The Lao Cai province offers an unusual variety of spectacular or charming landscapes, from the Fansipan massif (3,143m), the highest summit in South-East Asia with its perfectly preserved high-mountain vegetation, to the low plains and wide rice-growing valleys scattered with palm-trees in the south.
The Fansipan massif represents the biggest natural reserve in Vietnam: Hoang Lien National Park. The park covers nearly 30,000 hectares and is unique in all South-East Asia for its tiered forest ecosystems. It contains over 2,000 plant species and about 500 animal species, among which the black gibbon, of which there are only a few families left.
Two other features of the landscape immediately attract the visitor’s attention: the paddy-fields tumbling down the slopes in vertiginous staircases and the innumerable limestone peaks and crests emerging from the clouds in the morning, a sort of Halong Bay transferred to the mountains.
The terraced paddy-fields are built by the Hmong and Dao on the slopes where the water supply is sufficient to provide irrigation throughout the growing season. It takes a tremendous amount of work to create and maintain the paddy-fields and, in the absence of all instruments; it requires an elaborate ancestral technique, already used by the Chinese peasants before they emigrated during the second half of the 19th century. The surface area of the projected terraces is calculated according to the available water-flow. All the terraces must be perfectly horizontal, so as to maintain a constant water level before they pour into the terrace immediately below.
The fields of steep limestone peaks, usually covered with thick forests, are the result of the dissolving action of rain-water on limestone. The brown or red earth found at the foot of the peaks is the residue of this dissolution, the fertile « terra rosa » used by the peasants despite the numerous rocky residues mixed with it. The local populations clear and exploit the forests and find there many useful food and pharmaceutical products as well as raw material for handicrafts.
The Fansipan massif represents the biggest natural reserve in Vietnam: Hoang Lien National Park. The park covers nearly 30,000 hectares and is unique in all South-East Asia for its tiered forest ecosystems. It contains over 2,000 plant species and about 500 animal species, among which the black gibbon, of which there are only a few families left.
Two other features of the landscape immediately attract the visitor’s attention: the paddy-fields tumbling down the slopes in vertiginous staircases and the innumerable limestone peaks and crests emerging from the clouds in the morning, a sort of Halong Bay transferred to the mountains.
The terraced paddy-fields are built by the Hmong and Dao on the slopes where the water supply is sufficient to provide irrigation throughout the growing season. It takes a tremendous amount of work to create and maintain the paddy-fields and, in the absence of all instruments; it requires an elaborate ancestral technique, already used by the Chinese peasants before they emigrated during the second half of the 19th century. The surface area of the projected terraces is calculated according to the available water-flow. All the terraces must be perfectly horizontal, so as to maintain a constant water level before they pour into the terrace immediately below.
The fields of steep limestone peaks, usually covered with thick forests, are the result of the dissolving action of rain-water on limestone. The brown or red earth found at the foot of the peaks is the residue of this dissolution, the fertile « terra rosa » used by the peasants despite the numerous rocky residues mixed with it. The local populations clear and exploit the forests and find there many useful food and pharmaceutical products as well as raw material for handicrafts.
WORTH DISCOVERING:
If you are only staying 2 or 3 days
You can easily discover the fascinating beauty of the main valleys and villages surrounding Sa Pa at the foot of the Fansipan: Cat Cat (residence of Black H’mong people), Lao Chai (residence of Black H’mong people), Ta Van (residence of Giay people), Giang Ta Chai (residence of Red Zao people) and Ban Ho (residence of Tay people). … Hikers can walk to all these places, and may want to enjoy the unique experience of staying with local people, in a local family house built on stilts, in Lao Chai or Ban Ho.
If you are lucky enough to stay longer
Climbing the Fansipan is a unique experience, but it represents a real expedition requiring adequate mountain-hiking equipment, perfect physical condition, excellent training in hiking and experienced guides. For your own safety and pleasure, we recommend you prepare it carefully, with the help of the recommended agencies. You can also experience the exceptional: discover landscapes and populations with an authentic way of life in areas hardly open to strangers. These tours can only be done by four-wheel drive vehicles, with a guide, and with special authorization from local authorities. Please contact one of the authorized agencies.
If you are only staying 2 or 3 days
You can easily discover the fascinating beauty of the main valleys and villages surrounding Sa Pa at the foot of the Fansipan: Cat Cat (residence of Black H’mong people), Lao Chai (residence of Black H’mong people), Ta Van (residence of Giay people), Giang Ta Chai (residence of Red Zao people) and Ban Ho (residence of Tay people). … Hikers can walk to all these places, and may want to enjoy the unique experience of staying with local people, in a local family house built on stilts, in Lao Chai or Ban Ho.
If you are lucky enough to stay longer
Climbing the Fansipan is a unique experience, but it represents a real expedition requiring adequate mountain-hiking equipment, perfect physical condition, excellent training in hiking and experienced guides. For your own safety and pleasure, we recommend you prepare it carefully, with the help of the recommended agencies. You can also experience the exceptional: discover landscapes and populations with an authentic way of life in areas hardly open to strangers. These tours can only be done by four-wheel drive vehicles, with a guide, and with special authorization from local authorities. Please contact one of the authorized agencies.
Colorful Markets Around
Muong Hum Market: Every Sunday from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.This market, the biggest cardamom market in the area, was already there during the French colonial period and serves as a meeting place for the ethnic groups living in the mountains: Giay, Dao, White Hmong, Hanhi. Those living in the highlands, like the Hmong and the Zao (Dao) come down to sell their specific products such as cardamom and other spices and mountain plants. In Mường Hum, you should taste the paddy rice brandy (made with unhusked rice) from the dao village of San Lung. Its fruity flavour and mildness have made it famous well beyond the limits of the Lào Cai province.
Muong Khuong Sunday market: Big market with a wide range of ethnic groups: Hmong, Dao, Nung, and merchants from other ethnic groups who come all the way from China to sell their products. Several Pa Zi women sell traditional incense made from the bark and resin of scented trees.
Pha Long Market: Every Saturday morning from 6 a.m. to twelve. Very rural seldom visited market, where you can meet ethnic groups that are only found in this particular district of Vietnam, mostly Hmong, Nung, Tou Zi, Pa Zi and Tou Lao. Along the road, in a landscape of mountain peaks, numerous Nung et Hmong villages. Lots of traditional houses with baked earth tiled roofs.
Can Cau Market: Every Saturday from 6 a.m. to 12, in the middle of the paddy fields and corn fields, the various Hmong groups from the highland villages sell their farming products and buy fabrics, farming tools and kitchenware. The local Hmong wear traditional costumes that are so gaudy and heavily embroidered that the Chinese, the French and the Vietnamese have nicknamed them the “Flowery Hmong”. Numerous Hmong farmers travel back to their villages on horseback, the only way to carry heavy loads in these steep areas.
Bac Ha Market: The biggest ethnic market in the Lao Cai province, where you will find buffaloes, horses, blacksmiths, saddlers, but also traditional medicine doctors, with their thousands of mountain herbs and plants, and lots of traditional clothes and local artefacts. Several groups of deep-coloured Hmong are found there, as well as Dao, Tay, Nung, and Phu La. Make sure to arrive before 9 a.m., the market ends at about 12 :30. Sleeping in Bac Hà, on the Saturday offers an opportunity to watch the preparations for the market and the successive waves of villagers going there. Tasting the local corn spirit is a must, but be prudent, it may be up to 55° proof!
Tuesday Coc Ly market: About 35km from Bac Ha, Coc Ly Market is a colorful Tuesday market in a mountainous area where ethnic people gather to buy and sell goods, dine and drink, or just wander to enjoy the ambience of the montagnard market by the Chay River.
TRANSPORTATIONS
Sa Pa is 38km away from Lao Cai by road; the mountain road is in excellent condition. There are lots of buses and shared and private taxis, especially outside the railway station at arrival time of trains from Hanoi, allow 2$ for the bus ride and 5$ for a private taxi from Lao Cai to Sapa.
You can drive from Hanoi to Lao Cai (350km, 9-12 h-hour-drives) or take the train. The schedules below are for information only, please check them and check the tariffs on the internet site of Vietnam railways : vietnam travel
Hanoi: Departure -> 06:15 / 21:30 / 22:00 / 22:10 - Lao Cai : Departure -> 10:20 / 19:00 / 20:50 / 21:15
Lao Cai : Arrival -> 15:30 / 05:00 / 06:00 / 07:20 - Hanoi : Arrival -> 19:25 / 04:00 / 04:20 / 05:00
The night train offers four-berth compartments, very basic, but with air-conditioning, and a few better equipped carriages for tourists such as: Ratraco, Tulico Express, King Express, Etpumkin, Toserco… carriages, with two or four-berth comfortable compartments. In the 21:30 train from Hanoi and the 20:50 train from Lao Cai, you will find the luxury carriages of the “Victoria express”, accessible only to patrons of the Victoria Sa Pa hotel. (Excerpt from Sapa Tourism Department)
The night train offers four-berth compartments, very basic, but with air-conditioning, and a few better equipped carriages for tourists such as: Ratraco, Tulico Express, King Express, Etpumkin, Toserco… carriages, with two or four-berth comfortable compartments. In the 21:30 train from Hanoi and the 20:50 train from Lao Cai, you will find the luxury carriages of the “Victoria express”, accessible only to patrons of the Victoria Sa Pa hotel. (Excerpt from Sapa Tourism Department)
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