Vietnam is an amazing country with a lot of attractive destinations with simple and natural beauty. If you are finding somewhere to escape from hustle and bustle of city life, taking a trip to Mai Chau, Hoa Binh is exactly what you should do for your weekend. Mai Chau is a beautiful valley located in mountainous region in North of Vietnam. It takes just 3 hours to get there by bus.
Gorgeous landscape
I went to Mai Chau with my house mates in the last weekend of September. That was one of my unforgetable trips. We went by car from Hanoi to Hoa Binh, the road was quite good. Passing by Hoa Binh, we was driving up and down the mountain. It took more than 3 hours since we stopped a lot to take photo of impressive landscape. A lot of attractive things around made us could not just pass it without taking some photos. Finally, after 3,5 hours, we saw Mai Chau - a small village known for its natural beauty.
The atmosphere here was excellent, really clean and full of ethnic culture. We booked a homestay of local people with cheap price, just 2$/night/person. There are quite a few hotel options but we chose a kind of cheap homestay to enjoy feeling of overnight staying in a typical stilthouse and also to save money. But it was quite uncomfortable when I had to use bathroom with a lot of people. Anyway, just one night, so it was still fine.
Peaceful scene in Valley.
Flower field in front of homestay
We got Mai Chau in late afternoon, so we decided to have dinner first and would explore this village in morning. We ordered food from owner and had a nice dinner with them. The first impression was warm hospitally from owner ‘s family and local people.
They served us local dishes. We paid just 10$ for all of us and let see this dinner to know how generous they are.
Mai Chau is invested as a tourist destination, so they held a lot of activities in night for visitor and foreigner like campfire and performing traditional dance. Local people brought in bamboo poles to dance with and encourage everyone join in with them. That was a bustling night with us when everyone holding hand and dancing together no matter who you are.
We woke up in early moring because we was so hungry for exploring this village and cannot wait anymore. The most attractive thing with us is traditional clothes of ethnic people here. Especially colorful clothes of H’Mong ethnic. It cost 2$ to rent that kind of clothes. It was so fun when we changed clothes, went around the village and pretended we are real H’Mong. This kind of clothes made us look so adorable.
The ethnic girl with Converse shoes. LoL.
Mai Chau brings a different image about Vietnam. It is not like Hanoi, Mai Chau village - authenticith and hospitality even though it is for visitors. I still remember warm smile of local when we got there. Remember the conversation with the owner of homestay in that late night and the gorgeous landscapes of jungles, the peaceful beauty of the countryside culture over here.
A 2 days 1 night seem quite short but that is enough for a break time to take a rest. With its beauty and attraction. For sure I will want to return.
