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Ham Rong Mountain, which is situated in the center of Sapa town, is a remarkable tourist attraction.

Ham Rong Mountain

Ham Rong Mountain, which is situated in the center of Sapa town, is a remarkable tourist attraction. Legend has it that once upon a time there were a couple of dragons so mad in love that while a biblical flood was rising but they didn't know. When they awoke, it was too late for them to escape from the flood so they were washed away separately. Even now, turned into stone, but due to be natural instinct, the female (Ham Rong Mountain) always looks towards her lover in the west, the Hoang Lien Son mountain range.

 

Shaped like a dragon’s head in the clouds, Ham Rong Mountain is nearly 2000 meters high with green trees and colorful flowers almost all year round. Most tourists visiting Sapa do the exciting climb up to the mountain. Recently, this tourist site has been upgraded, in which there will be traditional art performance show for tourists when visiting Ham Rong. The path leading up to Ham Rong Mountain consists of many stone steps and a winding trail higher up will help to see small streams lazily run through bushy foliages. About mid­way, visitors will find themselves in an orchid -garden with more than 400 species of colorful blooms. Standing on the highest point of Ham Rong Mountain, tourists will have a breathtaking view over the romantic Sapa town.

 

Ham Rong in spring is filled with colorful flowers blooming along the way through. The poetic and grandiose Ham Rong is said to be a fairy land of Sapa for its natural beauty as well as rich cultural value.

 

Cat Cat Village

Cat cat village was founded since the 19th century and about 2km away from the centre of Sapa town. People are mainly Mong minority and often build houses spaced out dozens meters apart by mountain sides. They grow rice in terrace fields and maize on the mountain according to the handicraft cultivation method.

 

At present, Cat Cat village is preserving its old architectural monuments such as Pomu timber plank- roofed triple- room houses and many traditional handicrafts such as growing cotton and flax, close weaving and manipulating jewelry. Only with looms, the Mong people have created colorful brocade clothes with patterns of trees, leaves, flowers and animals. Besides this, Cat Cat village expands crafts of dying, printing and embroidering patterns on cloth. The most popular method remains dying in black and vegetable cinders water with forest leaves. Dyed cloth will be shined by rolling with a round section of a tree trunk on flat beeswax- covered rocks.

 

Visitors to Cat Cat have an opportunity to admire a lively and colorful picture. That is the image of young women sitting by looms with colorful pieces of brocade decorated with designs of flowers and birds. When these pieces of brocade are finished, they are dyed and embroidered with beautiful designs. A noteworthy is that H’Mong women use plants and leaves to dye these brocade fabrics. And then they roll around and smooth section of wood covered with wax on fabrics to polish them, making their colors durable.

 

In addition to the brocade weaving craft, many residents in Cat Cat are good at manipulating gold and silver jewelry. Their products are fairly sophisticated, especially jewelry for women.

 

Tourists to Cat Cat are most attracted by its unique customs, including the custom of “pulling wife”. A man can ask his friends to lure a girl he likes to his house and keeps her there in three days. During these days, if the girl agrees to become his wife, a wedding will be held. However, the girl can happily go home after three days if she does not like him.

 

Traditional houses of H’Mong people in Cat Cat have three rooms with three doors and covered with po mu wood roof. In the house there are three columns that stand in round or square stones. The walls are made from sawn timber. The main door is always closed and only opens when people in the house organize important events. Altar, inlaid floor containing food, places for sleeping, kitchen and receiving guests are indispensable parts of the houses.

 

Visitors to Cat Cat Village can discover countless unique features of H’Mong. They are most attracted by its unique customs and old architectural monuments.

 

Ta Van Village

Ta Van commune in Muong Hoa Valley is located in the south and 8 km away from Sapa town ship. This is a particularly interesting eco-tourist site in Northwest Vietnam, a must-see place for tourists when travelling to such region.

 

Ta Van means "a big turning road" like a basket brim, or tripod-leg line. Vast terrace fields with unique position of a big turning road become a landscape and a destination of Ta Van.

 

Ta Van is a small village set within a picturesque valley of Muong Hoa. A night stay here will give you a close-up experience of the life-style and culture typical of the area.

 

Convenient to the town center, this popular day trip from Sapa is a good chance to traipse around the rice terraces and experience a bit of rural village life. Hire a car or motorbike for the 9km (5 1/2-mile) road down the valley from Sapa to the Hmong village of Lao Chai (some folks even walk it); it's a nice ride in itself, with great views of the lush terraces. From there, you'll just follow the valley for a few miles to the next town of Ta Van. Along the way, you'll walk through terraced rice fields and among some picturesque villages, and experience a bit of rural life.

 

As you walk through different hilltribe villages (Hmong and Dao people), it's helpful to have a travel guide to explain customs or practices to you and perhaps translate. You're sure to see other tourists on the trail (which puts many people off), but this is a good example of the many great treks in the area.

 

Thac Bac Waterfall (Silver Waterfall)

It would be a miss if you travel to Sapa without visiting Thac Bac (Silver Waterfall) and Cau May (Rattan bridge). Along with Ham Rong Mountain, Thac Bac and Cau May have constituted a marvelous but charming “City in mist”, Sapa.

 

Coming to Thac Bac, tourists will have chance to join in the cool weather and grandiose landscape. Thac bac is considered one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Vietnam. Lying at a height of 500 meters, in sunny days, Thac Bac can be seen from Ham Rong Mountain. All year round, the white water flow pours down to the stream. It looks like a picture with two main colors: green from the forest and white from the waterfall. Cau May is a well-known bridge made from rattan which crosses Muong Hoa River. If you visit the bridge in foggy days, you will feel like you are covered by cloud.

 

Fansipan Mountain

Located 9km south-west of Sapa Townlet in the Hoang Lien Mountain Range, Fansipan is branded "the Roof of Indochina" at the height of 3,143m. It is to be approved as one of the very few eco-tourist spots of Vietnam, with about 2,024 floral varieties and 327 faunal species.

 

The topography of Fansipan is varied. Muong Hoa Valley, at the lowest altitude (950-1,000m), is created by a narrow strip of land at the base on the east side of the mountain.

 

Geologists say the Hoang Lien Mountain Range, with Fansipan as its highest peak, did not emerge in the mountainous Northwest of Vietnam until the neozoic period (circ. 100 million years ago). Fansipan, a rough pronunciation of the local name “Hua Xi Pan” means “the tottery giant rock”. The French came to Vietnam and in 1905 planted a landmark telling Fansipan’s height of 3,143m and branded it “the Roof of Indochina”. Very few people climbed to the top of Fansipan at the time. Then came the long years of war and Fansipan was left deserted for hunting and savaging. The trail blazed by the French was quickly overgrown by the underbrush.

 

It takes six or seven days to reach the 3,143m summit, the highest peak of the Indochina Peninsula.

 

In 1991, Nguyen Thien Hung, an army man returned to the district town and decided to conquer Fansipan. Only on the 13th attempt did Hung, with a H’Mong boy as his guide, conquer the high peak by following the footsteps of the mountain goats. Scaling the height was meant to satisfy his eager will and aspiration to conquer the mountain without expecting that his name would be put down in the travel guidebook. After that the Sapa Tourism Agency started a new package tour there. It seemed the Fansipan Tour was meant only for those who wished to test their muscular power.

 

The summit of Fansipan is accessible all year round, but the best time to make the ascent is from mid-October to mid-November, and again in March.

 

Foreigners like best to book Fansipan tours between October and December, as this period is more often than not free from the heavy rains that obstruct the jaunt. But the Vietnamese prefer their tours to the peak of the mountain from February to April, as it is not so cold then. However, the best time for the trek to the mountain is from the end of February to the start of March, when the flowers all flourish and the climbers may behold the carpets of brilliant blossoms, violets and orchids, rhododendrons and aglaias.

 

Muong Hoa Valley

Starting as a small stream of water from the foot of Silver Waterfall about 14 Km northwest of Sapa town, weaving its way along mountains’ feet southeast between the two mountain ranges. About eight kilometers southeast of Sapa town, the two mountain ranges open wider to form the Muong Hoa Valley which get wider and wider as it goes further south about 30 km. The Muong Hoa valley is famous for breathtaking scenery and is the largest farmland for rice growing in Sapa district.

 

For tourists, Muong Hoa Valley is the ideal place for them to enjoy trekking in the landscapes  which dominated by terraced rice paddies, meeting tribal peoples from three ethnic groups, experiencing one night home stay with locals.

 

Ban Ho Village

Ban Ho Village, more than 26 kilometers away from the famous resort town of Sapa, where tourists can indulge in the pristine Lavie Stream, enjoy the sweet sound of running water from the Ca Nhay Waterfalls and other natural attractions of the tranquil village

 

The Lavie Stream, together with Muong Hoa Stream, weaves through boulders, hills, mountains and terraced paddy fields of Tay village, which is nestled in the breathtaking Muong Hoa Valley, adding the finishing touch to the picturesque image of Ban Ho Sapa.

 

Even though Ban Ho is not too far from the center of Sapa Vietnam, not many tourists have visited the village because of the tough approach road, which is under construction and slippery in the rainy season.

 

However, the village is also accessible by driving from Sapa to Su Pan Village and then trekking 10 kilometers to Ban Ho. Topas is one of a number of tour operators who offer this one-day package, with cost determined by the number of participants.

 

Ban Ho Village, Ban Ho is worth the somewhat difficult journey to get there, as the village rewards visitors with stunning views of unspoiled sites and an opportunity to discover the daily activities of the ethnic people Tay.

 

On the way to the waterfalls, which were named by locals after seeing fish jumping out of the water in the old days, visitors will pass brooks gently running down bamboo cylinders that locals use to channel the water into their terraced paddy fields, wooden houses perched on the sides of rolling hills and wild flowers.

 

When they emerge from the water in the dry season the boulders and stones along the Lavie Stream are artworks that resemble different figures, depending on the imagination of viewers. In the rainy season from May till September, visitors can see water flowers created by the splashing water running into the boulders.

 

The trails and roads from Ban Ho also lead to the quiet Red Dao Village of Nam Toong and other ethnic communities, where trekkers can enjoy the best of Northern Vietnam, such as deep valleys, amazing mountains and simple people.

 

Y Linh Ho Village

Y Linh Ho village locates about 7 km southwest of Sapa town, on the west side of Muong Hoa River. The village attracts tourists by spectacular scenery.

 

Y Linh Ho village is a small commune composed by a dozen of small hamlets scattering on the very tough mountain terrain with high and steep mountains. There are some hundred inhabitants from the Black H’mong only living in this commune. They built their rudimentary houses on their farmland and mainly cultivate corn and dry rice on the steep hillsides. The only way to get to the commune is on foot from the main road.

 

This village is home to the Black Mong who wear very dark clothing in blacks and navy dyed with indigo (often seen on the hands of older Mong women).

 

Lao Chai Village

Travel to Lao Chai village in Sapa, Lao Cai province, North West Vietnam , tourists will see the village where the black H'mong people are living, it is also the begining of a valley which is called Muong Hoa valley, here tourists can enjoy the fresh air, see terrace fields, stream, visit and discover some of the H'mong's families. Through this, tourists can interact them, learn about their culture and customs.

 

Giang Ta Chai Village

Giang Ta Chai Village in Sapa is one of the interesting travelling destinations for all tourists.

 

Giang Ta Chai village in Sapa in Vietnam is the home of Red Zao minority people in Sapa, located on the foot of Fanxipan Mountain range, at the right side of Muong Hoa Valley. The village offers travellers gorgeous view of mountain and rice paddy fields at the other side of Muong Hoa Valley.

 

Tourists in Vietnam travel will meet Red Zao minority to experience their lifestyle as well learn about their unique culture. Red Zao minority people are the second biggest group of hill minority people in Sapa in Vietnam. They wear very colourful traditional costumes.

 

Ma Tra Village

Ma Tra Village is home to the H’mong and Red Zao. It lies some kilometers in the east of Sapa town lies a large oval shaped valley, following the main road from Sapa to Lao Cao for 4km. Tourists can enjoy the panorama view of the whole valley, stretching for about 12 Km with some low hills in the middle to divide the valley into two parts. The closer part to the road is area of Ma Tra village;the further one is Ta Phin village where the Red Zao and Black H’mong share the land.

 

The H’mong occupy the higher land on which they built narrow terraced rice paddies while the Red Zao cultivate larger and flat fields around the center of the valley. From over 10 years ago, a 15km motor way was built to connect the center of the valley with Sapa town and it takes only half an hour. However, it is much more interesting to follow the trail which runs on high elevation around the valley for a real life discovery.

 

The closer part to the road is area of Ma Tra village and the further one is Ta Phin village where the Red Zao and Black H’mong share the land. The H’mong occupy the higher land on which they built narrow terraced rice paddies while the Red Zao cultivate larger and flat fields around the center of the valley.