. Before she could choose, someone took the note. She was surprised and didn't understand what had happened.
"I firmly expressed my dissatisfaction and said I would report the incident to local authorities. A short while later, some of the children pointed to an elderly woman and said she was holding the VND 200,000. Although she seemed displeased with the children, she returned the money to the tourist," Loc recalled.
Around the same time, the Canadian tourist in the group also reported being charged VND 200,000 for hair braiding and flower accessories. When Loc asked about it, no one admitted to taking the money.
