A Paradise

Of Terraced
Yen Bai
Paddy Fields
Province

When autumn comes, participants on tourist forums

urge each other to visit Mu Cang Chai in the northern
province of Yen Bai where they can enjoy the amazing
beauty of the glorious northwestern region, feel
the heartiness of local highlanders, and explore the
Lao Cai
Luc Yen
fantastic lifestyle there.
La Pan Tan

I
By Tuong Vi store rice after harvesting were half-
Van Yen
Yen Binh
hidden in the golden rice fields. In
YEN BAI
PROVINCE
n the morning, the cli- such a cool atmosphere, Mu Cang
Mu Cang Chai
Van Chan
mate in Mu Cang Chai was Chai looked like a young girl about
Tran Yen
breezy after the previous to fully expose her beauty.
Son La night’s downpour, and the The zigzagging national highway
Tram Tau
sun slowly rose up. We passed by an seemed to be built to embrace the
eatery which was some hundreds of terraced paddy fields. We stopped
meters away from our guesthouse, occasionally on the way to capture
where we tasted goose noodle the best scenes nature has to offer.
served with fried breadstick and H’mong ethnic minority women
HOW TO GET THERE a mixture of bamboo sprout and strolled along the road while em-
La Pan Tan Commune is in Mu Cang chili. A bowl of hot noodle costing broidering the skirts. Tien, a local
Chai District, Yen Bai Province, and diners only VND20,000 (US $ 0.9) tour guide in Mu Cang Chai, told us
20km from the district downtown. was enough for breakfast. We hired that during their spare time women
Tourists often come there in October motorbikes and rode them straight engaged in embroidery. “It would
when rice ripens. To reach Mu Cang to La Pan Tan Commune, some take them a year to finish a manual-
Chai, travelers can either ride mo-
20km from the district downtown ly made skirt,” he said. “A colorful,
torbike following the itinerary from
Hanoi-Nghia Lo-Tu Le-Mu Cang Chai, of Mu Cang Chai. primitive skirt requires a meticulous
or catch a coach departing daily at Along the roadside, we saw one making process. First, they use the
Hanoi-based My Dinh bus station. terraced paddy field after another. carcasses of honeybees to draw on
The distance is around 300km. Tiny cottages which were used to a piece of white cloth. Then they sit

24 • November 1, 2014
 OUR INFO YOUR POWER

sloping that our motorbikes had to

run on the first gear to climb the
rocky trail. The difficult terrain
forced residents to use powerful
motorcycles to travel around. How-
ever, our hardship on the road was
compensated for by the fantastic
terraced paddy fields. As The Cong
had put it, “No matter how many
adjectives we may use, we couldn’t
The beauty of describe all the full charm of the
terraced paddy fields
in Mu Cang Chai fields.”
On the way home, we visited
a house along the roadside and
explored the H’mong daily life
activities. The hosts invited us to
have a small cup of corn wine and
prepared their authentic dish thịt
It takes a local woman a year heo gác bếp, a kind of smoked pork.
As they did not have a refrigerator
PHOTOS: TUONG VI

to manually make a skirt

to store their food, they hung the
pork above the oven.
by the fire because the heat from “Eating with H’mong people and
the fire will melt the carcasses. staying with Thai people.” That
Next, the cloth is dyed in a black was what tour operators often told
color. Yet the spots drawn by the travelers. It means that when a guest
mixture of honeybee carcasses turn visits a house of H’mong people, he
into white. The cloth will then be or she will be invited to have some
dipped in hot water before women food with them. Similarly, at Thai
start embroidering.” ethnic minority’s house, a guest will
Smile of a little girl. People are Due to such a sophisticated be invited to stay overnight.
advised to give food and clothes process, local people make skirts
to help children there. The natural beauty of terraced
for themselves only, not for sale. paddy fields plus the locals’ hos-
Such a handmade product costs pitality brought us unforgettable
several million dong, much higher memories. Some said they would
than that of a Chinese skirt worth return to La Pan Tan and Mu Cang
VND100,000 (over US $ 4.5) avail- Chai as soon as possible.
able on the market.
The national highway leading to La
Pan Tan Commune was smooth. We
felt happier when we saw ethnic mi-
nority children weaving their hands
to welcome us. When we showed our
In October, tourists often rush cameras, the H’mong girls blushingly
to Mu Cang Chai to admire the
charming paddy fields smiled at us. The red-cheeked girls
and the innocent smiling children
offered us the best shots.
Some of us were surprised at
A plate of stir-fried bamboo sprout
the ripe pumpkins on the roofs of
houses. “That’s the local way to pre-
serve the fruit from being rotten,” LOCAL SPECIALTIES
Tien explained. Mu Cang Chai boasts not only
The Cong, a tour guide, advised the natural beauty, but also local
mouthwatering food. Gastro-
us not to give money to the children
nomes going there should try
because they would skip classes. It boiled mustard greens, pome
would be better if guests could give wine, grilled chicken, stir-fried
H’mong people are very
hospitable. They happily invite food and clothes instead, he said. bamboo sprout, and poached wild
guests to have some food. The path in La Pan Tan was so boar, to name just a few.

November 1, 2014 • 25