Mu Cang Chai Tour: Vietnam Adventure amid Rice Terraces

A tour to Mu Cang Chai Vietnam in autumn

It had been autumn in North Vietnam for a while and I had been pinned down by piles of work. It was about the end of September that I could escape from the office for a few days. Northern Vietnam had enjoyed an autumn among the most beautiful in my life. A spell of winter monsoon earlier than usual had made the temperatures much more pleasant. Everyday it was breezy and pleasant sunshine. It was a perfect combination for an escape holiday from Hanoi.

 Leaving the city in a morning full of sunshine, the trip out in the country was so peaceful. Traffic was quiet. It was later in the morning but things were empty and so peaceful on the Trung Ha Bridge between Hanoi and Phu Tho Province. Trung Ha is right at the confluence of the Da River (Black River and the Red River).

 
View of the Da River and Red River from the Trung Ha Bridge

 Mu Cang Chai Tour: Vietnam Adventure amid Rice Terraces

Vietnam Tourism - A Review of Vietnam Travel and Hotels

Vietnam has been among the fasted growing travel destinations in the world for the past two decades. This review of Vietnam travel and Vietnam hotels will provide you with more understanding of this amazing country as an increasingly popular travel destination.

 1/In the early 1990s Vietnam had been a war-torn country. The reunification of Vietnam was in 1975, but Vietnam did not have peace back yet. The war against the Khmer Rouge was from 1975 to 1989 and the war against the Chinese invasion was from 1979 to 1991 inland and at sea. Back then Vietnam had still been closed to the outside world: the economic embargo by the United States, the country was not on the map of the world travelers.

Mui Ne Beach, Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan, Vietnam

 Read more Vietnam Tourism - A Review of Vietnam Travel and Hotels

Sapa- Vietnam

Sapa Vietnam is 400 km (9 hour drive by car) north-west of Hanoi. The cloud-covered town of Sapa is located at 1550 m above the sea level, cool all year round. There are many magnificent mountains including the peak of Indochina - Fansipan of 3143m elevation. 

 The area of Sapa is home to 7 ethnic groups with unique cultures, lifestyles and languages; all wearing their traditional attires, working on evergreen terraces. Hill tribes gather for the weekend market for trade and for meeting with lovers.  Sapa is a good place for relaxing holidays, for cultural touring, and/or for trekking and should not be missed on your trip to Vietnam.

Sapa Town from above

 The area was built into a hill station for the French colonialists to get away from the heat of Hanoi and the Red River Delta in the summer. There used to be many French-styled villas in town. But most of them were destroyed during the border clash with China in 1979.

 Nowadays Sapa attracts thousands of tourists from all of Vietnam and abroad thanks to the cool and fresh climate, the sublime nature beauty and the colorful hill tribe cultures.

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Ha Giang Vietnam travel guide

Ha Giang is located top-north of Vietnam. The area of Ha Giang Province is characterized by fabled limestone highlands with karst formations and colorful untouched ethnic minorities. Ha Giang is much shrouded in legend and is not touched by tourism.

Ha Giang is bordered to the north by China; to the south by Tuyen Quang and Yen Bai Provinces; to the east by Cao Bang and to the west by Lao Cai Province. Ha Giang has a temperate climate and it's almost cool all year round in Dong Van Rocky Plateau.

The gate to Ha Giang Province

Ha Giang is inhabited by 22 ethnic groups, many of whom maintain a very traditional culture and many live an isolated life from the mainstream society.

Dong Van Rock Plateau Ha Giang Vietnam

 

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Ta Chi Nhu Mountain (Phu Song Sung) - Yen Bai

The Ta Chi Nhu Mountain (aka Mount Phu Song Sung) in Tram Tau District of Yen Bai Province, which is 2,979m above sea level, is the 6th highest mountain peak in Vietnam.

Breathtaking mounain peaks on the way to the summit of Ta Chi Nhu

 The best time to climb Ta Chi Nhu is from November to early April. If you want to take photos of an ocean of clouds at the mountain peak, then you may want to take the trip from November through the first half of March. It is freezing cold from late November through early February.

Trekking Tour Ta Chi Nhu (Phu Song Sung) – 3 Days

Trekking Ta Chi Nhu (or Phu Song Sung, 2,979m) is an extremely hard mountain climbing tour for 3 days, 2 nights. The mountain, which is the 6th highest mountain peak in Vietnam, is in Tram Tau District of Yen Bai Province, 240km North-West of Hanoi. The best time to do the trip is from December through March.

Splendid view from point where the trek starts

Motorbike Tour from Hanoi to Tram Tau in Yen Bai

It had been lovely weather in Hanoi for some time, but I could feel the temperatures tended to get warmer day by day. It was coming towards the end of a wonderful spring anyway. News of early rains in the mountains reminded me that I had better hurry, else the most wonderful moments of the year were passing!

 
Ricefields at Son Tay, Ha Tay (now Hanoi), Vietnam

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Motorbike Tour from Hanoi to Tram Tau in Yen Bai