Anyone who ever visited Hoa Binh never forgets the peaceful and charming beauty of Mai Chau.
Mai Chau is a town situated between tall cliffs and surrounded by bright-green paddies. The beauty of this place is the reason attracts many tourists who want to make an exploration by an unforgettable tour to Sapa.
Thung Khe mountain pass
Visitors who want to travel to Mai Chau can choose simple transportation mean like car and those who want to explore the wild scenery should ride motorcycle to both discover and enjoy the beauty nature on the way to the town.
Passing through Muong Khen three-way crossroads and Tan Lac town, you step into a legendary path of the Northwest. It is called Deo Da Trang (White Rock mountain pass) or Deo Thung Khe (Thung Khe mountain pass). You can stop here to enjoy some boiled corns grown by the Muong ethnic people or visit a mountainous market. From here, you can observe a large area of Thung Khe valley and feel the change of climate between this side and the other side of mountain slope.
The magnificent beauty of Mai Chau in Autumn
Passing White Rock mountain pass, about five kilometers of Thung Khe slope, you came to Mai Chau. In spring, Mai Chau is covered with the colorfulness flowers of peach and plum. Late spring when the peach blossoms are wither, the town is full of white color of “Hoa Ban” (a typical flower of mountainous areas). In summer, the town is covered with the green of forest, fields of corn. Especially, at the end of the autumn, Mai Chau turns to golden of rice paddies.
Several interesting things of Mai Chau
Putting the first steps on Mai Chau, visitors can see the stilt houses nestled behind the verdant valleys hidden under the clouds of mist. It’s called “the city of fog” that includes many attractive sights which concentrated mainly in Lac hamlet, Pom Coong (Chieng Chau commune), a population of ancient stilt houses. The stilt houses are the places where locals welcome visitors, perform traditional dances and display their hand-made products.
Stilt houses in Mai Chau
Mai Chau attracts tourists not only by the peaceful and charming beauty but also by the warmth of the minority ethnic people here. Especially, the manners of welcome guests here put deep impression on tourists. Tourists will be invited to sit on the flower mats and then drink “ruou can” (stem wine), eat “com lam” (bamboo-tube rice) with grilled meat, and many ethnic cuisines that anyone ever tasted will never forget such as grilled chicken wrapped with phrynium leaves, steamed fish, fried bitter bamboo shoots, sticky rice…
At night, tourists are immersed in a romantic space to enjoy “Xoe dancing” and fervid rhythms of the Thai people or take part in “sap dancing” (also called bamboo dancing) with Thai girls. Whenever a melody ends, both landlord and guest gather at the corner to enjoy the sweetness of stem wine brewed by the forest leaves.
Sap dancing
Well, besides all those simple but exciting things, there are also a lot of other things that you can’t miss while coming to Mai Chau. And to know exactly what those other things are, you can find some interesting suggestions in an older article named .
See more:
- How do H’mong people welcome the New Year holiday?
- O Quy Ho pass – daunting destination for tourists
- The charming beauty of wild peaches in Spring of Sapa
- The magical attraction of Ban Gioc Waterfall
