Travelog - A travel guide to Vietnam

Orchids blossom in spring time in Sa Pa.

For a special spring time holiday destination, head to Tay Bac Highland, and especially Sa Pa. Visitors will be amazed by the orchids, which blossom at this time, the beauty of nature and the many festivals held in the area welcoming the Lunar New Year.

Even in the cold weather, the young tribal people of Sa Pa make visitors feel unforgettably warm with their radiant smiles. During spring time, the fragrance of flowers, the colours of ethnic fabric of H’mong, Dao or Thai women, and the sounds of flutes and the leaf-horn of the village’s young men and women leave a strong impression of Sa Pa on every visitor.

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The highland market is always full of colours

From the primitive age, Tay Bac has been endowed with innumerable marvels by nature. Although many things have been discovered, this area still contains a lot of mysteries.

Going from Hanoi to Tay Bac (the northwestern area of Vietnam), visitors can follow Road 6 to Hoa Binh, Son La, Lai Chau and Dien Bien, and then turn to Lao Cai and Yen Bai by taking Road 3, which also leads to the starting point.

The gates to Tay Bac are Hoa Binh and Yen Bai where the mountains, hills and primal forests prevail. Ranges of high mountains stretch to the central region of the country and connect with the Truong Son Range which runs to the western area of the South. The mountains in Tay Bac are very high, seeming to touch the sky.

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Visiting the historical Tan Trao Banyan tree

The residents in Tuyen Quang Province are proud of their native land and its development. Over the past half a century, the province where people of 22 ethnic groups live together has experienced great socio-economic changes that brought a better life to the locals and changed the thinking and working habits of the authorities and people in the new period of time. Read the rest of this entry »

Bac Giang – the mid-land region well-known for cultural, historical and human beauties and traditional crafts – has seen big changes and developments over the years.

Land of farms and orchards

Luc Ngan litchi is famous for its sweet and tasty flavour

Not only the native land of peasant-turned hero De Tham, the historical Yen The District is also a concentration of cultural, historical and human beauties, and the origin of Thuong River that cuts through Bac Giang Province. Currently, areas well known for fruits like litchi-rich Luc Ngan and other perennial industrial crops are expanding to 45,000 ha together with fields yielding up to VND 50 million (over USD 3,000) per ha annually. Nearly 1,700 farms have mushroomed in the province, Read the rest of this entry »

“Catching tortoises”,a traditional dance
of the Red Dao.

Over thousands of years of national construction and defence, the ethnic people along the northern border areas have created a rich and diverse cultural tradition, of which festivals are considered an important factor in their spiritual life with unique and distinctive features. One of them is “Seeking Fortune” feast by the Red Dao

The Red Dao in Ho Thau Commune, Hoang Su Phi District, Ha Giang Province holds a feast to seek fortune in the beginning of the year, from the first to the 15th day of lunar January.

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Location: Lao Cai, Vietnam
Every year when spring comes, the whole district Bac Ha, Lao Cai province, is coated with a white shirt of plum flowers. In the white background stands out a mansion complex of Hoang Yen Chao - Hoang A Tuong (father and son) in the greenery of boundless forests and mountains. For over 80 past years, moss-grown Hoang A Tuong mansion has become a destination for visitors far and wide.

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Son means mountain and La means stream. Son La Province originates from a stream on a mountain. Through 110 years of development since its founding, the stream is still running around 12 fraternal ethnicities who have created great strength, making the province a shining pearl in the North-western region of the country.

Visiting the work of the century

Son La hydroelectric-power work lies upstream on the Da River in It Ong Commune of Muong La District, about 250 km away from the Hoa Binh hydroelectric-power station. With an average electricity output of 10.2 billion KWh per year, it is the biggest hydroelectric-power plant in Southeast Asia. After only six months of construction, the cadres and workers of Song Da Construction Company (LICOGI) have built 120 km of new roads, three bridges over the Da River at the construction site area and the Muong La Port Complex, using more than 80,000 cubic metres of concrete. These facilities have been put to use, serving the transport of materials and equipment.

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With renowned landscapes, such as Tam Dao, Tay Thien, Dai Lai, Dam Vac and Thac Bac, Vinh Phuc Province has become a wonderland with innumerable marvels that have left unforgettable impressions on every visitor.

The attractiveness of Vinh Phuc Province, 50km Northwest of Hanoi Capital, comes not only from more than 500 relics, cultural works and many special traditional fetes and festivals, but also from its diverse cultures built up for thousands of years, which are hidden in its place-names and residents, creating the province’s own characteristics.

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Location: Lao Cai, Vietnam
Fansipan, a rough pronunciation of the local name Hua Xi Pan means the tottery giant rock. The French came to Vietnam and in 1905 planted a landmark telling Fansipan’s height of 3,143m and branded it the Roof of Indochina. Very few people climbed to the top of Fansipan at the time. Then came the long years of war and Fansipan was left deserted for hunting and savaging. The trail blazed by the French was quickly overgrown by the underbrush.

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Ha Giang is a major border province with grandiose landscapes and ethnic minority cultural traditions that have made this “roof” of Vietnam and its “lovers’ market” a truly impressive tourist attraction. Once visited, it promises to be a “must” to revisit.

Our journey begins at the town of Ha Giang located about 350km North of Vietnam’s Capital of Hanoi.  Ha Giang sits in a valley surrounded by mountains and close to the gentle running Lo River.  Forty kilometres from Ha Giang you arrive in Quan Ba District.  Quan Ba is filled with range after range of magnificent mountains and, not surprising, the weather is cool year round. Here, the scenery is both peaceful and romantic.  Nearby Co Tien (Fairy) Mountain is reflected in the surrounding neatly terraced rice fields.  Stopping in the nearby Sung La Valley you experience a panoramic view of delightful beauty rarely seen in other parts of the country, a vista that combines truly vast mountains and seemingly mysterious jungles.

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