From Meo Vac town, go about 15 km further, on Highway 4C on the route to Dong Van - Meo Vac - Yen Minh, on Than and Dan days, you will come across Lung Phin market in Lung Phin commune, Meo Vac district, Ha Giang province.
This is a big festival of more than 16 ethnic groups living on the Stone Plateau and is one of the unique backward markets in the far North of Vietnam. It is also called backward market because it is held regularly every 6 days, this week it is held on Tiger day and next week it is held on Monkey day. The market is held during the day, from about 4-5am until 3-4pm.
Along the winding mountain roads, ethnic people in colorful clothes flock to the market as happily as if going to a festival.
As scheduled, from early morning, people from all villages have brought their goods to the market in time. The unique feature of Lung Phin market is that the goods brought to the market are sometimes just a chicken, a dozen eggs, or simply a few bundles of sugarcane, a few bunches of vegetables from the garden. That is what makes the highland market simple and rustic, arousing interest for visitors when they come to visit and travel. Specialty products such as mint honey, Lung Phin snow tea, hill chicken, brocade... are the most purchased by tourists.
Take the chicken to the market.
However, the girls and boys from the remote villages go to the market not only to buy and sell but also to have fun and find a lover, so everyone wears beautiful clothes as if going to a festival. The young girls dress up to play at the market. The pretty H'Mong village girl in a flared floral skirt, the Red Dao girl with sparkling silver jewelry... a whole forest of colorful flowers is shining brightly. The children also wear new dresses, following their grandmothers and mothers to the market to buy snacks.
For the men of the highlands, the market is also a place where they can meet and drink wine around a pan of thang co every week. Thang co is never empty in the pan, just like the wine in the bottle is never empty, dipped in a bowl of salt with fresh chili peppers that make the tongue burn. Rich and attractive. Old friends eat thang co and raise their glasses of strong wine, ask about family matters, and wish each other good health. Boys and girls get drunk around the thang co table to sing and play the khen to find their lifelong lover. Curious tourists also muster up the courage to try a piece of thang co to feel the intoxicating taste.
Young men, when drunk, intoxicated by love, often sing, “Calling you with the sound of a flute/ Why are you so absorbed in singing/ Don’t you hear my flute…/ A bowl of wine at the market/ I drink until I’m drunk/ Loving you, I help you onto your horse/ Loving you, follow me back to the village/ Loving you, come back with me.” The singing of those who are drunk and intoxicated by love is very smooth and tender. And the girls, when they are satisfied, also raise their cups and say, “My hands know how to hold a needle to sew clothes, if you don’t have the heart, then forget it, if you do, then go home, we’ll stay together for a day. My hands know how to hold a thread to spin linen, if you don’t have the heart, then forget it, if you do, then go home, we’ll stay together for a night…”
The road back to the village is far away.
After each market session, everyone was reluctant to leave. They made plans to meet again at the next market session. Loads of rice and bunches of vegetables were loaded onto their backs as they rowed across mountains and streams to return home.
Once coming to Lung Phin market to experience the unique features of the market culture of the highlanders, you will see how simple life is but full of affection.
