From Moc Chau, I moved to Pha Luong village, Chieng Son commune, Moc Chau, Son La in the afternoon. Originally, I could have moved here in the morning and climbed the mountain right away, but due to my health condition, I decided to sleep at A Chong's house one night before the journey.
The road from Moc Chau to Pha Luong village is not difficult. From Moc Chau town, I followed the road to Long Sap border gate. When reaching the turn to Chieng Son commune, I followed the road to Pha Luong village.
Pha Luong is a small village of the Mong people, the villagers mainly grow rice and cassava. As soon as I arrived in Pha Luong, I immediately saw the image of the village children playing together on the open land. The women sat quietly by the roadside to embroider and take care of their children.
In the evening, I stayed at A Chong’s house - the Pha Luong guide. A Chong is a Mong ethnic and has been a Pha Luong guide for three years. However, the season I came was after Tet, so there were very few tourists, so the whole family had nothing to eat. The dinner tray made me feel sad, with only pickled vegetables. When he saw me coming, he bought another fish to make the meal more delicious.
Dinner with fish and pickled vegetables
The evening in Pha Luong village is so beautiful, at 8 pm, A Chong’s family had already gone to bed, I went out to the yard alone to enjoy the scenery. I looked up to the sky and saw a “flower forest” “blooming”. The flower forest I am talking about is the brightest stars in the sky, the breathtakingly beautiful galaxies.
A new day begins, I step out of the Hmong wooden house, outside, the sun is shining its first rays of the day. Below are the Hmong houses emitting smoke from their kitchens. Light mist clings to the dry branches, turning this place into a fairyland.
After breakfast with pickled vegetables, A Chong started driving me to the border post. The red dirt road was under construction, so the journey was extremely difficult. The steep slopes, one side was a mountain, the other side was a deep abyss. I suddenly remembered the poem Tay Tien by poet Quang Dung:
The uphill is winding and steep.
The clouds are so remote that guns smell the sky.
A thousand feet up, a thousand feet down
Whose house is Pha Luong in the distant rain?
After 7km of motorbike travel, we finally arrived at Pha Luong Border Guard Station. I went inside to ask for a border crossing confirmation paper. The fee for this paper is 20,000 VND.
The journey to conquer Pha Luong peak officially started from Pha Luong border post. I followed Mr. A Chong to climb to the top. The road from this section to the top was not too difficult. We followed the Mong people's houses, passing through many terraced fields. The space was immense and vast, I suddenly felt like a small traveler.
The higher we went, the more old trees began to appear. The forest here was an old forest, so the trees were densely packed. I followed the guide to climb to the top. On the way, I saw many temporary huts of the Mong people selling drinks and food. The main products were cakes, candies, and boiled eggs.
The closer we got to the top, the stronger the wind became. We struggled to get a glimpse of the country's borders.
After 7km trekking to the top of Pha Luong, I finally arrived. The weather up there was very harsh. The sun was very hot and the wind was extremely strong. I thought that if my backpack was not heavy enough, I could fly straight to Laos.
From the top of Pha Luong, which is over 2,000m high, I see the mountains of Vietnam and Laos stretching out endlessly. There is a place that can give you the most beautiful virtual photos, which is the giant rock. Standing from this rock, you can clearly see the natural border between Vietnam and Laos.
Standing on the top of Pha Luong, I could see the country's borders. Conquering Pha Luong peak was truly one of the most exciting journeys I had experienced during a year of exploring every corner of the country.
Some notes
- Currently, Pha Luong has many guides. I chose A Chong because he has 3 years of experience trekking this route. He is a very enthusiastic and friendly guide. A Chong's phone number: 0962 086 499.
- The cost of guiding Pha Luong is 500,000 VND/group of less than 10 people. If you go with only 1 person, the cost will range from 300,000-500,000 VND.
- You can conquer Pha Luong in a day and then return. In case you feel weak in climbing, you can sleep at the trekking house or the border guard station (price from 100,000-200,000 VND).
- Trekking Pha Luong requires full preparation: water, cakes, shoes with grip, trekking poles.
- Nowadays, many groups of backpackers go trekking to Pha Luong peak by themselves. The road to Pha Luong is not difficult, so if you are confident, you can also conquer Pha Luong peak by yourself without a guide.
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