The story of two boys conquering Ta Xua

Prepare

The Ta Xua mountain range is the natural border between Son La and Yen Bai. The peak of the Ta Xua range is 2,875 m high, located in Tram Tau district, Yen Bai province. To conquer this peak, visitors need to have physical strength and experience because the climbing path is very difficult and arduous. But I want to let children experience and practice, and also believe that if they know how to arrange, they will not be inferior to adults, so I chose Ta Xua - Bac Yen - Son La as the destination this season to see the cloud paradise. To complete this journey, it only takes 2 days and 1 night, so we took advantage of the time during the 2 days of the weekend.

My two boys, Minh Dang (9 years old) and Quang Huy (7 years old), were very excited when they learned about going mountain climbing and cloud hunting. Because they had experienced a lot, before the trip, they both prepared their own clothes, folded and arranged their personal belongings. It was quite cold in the mountains at night, so they needed long pants (jeans, thermal pants) and a jacket. Minh Dang also did not forget to charge his camera battery, prepare snacks and fill his water bottle, and put it in his backpack. The two brothers also asked their father to prepare some candy and toys to give to the children on the mountain.

Day 1: Conquering the "dinosaur spine"

At 6am, the whole group departed from Hanoi. If going through Son Tay, there are two options: the road through Trung Ha bridge and the road through Dong Quang bridge. The road through Trung Ha bridge has some pretty bad sections so you should go through Dong Quang bridge.

After breakfast in Son Tay, we headed straight to Ta Xua, the distance was about 200 km but it took more than 5 hours to reach the destination. We booked accommodation and meals at Ta Xua Hill, which can accommodate about 50 guests. There are 4 cocoon tents priced at 250,000 VND/nest, each tent can sleep 2-4 people, but we slept together in the stilt house because the tents were full. Each person had a mattress and a warm blanket for only 90,000 VND, including breakfast (purple sticky rice or instant noodles).

After more than 5 hours of rocking on the bus, everyone was quite hungry. We arrived in Ta Xua at lunchtime. The lunch was impressive because of the simple but delicious dishes because the food was grown completely naturally. Free-range pigs, non-smelly mountain goats, “mountain climbing” chickens, and vegetables grown right in the garden. After a 30-minute break after lunch, we set off for the “dinosaur spine” – Hang Dong. From the Ta Xua cloud viewing point, the “dinosaur spine” is about 40 km long, the road cannot be traveled quickly because some sections have been eroded after the rainy season. But the scenery on both sides of the road is beautiful, from the bus, we can admire the majestic Northwest mountains and valleys full of terraced fields spread out before our eyes.

To get to the dinosaur ridge, you have to walk about 2.5 km to reach the end of the dinosaur's spine, where the view is the best. Minh Dang and Quang Huy have been here once, so they are familiar with the road, so they just run happily on the dinosaur ridge, going ahead of the group to give candy to the children herding cows. The road on the dinosaur ridge is also small, with cliffs on both sides, and some young people can ride motorbikes to get close to the ridge. Near the ridge, there is a very small road, only about 40 cm wide, so it is quite dangerous, everyone has to walk in a line because there is not enough space to avoid each other.

Quang Huy happily ran back and forth, exploring and looking at beautiful angles to show Minh Dang to take pictures. The two brothers were equipped by their father with a small camera so that they could take pictures and record the moments and angles they liked. With this small camera, the two brothers could take selfies and check-in as much as they wanted. This time, the two brothers invited each other to run to the end of the dinosaur ridge first to take pictures, then sit down to play, rest, and chat about all sorts of things about the trip while waiting for everyone to arrive.

On the dinosaur's back, the wind blew quite strongly, many photography enthusiasts and people who loved to see the scenery set up tents to sleep in the large areas to welcome the sunrise and the sea of ​​clouds in the early morning. The feeling of standing on the tip of the dinosaur's ridge at dawn with the clouds right below your feet and the sea of ​​clouds floating all around you must be wonderful. But I will probably let my two little ones experience this feeling next time because I want them to get used to it gradually.

After conquering the "dinosaur's spine", dinner at Ta Xua Hill was also a wonderful experience because the ingredients used to prepare the dishes were all products of the mountains and forests. The best dish for me was the green mustard leaves grown in the garden, eaten raw. The mustard leaves here have a hundred times more aroma than those grown in the plains. The spicy taste rushed up to the nose like eating wasabi, if used to wrap fish salad or beef wrapped in mustard leaves, it would be great.

While the men were chatting, the women and children lit a fire in the yard to roast sweet potatoes grown on the mountain. While waiting for the potatoes to cook, Minh Dang and Quang Huy ran around and sat watching the stars. The two brothers had never seen such a starry sky before. The stars here felt bigger, brighter and much closer than when they were in Hanoi. In addition, everyone in the group explained many things about astronomy and constellations, so the two brothers were very excited.

In no time, the potatoes were baked. As soon as they tasted the first bite, both brothers exclaimed: “I have never eaten a baked potato as fragrant and sweet as here.” Indeed, the baked Ta Xua potatoes were fragrant, the insides were soft and sweet as honey. Sitting around the fire sipping baked potatoes, Minh Dang and Quang Huy insisted on staying until morning to watch the sea of ​​clouds, but their father did not agree because they needed to sleep to have enough strength for tomorrow. However, it was not until midnight that the two boys agreed to go to the stilt house to sleep.

Day 2: Cloud hunting in Ta Xua

At 5:30 a.m., Minh Dang and Quang Huy woke up, wide awake, put on warm clothes and ran out to watch the sea of ​​clouds. It was still early morning, the sun had not yet risen, clouds were starting to gather in the valley. The two brothers cheered happily because with the weather and clouds like that, there would definitely be a sea of ​​clouds.

The sun gradually rose from behind the mountain range. They had watched the sunrise on the sea many times, but this was the first time the two brothers had seen the sun rise from the sea of ​​clouds. Along with the sun's path, the color of the clouds changed very quickly: from white to blue, then pink - purple - red and finally yellow. Each color only appeared for about 5-7 minutes before changing to another color. Excited, amazed, jumping, running back and forth, pointing were the actions of the two brothers at this time. Minh Dang held the camera and ran around looking for a shooting angle.

By 8am, the sun had fully risen so we got back in the car and headed to other cloud viewing spots. The weather was beautiful so we stopped several times along the way to Xim Vang because of the sea of ​​clouds everywhere.

On the bus, Minh Dang told Quang Huy about the times he "ate delicious clouds" in Pu Luong, Cao Bang, Ha Giang... Because Quang Huy "forgot to eat" those times, he eagerly suggested: "Wherever there are clouds nearby, and a lot of them, let me stop so I can try them." The staff on the bus instructed him "if you want to eat delicious clouds, suck on a candy before eating", he immediately sucked on a mint candy. When he encountered a place where the clouds were coming, he hurriedly asked to stop the bus to eat clouds, then hurriedly opened his mouth to nibble on the clouds and chew on them. The way he ate clouds was just like the cartoon where the dinosaur liked to eat clouds. "It smells a bit black, but when you eat it, it's delicious and cool, so your teeth are a bit cold" - Quang Huy revealed, making the whole bus laugh.

According to my experience of hunting for clouds and ripe rice many times, when the weather is nice in Ta Xua, Xim Vang is prone to clouds and fog, but when Ta Xua is cloudy and foggy, Xim Vang has beautiful weather. It is true, the sky in Xim Vang is clear and sunny, clouds still hover from the foot to the middle of the mountain. This time is the dry season and the cloud season so the terraced fields have not been planted yet. Xim Vang valley in the flooding season or the ripe rice season is hard to find anywhere as beautiful as this. If we go through Xim Vang, we can go to Tram Tau and return to Hanoi, but we have an appointment in Bac Yen so we stop to admire some waterfalls on the way and then return to Ta Xua.

These waterfalls are all located right next to the road and have underground streams for water to flow through. Minh Dang and Quang Huy like the Big Waterfall (as the locals call it) the most. In the summer, people often come here to bathe and wash clothes, and tourists often come here to take photos and check in. The two boys braved the cold, rolled up their pants and took off their shoes, waded into the stream. The rocks at the bottom of the stream were slippery, so Quang Huy fell down and got both his shirt and pants wet, but he continued to play in the water. I didn't want to stop them, so I let them experience it. They could change their wet clothes in the car.

Leaving Xim Vang and returning to Ta Xua, the Ta Xua mountains and forests were covered with thick clouds even though it was almost noon. Our group left the cloud paradise to go down to Bac Yen for lunch and then returned to Hanoi, ending the cloud hunting trip. We made an appointment to go to Ta Xua next time to sleep on the dinosaur ridge to hunt for early clouds, visit Hang Chu, take pictures of the terraced fields in the flooding season and the golden ripe rice season on the terraced fields.

The best times to check-in Ta Xua

- The season with the highest chance of seeing the sea of ​​clouds is from November to early April. This season is also the dry season in the mountains, so the road will be easier than the rainy season.

- The flood season is during the rainy season, when people lead water into the terraced fields to prepare for rice planting.

- Rice harvest season is around August to October

- If you miss the cloud-eating season, you can come to this area during the hawthorn flower season. The hawthorn flowers bloom white on both sides of the road and in the mountains and forests, creating a wonderful scene.

- In recent years, the Mong people in Bac Yen no longer grow rice according to the farming calendar but have returned to the ancient way of farming, that is, the fields with enough water and conditions are planted with rice first. This has created a special identity for the terraced fields here. It is not difficult to see that there are golden ripe rice fields about to be harvested while the fields next to them are still green and have just bloomed.

Dang Tran Van