the girl on the right of the photo, Zi, became a really close friend whilst i was in Sa Pa. she works as a tour guide (as many of the young H'mong girls do) taking groups walking in the mountains. i wasn't strong enough to do this, but we'd meet in her spare time and she showed me the other side to her life. she'd take me to lunch behind the market stalls and introduced me to so many people that i wouldn't otherwise have had the chance to meet. she showed me the "rooms" that the girls live in while they are working in Sa Pa away from their villages. they are dark, dingy little spaces - no windows, cold stone floors. she always has a smile on her face, but her life is tough. i let her borrow a small camera i have, one with a movie-making facility, and she went off and filmed Sa Pa through her eyes. what she returned with really opened my eyes - her reality is totally different to what most tourists experience. one evening we walked to a neighbouring village and sat on some rocks by a waterfall. she burst into tears and held onto me for ages. i cried too. she started to talk about older men - i didn't ask questions, but i have a feeling she is often abused. we keep in touch by e-mail and not a day goes by when i don't think of her.