Whenever you get in Mu Cang Chai, be able to be impressed by the marvelous terraced fields, distinctive tradition, folk life and featured culture of individuals residing there.
Endlessly terraced fields
Mu Cang Chai’s rice terraces were sculpted over centuries of small-scale cultivation. Each season brings its own charm.
During the summer, the terraces bulge with ripening rice stems that blanket the hills in a vibrant green. By early autumn, the rice plants have turned a bewitching golden yellow, ready for the harvest. In wintertime, the lonely terraces fill with water, creating cascading rows of reflective infinity pools. Once spring comes, the terraces transform into anthills of activity, as the farmers plant a new crop.
Unique H’mong culture
Mu Cang Chai is mainly populated by H’mong people, a subgroup of Vietnam’s ethnicities. Pretty Hmong villages are dotted around the district. Each one offers a glimpse into a rich culture.
Unlike many other minority groups in Vietnam, the Hmong don’t live in raised houses on wooden stilts. Instead, they build their homes on flattened earth. Hmong textile culture is highly developed, and you’ll find that many villagers – both men and women – still wear the traditional dress. Black Hmong men typically wear dark tunics and hats, while women wear longer tunics with arms and waistbands in bright colours.
Breathtaking motorbike loops
Mu Cang Chai is one of the best places in Vietnam to take on the roads. You’ll find quality strips of tarmac that weave around oval hills and sky-high dirt tracks that cling to near-vertical cliff faces. Whether you want, a gentle ride following trickling rivers or an adrenaline-filled dirt bike experience, Mu Cang Chai has them all.
It’s not for the weak of heart, but between the swooping twists and turns, daring travelers will find views unlike anything else in the world.
Undiscovered hiking trails
Hiking may be a new tourist activity in Mu Cang Chai, but the Hmong have been roaming these hills for centuries. Until recently, villagers travelled almost everywhere by foot, creating a network of trails that zigzag up the valleys and into the mountains. These trails connect every hamlet and provide excellent hiking routes for long and short forays.
This is a great way to enjoy and admire the beauty of Mu Cang Chai life and nature
What is the best time to visit Mu Cang Chai?
Around mid-September to mid-October is the season of grain, at which point the entire Mu Cang Chai will yellow colored rice, the weather is nice and convenient to visit this place. The most appropriate time is from 15th Sept to 10th Oct every year, before this time the green rice, after about this is almost harvested.
Approximately May and June is pouring water season. When the summer rains began pouring down the mountain, the water is led from the mountains on the terraces. Water spills into the fields making the arid soil softer and hatched so that the rice can be transplanted. This is also the time when farmers start plowing for a new crop. Therefore, in the mountainous terraced fields, rice can only grow one crop per year. The ladder in the sun in the afternoon to create a beauty that so many visitors to be surprised.
To capture beautiful pictures of Tu Le terrace rice field, you should be at the peak of Khau Pha pass from 7am to 9am (after this time it can still be sunny but will be blind, not illuminated). To do this you should sleep at Tu Le or go further 7km to Khau Pha Pass, above there is a restaurant - guest house with about 20 rooms for visitors. From here it only takes about 15 minutes is up to the top of the pass.
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