The economy is very poor. The population is growing. The local people depend on the forest. They cut to sell. Everywhere there is new construction, of houses and furniture. There is no enforcement against cutting down the forest. There is no punishment to cutting the trees so no fear of punishment.

People cut the trees by hand. They use only hand saws, taking them sometimes a few hours. They carry the wood on their shoulders, it is very heavy, maybe 60 to 80 kilograms. They will walk sometimes more than 10 kilometers – maybe 8 miles a day with large amounts on their shoulders.

Sometimes the people go to the forest and catch insects – to sell. Because the people are farmers and income is very low, they are very poor, making maybe ten dollars per month. They have maybe four or five children. Many people don’t like the schools available for children so they pay for private school. Private school costs more, but is not too expensive. University is expensive.

In some rural areas people don’t have schools so must send their children away to school. Government schools do not provide boarding, so people must pay for private. But many families in rural areas do not want to send their children to school because they need them to stay home and help with the farming, even though school is required by law. In Sapa there are some very huge trees, over 100 years old. They cut them down with a chain saw.

When someone dies, his (or her) friends send gifts to the dead person, instead of flowers to the family. The family burns the gifts to 'send them' to the dead person, thereby wishing him well. This ceremony can last as long as 12 hours.