Adventure Mai Chau Mountains

Highway 6 climbs east from Son La, passing YEN CHAU – a town famous for its fruit – and some very pretty Black Thai villages on the right after about 80km, particularly LA KEN, which can be visited by crossing swaying suspension bridges over the river. From here the road climbs onto a thousand-metre-high plateau where the cool climate favours tea and coffee cultivation, mulberry to feed the voracious worms of Vietnam’s silk industry and herds of dairy cattle, initially imported from Holland, to quench Hanoi’s thirst for milk, yoghurt and ice cream. Just less than 120km out of Son La, the sprawling market town of MOC CHAU provides a convenient place for a break. For the next 4km heading towards Hanoi, the road is dotted with stalls selling local milk products such as three kinds of flavoured milk, and blocks of condensed milk (which they advertise as chocolate when cocoa is added), as well as green tea. The rigid lines of tea bushes that border the road round Moc Chau create curious patterns, and though there are few side roads, this is a region in which some might want to linger. Most, however, head on down Highway 6, through valleys where the Hmong live in distinctive houses built on the ground under long, low roofs, and surrounded by fruit orchards, to MAI CHAU. The minority villages of the Mai Chau Valley, inhabited mainly by White Thai, are close enough to Hanoi (135km) to make this a popular destination, particularly at weekends when it’s often swamped with large groups of students. The valley itself, however, is still largely unspoilt, a peaceful scene of pancake-flat rice fields trimmed with jagged mountains. 

++ Mai Chau villages, Home-stay

Just south of the Mai Chau Guesthouse, a road to the right (west) leads across a few paddy fields to BAN LAC, home to a prosperous community of White Thai, though these days their wealth is derived more from tourist dollars than from farming. This is where most people stay on a two-day tour from Hanoi – it’s a settlement of some seventy houses (about four hundred people) where you can buy handwoven textiles, watch performances of traditional dancing and sleep overnight. Nowadays just about every house in the village doubles as a guesthouse, and many have sit-down toilets fitted below the houses. Some house owners have even changed their roofs from tile back to the original thatch, perhaps to fulfil visitors’ expectations. If you turn up without a tour group, just ask around and someone will put you up for about $5 per person for the night, plus $1–2 for a meal depending largely on how much you eat. While too touristy for some, Ban Lac does offer the chance to stay in a genuine stilthouse – an edifying experience, particularly at dawn if your sleeping quarters happen to be above the henhouse. During the day the lanes between houses are draped with scarves, bags and dresses, with villagers urging passersby to stop for a quick look. Though it seems a bit commercial, the vendors are not as pushy as their Black Hmong counterparts in Sa Pa, and if it does get tiring then a few minutes’ walk in any direction from the centre leads out to paddies and a view of the ring of purple mountains which make for some of north Vietnam’s most classic scenery. In the evenings, the traditional dance performances staged for tour groups after dinner are also interesting, with coy, long-haired girls acting out agricultural chores in a graceful manner. After the show, the audience is invited to join them in a dance, as well as a sup of local wine from a big bowl through a bamboo straw.

Many houses in Ban Lac rent out bicycles, which are an ideal way to explore the valley (20,000VND per day). One interesting route is to cycle 12km south on Highway 15 to CO LUONG, passing timeless rural scenes and reflections of mountains in the flooded paddy fields. At Co Luong, the Ma River joins the road, and huge limestone walls and dense bamboo growth adorn the riverbank. An active market on Saturday mornings is worth the trip, to see the array of handicrafts and fish.