The Northeast is the region that is located in the north of Vietnam ‘s North. The Northeast is famous for the majestic mountains, the pass covered with cloud, terraced fields, the innocent smiles of ethnic babies. All of them make Tay Bac become attractive and seductive.Let’s see some destinations not to be missed when travelling the Northeast.
- MAI CHAU
Mai Chau is located in the west of Hoa Binh province, about 120km from Hanoi, adjacent to Moc Chau (Son La) and Quan Hoa (Thanh Hoa). Mai Chau Valley has become a popular destination attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors from both inside and outside the country.
Tourists are attracted by the peaceful beauty of Mai Chau with fresh air, the unique culture and typical culinary characteristics. Mai Chau is a destination for tourists who enjoy leisure travel, sightseeing travel and culture-community travel.
Mai Chau Valley. Source: internet
Mai Chau is a small village beside the Thung Khe Pass, where many Thai village are living. The feature of Mai Chau is the old stilt houses that are still intact and make a population of beautiful stilt houses.
Some places you can stop to enjoy when traveling Mai Chau: Thung Khe pass, Lac Village, Poom Coong Village, Mo Luong Cave, Chieu Cave, Go Lao Waterfall, etc.
Coming to Mai Chau, the tourists will have the oppotunity to discover the cuisine of the Thai ethnic. It is the simple combination of many quintessence of the sky, mountain, river and forest with many specialties such as comlam, grilled chicken, grilled spring fish, grilled pork skewers, Mai Chau sticky rice, sour marinated pork, fried veal cilantro, etc.
2. MOC CHAU
Whenever in the year, whether it is hot summer or cold winter, sunny days on the spring flower forests or the winter days covered with fog, tourists coming to Moc Chau are disturbed by the beauty of this land. Each season, Moc Chau has a specific beauty , but in general, Moc Chau’s climate is always cool and comfortable; therefore it is a great stop that you can not miss on the trip to Northwest.
If you want to find a clean and quite place to escape the noise of urban life, you can go to Moc Chau at any time. But if you want to enjoy the splendid beauty of Moc Chau Plateau, there are two most beautiful times around November and January.
Children are cycling accross the canola fields. Source: Internet.
The period from the end of October to early November is the time when pure white canola flower fields bloom between tranquil plateaus. You can easily see the fields, the vast valley of white flowers between the majestic scenery of mountains and forests.
Moc Chau at the beginning of spring is a beautiful picture of the spring with the green of forest, the pink of peach blossom, alternate white plum blossom. Going under the trees in the farm, you will feel like floating as walking on the clouds.
3. MU CANG CHAI
Mu Cang Chai district is located in the west of Yen Bai province. It is bordered by Lao Cai province in the north, Son La province in the south and Lai Chau province in the west. The district is at altitude of 1000m above sea level, at the foot of Hoang Lien Son mountain range. The road to Mu Cang Chai is quite dangerous you need to go through Khau Pha Pas, one of four famous passes in the North. The name Mu Cang Chai remind people to imagine in the head of a distant and muddy land. In recent years, Mu Cang Chai has become a tourist destination attracting many domestic and foreign tourists. Especially, around from September to October, the number of tourists coming here is very crowded. Nevertheless, this land has retained the wilderness and peace.
Mu Cang Chai is famous for extremely beautiful rice terraces. In Mu Cang Chai district, there are about 2500 hectares of terraces, especially in Che Cu Nha, La Pan Tan and De Xu Phinh. In 2007, terraced fields in Mu Cang Chai was ranked as a national landscape.
“Mam xoi”hill is considered as one of the most rice terraces in Mu Cang Chai. Source: Internet
Coming to Mu Cang Chai, the tourist not only can admire the fascinating beauty of terraced fields, but also learn and explore the very interesting customs of Thai people or Mong people and enjoy the specialties such as Tu Le green rice flakes, Tu Le sticky rice, salmon, sturgeon, roasted locusts, etc.
4. SA PA
Sapa is a highland district of Lao Cai province , located in the northwest of the country, about 300km from Hanoi. This is a quite and humble land but the miracle of nature and people are hidden inside.
The invaluable resource of Sapa is the fresh and cool climate with a variety of nuances of temperate climates. The weather of Sapa is very specific because there are all four season: spring, summer, autumn and winter. The early morning is cool, the noon is quite sunny, the afternoon is cool due to clouds and fog and the night is the cold of winter.
The town Sapa is covered with fog. Source: Internet.
Sapa is one of rare place where it can snow in the winter in Vietnam. If arriving in Sapa in winter in the right occasion, the tourists can have opportunity to admire the snow-covered space with light snowflakes flying in the air.
At Sapa town, tourists can visit the stone church, Ham Rong Mountain Resort, Sapa Market and enjoy Sapa’s food at night. Besides, visitors can explore other destinations such as Silver Fall, Cat Cat village of H,Mong people.
An attraction of Sapa is the Roof of Indochina, Fansipan. It is an ideal stop of a lots visitors who want to conquer the highest mountain in the Indochinese Peninsula.
5. HA GIANG
Ha Giang is the last province of northeastern Vietnam. The land of wilderness, with the mix of stone and flowers, which takes people to come to another land which the visitors have to love in the first time of setting foot on.
The wild nature attraction forr makes people who are interested in exploring and experiencing. The tourists can experience specific culture in daily activities of ethnic minorities such as H’mong, Thai, Lo Lo …
Ha Giang is also interested place of the hearts of adventures to conquer spectacular mountain passes, Ma Pi Leng pass. It is among top 4 most dangerous passes of Vietnam to many travellers. The vistors can see mountains and local villages under your feet.
The yellow season in Hoang Su Phi district, Ha Giang. Source: Internet.
Among best places to visit in Ha Giang, the tourists can not miss opportunity to see the wonderful beauty of terraced fields in high mountains of Hoang Su Phi district. Terraces in Hoang Su Phi are beautiful with yellow color of ripe rice and green of young rice, too.
Buckwheat Flower is also a feature in Ha Giang. Source: Internet.
Buckwheat Flowers is featured for Ha Giang. November is the best time for tourists to come to the Buckwheat Flower season. Many small flowers with its light purple color are put along the way to Ma Pi Leng pass, in Dong Van center, which makes this majestic more charming and appealing to travellers.
Besides, other destinations such as April-love market, Dong Van old quater, Quan BA twin mountains, Lung cu flag tower, Dong Van rock plateau…and speciallities like stuffed pancake, Thang Den, Bac Me lam rice, black bone chicken… are also features of Ha Giang.
Photo: Source Internet.