Travel to Muong Lo and Tu Le village in Vietnam

Tour in Vietnam to Muong Lo and Tu Le, remote villages where local people, mostly belonging to Thai, Muong and H'Mong ethnic groups, live mainly on agriculture. This region of Vietnam is little know to tourism industry and foreign visitors are quite rare, so locals are very spontaneous and therefore the place is an excellent destination for who is interested in authentic experiences.

Muong Lo (Nghia Lo) in Yen Bai province in northern Vietnam, is interesting for the local ethnic groups, in particular Thai, who count about one million people throughout Vietnam. The typical village consists of wooden and bamboo houses built on stilts (stitls are not actually needed to negotiate the water, but to take advantage of the lower floor as a shelter for animals).

	Having black teeth is a sign of beauty, so dyeing them is a fairly common practice, especially among elders. The glossy black is achieved with special dyes coming from plants and mixed with calcium powder.

	Muong Lo is one of the main granaries of Vietnam, where crops are represented mainly by corn and rice.

	The quiet countryside of Muong Lo in Vietnam.

	The fruit and vegetable markets in Vietnam are always a great opportunity to meet local people and learn more about the uses and costumes.

	Worms sold alive and eaten cooked in various ways (not everyone in Vietnam eat them, especially among the younger generation).

Same thing happens to the silkworm, which seems to be more delicious than the other yellow worms.

	Some stalls offering sweet water fish, including various types of crustaceans and shells.

Selling bananas.

A woman sells dragon frutis: these are very sweet, flavorful and are produced by a close relative of cactus plant.

The journey in Vietnam continues through the mountains, where there are picturesque terraced rice fields. In this region, at this altitude (approximately 1000 meters) the rice is ripe between the end of september and the beginning of october: some fields have been already harvested and have the brown color of dry land (left picture) while others are yet to be harvested and show a beautiful bright yellow color (right picture). In this region of Vietnam, the ripening of the rice happens 2-3 weeks after Sapa (the most popular place in Vietnam where most tourists go to see terraced rice fields).

The scarecrow.

	Farmers engaged in harvesting rice during a beautiful late summer day, in the mountains of northern Vietnam.

The tour in Vietnam continues by visiting the traditional village of Tu Le, nestled in the countryside.

The village of Tu Le is in the middle of nature, among vast fields of rice almost ripe. In the right picture, the harvested rice is laid out on a plastic sheet to dry before doing the winnowing and storing it.

	The local people are very spontaneous and glad to see foreigners, as this place is currently (at 2014) well off the normal tourist routes in Vietnam.

Harvesting rice.

More photos of rice fields in Vietnam. The fields are not flooded, since the rice is mature and ready to be harvested.

A woman of H'mong ethnic group.

MU CANG CHAI - NATURAL CONDITIONS

Each season, Mu Cang Chai features distinctive beauty but the most outstanding moment is during rice harvest season in September and October. In autumn, Mu CangChai is outstanding with golden ripe rice fields and scattered stilt houses, embellishing pristine and poetic beauty of mountainous province. Mu Cang Chai terraced paddy field was recognized as National Scenic Site by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Mu Cang Chai District in the west of Yen Bai province, 180km from the city of Yen Bai, along Highway 32. north Van Ban District, Lao Cai Province; south Muong La district, Son La province; east Van Chan district; west Than Uyen district, Lai Chau province. Is a high mountain area derived from the Hoang Lien Son mountain range, including many consecutive mountains running northwest-southeast. Between the mountain ranges are the streams in the basin of the Red River and the Black River. Has a tropical monsoon climate, with temperate characteristics, divided into two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season. The average annual temperature: 18.5 oc; total natural land area in the district is 119909.75 ha

Mu Cang Chai District is one of three districts of Nghia Lo Decree established provinces in the fifth session, the National Assembly II on 27/10/1962.
Mu Cang Chai is a mountainous district in the west of Yen Bai Province geographical coordinates from 21039 'to 21050' north latitude; between 103 056 '104 023' east longitude. District at the foot of Hoang Lien Son mountain range, at an altitude of 1,000 m above sea level.

Mu Cang Chai district has a total land area of 120,195.46 ha, administrative structure, including 01 towns, 13 communes with 110 villages, 100% of communes and towns in Region III.

East of Mu Cang Chai district adjacent to two Van Chan and Van Yen district of Yen Bai province, north of Van Ban district of Lao Cai, on the west by the Than Uyen district of Lai Chau province, south of the province's Muong La district Son La. Is a high mountain area derived from the Hoang Lien Son mountain range, including many consecutive mountains running northwest-southeast. Has a tropical monsoon climate, with temperate characteristics, divided into two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season. The average annual temperature: 18.5 oc.

District center located in the town of Mu Cang Chai, sits in the heart of the valley, the Yen Bai provincial center 185 km by highway 32 and 37.

Mu Cang Chai district total population is 48,656, of which 90% are ethnic Mongolian rest are ethnic Thai, and other ethnic groups respectively. The diversity of ethnic groups make up to Mu Cang Chai has a rich culture, imbued with the nation, which is the acculturation between ethnic groups in the district.

Tourist attractions

Mu Cang Chai terraces be vestige of the National La Pan Tan, Che Cu Nha, to treat the aneurysm, and the conservation of species, pet Make commune.

Yen Bai to the mountainous district of Mu Cang Chai visitors will be amazed at the scene vy mountains on the Hoang Lien with the village green peaceful valley or on the Khau Pha Pass, the famous rice terraces North West . Culture cultivated terraces of ethnic Hmong in La Pan Tan, Che Cu Nha, Ze Xu turned aneurysm name Mu Cang Chai (ie dried villages) into the green hills and fields of crops fresh life on every level, each level reaching high into the sky. Human hands over two decades in the terraced fields not only reflect a unique cultivation methods of ethnic groups, but also hides a multitude of cultural historical value.

As high visitors as excited by the spectacular scenery, majestic mountains, and also by the fresh climate. In the spring, this the forest peach blossom trees, light up the natural pink in between is the vast blue of the mountains Mu Cang Chai. Not only the beauty of the pink flowers, green mountains, yellow rice on this land can also see the beauty in the heart of Mongolia, in the hospitality of the people. At this point, no matter how on cold days, the warmth of the people also dispel the cold characteristic of the mountainous region.

(According yenbai.gov.vn)