Visiting Thuong Lam, Lam Binh, Tuyen Quang on a late afternoon. I stopped by Hoang Tuan Homestay - an extremely beautiful homestay in Tuyen Quang.
In the evening, after a meal with delicious Tay dishes such as steamed bamboo shoots with ant eggs, stir-fried wild vegetables with ant eggs, boiled pumpkins, and ant egg cakes, I and the group of tourists in the homestay enjoyed the Tay people's cultural performances.
Here, the Tay girls in their black dresses played the Tinh lute and sang Then songs that captivated my heart. After the Then songs, there were dances with conical hats and mats. They sang passionately and danced beautifully. The performance ended with a bamboo dance by the red fire. The group of guests held hands and sang songs loudly in the dark night.
Hoang Tuan Homestay with a fairly cheap price of only 70,000 VND/person, along with a meal with many traditional dishes, has truly made this place a great resting place for tourists when coming to the river region.
Meal at homestay
In the morning, after enjoying the Tay people's ant egg sticky rice, I followed Mr. Tong - the owner of Hoang Tuan Homestay on a boat, drifting on the sea. Normally, the average boat price here is only 1,200,000 VND/trip, carrying 20-40 people. Moving from Thuy Thuong Lam wharf to Coc Vai Pha, Lam Thuy Coc Vai Area, Nam Me Waterfall, Khuoi Sung, Khuoi Nhi and then returning to the homestay.
From Hoang Tuan Homestay, we traveled another 1km to the boat dock to Na Hang Lake. There were many boats from other houses anchored here. We got on the boat and started our journey to explore the lake.
The water in Na Hang Lake is crystal clear, and every time I move a little further, I see small islands. In front of me is “Coc Vai Pha” in Tay language, which means “Stake to tie the Heavenly Buffalo”, associated with the legend of the giant Tai Ngao.
The boat glided gently on the water, a recent rain had just passed so the scenery became even more poetic. The air here was fresh, I breathed in the clear air and looked up at the mountain tops, where the clouds floated, incredibly beautiful.
The scenery at Na Hang Lake, Tuyen Quang is truly so poetic, so the more I walked, the more I became a dreamer, intoxicated with the scenery and love without realizing it. Then our boat docked at Khuoi Nhi waterfall - an extremely beautiful waterfall upstream of Na Hang Lake.
The path to Khuoi Nhi waterfall was winding and extremely difficult. After a rain, the path became even more slippery. I walked over steep cliffs, open spaces, and then across small streams. The deeper I went, the more lost I felt. It took a long time for me to finally see the waterfall.
Khuoi Nhi Waterfall flows 3km from the top of the mountain down to the lake. Standing from afar, the waterfall looks like a young girl's long hair. White and flowing continuously. The water in Khuoi Nhi Waterfall is so clear that tourists cannot control their emotions, they can only scream out loud and be amazed at the beauty that nature has bestowed on this place.
Coming to Khuoi Nhi waterfall, I enjoyed the feeling of putting my feet in the water, the fish here slowly anchored to my feet and started nibbling. What I liked more was the feeling of diving into the clear blue water. Immersing myself in Khuoi Nhi waterfall was truly the most interesting experience in the journey to explore Na Hang lake.
Our boat said goodbye to Khuoi Nhi waterfall, then continued moving through the large and small islands. We docked the boat on a grass island. Because it was a grass island, it was empty, only grass and soil. The water on this island was crystal clear, the small islands reflected on the lake surface, looking from the grass island you could see the silhouettes of the islands undulating under the water.
In the distance, there are small stilt houses of the Tay people. They often build houses there so that tourists can fish and enjoy food right on the lake. At noon, our boat drifted in the middle of the lake, and we began to enjoy the dishes cooked on the island.
In the afternoon, I took my bicycle from the homestay and slowly cycled to explore the Tay villages inside Na Tong village. I passed many ancient houses of the Tay people that were over 100 years old, then passed through soft rice fields, to vast corn fields, and then saw the towering mountains of Na Tong village. I took a deep breath and felt the colorful life happening in this peaceful land.
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