Hi Hiver!
It's HY again. Have a nice weekend!
In the previous article, I had an introduction about the land of Ha Giang with its majesty, along with the northernmost point of Vietnam. Today, I invite you to follow me to further explore this mysterious land, this is my second time coming back here, and this is also an interesting journey, giving me many wonderful experiences. More specifically, on that trip, I was able to make 4 new friends, and I met them on the way to discover this land of Ha Giang.
Ha Giang is a very large province, located in the Northeast of Vietnam, with a border with China, but here you need a lot of time to explore it all. This place is famous for its winding passes in the middle of the sky, the bends that challenge the steering wheel of backpackers if they want to conquer this place. Ha Giang features villages located close to the foot of the mountain with 4 seasons submerged in the clouds of ethnic minorities, and there is a famous pass named Ma Pi Leng that any backpacker likes us. Everyone wishes to come here once in their life, hold the steering wheel, and run on this legendary pass, like a thrilling game that when you conquer it, you will become the winner. Being challenged by nature, and feeling like winning yourself.
At the foot of the legendary Ma Pi Leng Pass is Nho Que river running along the valley, with the characteristic of clear turquoise water. adds to the mysterious beauty of this place. You can visit this wonderful Nho Que river by crossing the Ma Pi Leng Pass, then there is a small road on the right, and following that, you will reach the foot of the mountain. From the top of the pass looking down at the river, you will be amazed by the perfect beauty that the masterpiece of nature brings. At the foot of the mountain, there is a boat dock, people here provide motorboat rental service for 100,000 VND / time or about 4$ to take tourists to visit Nho Que river, with the famous Tu San alley. The boat will move in the middle of the river, with two sides of high cliffs. Looking up at the mountains on both sides, you will feel that people are very small, and nature creates masterpieces that we cannot deny how beautiful it is. Here we meet again the couple that 2 days ago we accidentally met and made friends, shared a boat, shared a homestay, and shared dinner together at Ba Be Lake. And got to know 2 more young people from Hanoi, so 6 people we didn't know before have become friends until today. Everything is like fate, being able to make friends in four directions, with people who share the same passion and hobby, is the best thing for backpackers like us.
Taking a tour of the Nho Que river, we went back up the main road to Meo Vac district on a road named Hanh Phuc street starting from Dong Van town and ending at Meo Vac town. This is a district in Ha Giang province and is part of the Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark. Meo Vac district has 17 ethnic groups, of which the H'Mong make up 78%. Referring to interesting experiences in Meo Vac town, you cannot ignore the villages of ethnic minorities here, with unique cultures. In addition, there is also a market, selling souvenirs that you can have a lot of options as gifts for friends and relatives. The items are not expensive at all but are made by the people here, bearing the identity of the ethnic people here. In addition, in Khau Vai village, Khau Vai commune, Meo Vac district There is also a festival named: Khau Vai love market.
This is a big festival of the year, taking place once a year on March 27 (lunar calendar), around the beginning of May of the solar calendar. This is not an ordinary market, to trade people's goods, the true nature of waiting for Khau Vai's love is this place is the meeting place of lovers, in the old days missed life. together, they cannot marry as husband and wife. In a year, they have 1 day to meet each other again, to exchange their love and memories of the time they were in love. And at the end of that day, they return to their daily lives, with their current spouses. In addition, because this is a big festival, couples who love each other also come here to have fun, or those who do not have a lover will also come here to hope to find their soul mate. The festival is also the place where food stalls and goods exchange take place. You can experience participating in the Khau Vai love market with extremely interesting and new discoveries, watching unique cultural performances imbued with the cultural essence of Vietnam's ethnic minorities. This is also a unique highlight of this Meo Vac land.
From Meo Vac town, Meo Vac district, we started back to Ha Giang city by road DT182. On the way, we met many H'Mong children. When they were very young, they had to work in the fields to help their parents. The land here is mainly limestone, so people cultivate crops on these limestone hills and fruit trees suitable for the climate here such as plums and peaches. The main crops are corn and buckwheat. Buckwheat is a typical plant here. In addition to the beautiful flowers, people tend to this plant to get seeds, their seeds are ground to use to cook delicious and strange cakes, only the northern land of Vietnam has. In addition to the beautiful flowers, people tend to this plant to get seeds, their seeds are ground to use to cook delicious and strange cakes, only the northern land of Vietnam has. They were very happy and their faces showed happiness when they received those gifts. And perhaps, the life here of the people here is still quite difficult, so for children, cakes and candies are extremely luxurious things that are difficult to buy, when it comes to daily meals. not enough yet.
The life of the highland ethnic people in Ha Giang in particular, and the northern highland provinces of Vietnam in general, still has many difficulties and deprivations. Therefore, the children here are very miserable, lacking in material resources compared to the children in the city. There are children who do not go to school or even have to leave school very early to help their parents with the fieldwork. Currently, the Vietnamese state encourages and prioritizes and creates the best conditions for children living in the highlands and ethnic minorities so that they can go to school, go to classes to grow up without illiteracy, have the full knowledge like children in places with better material conditions.
Ha Giang is a great masterpiece of nature, with precarious limestone mountains, deep valleys at the foot of the mountain, high cliffs precarious, through human hands creating zigzag roads. winding, the villages tucked away in that valley are inhabited by many ethnic groups, all creating a unique and unique Ha Giang, which cannot be compared anywhere else. great, mysterious with this place. Ethnic people with their extremely beautiful traditional costumes, with the rustic, sincere, kind, inherent nature of the Vietnamese people, come not only to Ha Giang but to anywhere in the world. Vietnam you can encounter. Because of those good natures, along with the wonderful and perfect landscapes that nature bestows, Ha Giang in particular and Vietnam in general, is always visited and explored by foreign tourists.
Vietnam has many other interesting and wonderful places, which I have introduced in previous articles, and will introduce to you in the future, I believe that through my pictures, you will definitely have to visit these places once, and you will never regret it. Exploring Vietnam is a long journey that even I, as a resident of this beloved country, have not been able to fully explore. And my dream is to set foot in new lands, with new experiences, to make life more meaningful.
The photos were taken by me and my friends.
Thanks for reading!
See you next post and have a nice weekend! 💜