Every year around August and September, travel photos of tourists traveling across the roads and terraced fields of the Northwest appear on travel community groups.
Mentioning Y Ty, Tu Le or Mu Cang Chai are attractive destinations for tourists because of terraced fields and the golden color of the ripe rice season. The Northwest also attracts tourists by the majestic mountain scenery, the culture and customs of the ethnic minorities in the highlands and culinary experiences are indispensable in these trips.
Mu Cang Chai in Yen Bai province attracts many tourists every year to come here to hunt for the ripe rice season.
“This year, I had the opportunity to see and set foot in Mu Cang Chai - the main point in my group's 9-day, 8-night itinerary to conquer the Northwest. I was truly amazed by the majestic and outstanding beauty of this place. Sitting in the car, looking at both sides of the road, the colorful terraced fields stretching along with the fragrance of ripe rice, of nature, of mountains and forests... made me feel so small and eager to set foot in many new lands to discover the wonderful things that nature has to offer,” Phuong Trinh excitedly recounted.
Phuong Trinh just had a 9-day trip to conquer the Northwest and Mu Cang Chai was the main destination on her journey.
Mu Cang Chai in Yen Bai province is considered to have the most beautiful terraced fields in the world. The majestic scenery with the yellow color of rice attracts a lot of attention from many tourists. Located at an altitude of 2,000 m above sea level, at the foot of Hoang Lien Son mountain range, Mu Cang Chai attracts tourists at two times a year. That is the flooding season from May to June and the ripe rice season from mid-September to early October. The mountain scenery blends with the bright yellow color of ripe rice and the autumn sun to create a poetic and lyrical scene.
According to Phuong Trinh, the "coordinates" to admire and create "cool" photos next to the beautiful terraced fields in Mu Cang Chai will be the following locations: La Pan Tan commune, Mam Xoi hill (this is the hottest spot that everyone must check-in when coming to Mu Cang Chai, here there is sugarcane juice and soft-boiled eggs that must be tried), Mong Nguu hill, Mui Giay.
In addition, as shared by Phuong Trinh, when coming to Mu Cang Chai, in addition to seeing the ripe rice, there are also other places such as: bamboo forests, corn houses, Tam Giac Mach flower gardens along the road... And another thing worth trying is experiencing cultural exchange with the Thai ethnic people in the villages, which will be extremely interesting and meaningful, at this time she will understand more about their life and traditions.
According to Phuong Trinh, Mu Cang Chai has many coordinates to admire the yellow color of terraced fields in the ripe rice season.
“On the recent trip, Trinh had the opportunity to interact with the Thai ethnic women on the Mid-Autumn Festival night. They brought smoked pork and apple wine for our team to enjoy and performed special traditional dances. These are extremely valuable experiences when coming to a new place and it will be a memorable memory of my trip,” Phuong Trinh said.
What is more special is enjoying the cuisine in Mu Cang Chai in particular and the Northwest in general with typical dishes: buffalo jerky, horse organs, cham cheo, black chicken, salmon, sturgeon, wild vegetables processed with the special flavors of the indigenous people and super delicious sticky rice or sticky rice in Mu Cang Chai.
Every time she has a meal, she eats a lot of rice because she can feel the sweetness and softness of the rice grains, which are also the "sweet grains" of Mu Cang Chai.
The beauty of the highlands
Children standing along the road near Mui Giay
On this trip, the difficulty that Phuong Trinh encountered was that September usually begins the rainy season, so there were days when she was extremely worried that it would affect the schedule of the trip because she and her group of friends spent 2 days and 2 nights experiencing Mu Cang Chai. Therefore, the weather was an extremely important factor.
Moreover, the weather in Mu Cang Chai is quite nice in the morning but in the afternoon it starts to rain and is cloudy so moving around and taking photos will be difficult.
On the first day, Phuong Trinh and her team traveled from Y Ty to Mu Cang Chai for 7 hours. The long travel time will be a bit tiring for travelers who get carsick, but with the eagerness of a travel enthusiast, Phuong Trinh was lucky not to get carsick.
"So, apart from a nap at noon, Trinh stayed awake the whole trip and watched the Northwest scenery through her small eyes," she said.
September and October are the rice harvest season and also the rainy season, so visitors need to check the weather in advance.
To make the trip go smoothly and have many memorable experiences, Phuong Trinh has pointed out some pocket experiences for tourists who plan to go to Mu Cang Chai during this time.
September and October are the rainy season when the rice is ripe, so visitors need to check the weather and take advantage of the morning to take pictures because the afternoon is often cloudy and the colors of the photos are not beautiful. Besides, if you go to Mam Xoi hill to see the rice and take pictures, the most ideal time is 4 pm. At this point, there will be a motorbike taxi fee to move up the hill and the total ticket price is about 120,000 VND. Here, there are additional photo areas such as stilt houses, buckwheat gardens... which will charge a separate fee.
Going to Mu Cang Chai to have beautiful photos, tourists can choose bright-colored outfits. For Phuong Trinh, she prioritizes white outfits that are both simple and outstanding against the green and yellow background of nature and ripe rice and chooses a pair of sandals or sports shoes that fit her feet to facilitate more flexible movement.
The trip to the Northwest helped Phuong Trinh broaden her horizons with majestic nature and had many memorable experiences.
For Phuong Trinh, the experience of coming to Mu Cang Chai in particular and conquering the Northwest in general are priceless memories and many memorable experiences.
“When you set foot in a new land, open your heart and be enthusiastic to experience new things. Enjoy every moment of the trip, you will experience interesting things and bring back memories without regrets,” Phuong Trinh confided.
