This trip offers a balance of cultural and physical activity set amongst some northern Vietnam’s stunning natural landscape. We trek through villages around Mai Chau and overnight in a White Thai village, observe the local lifestyle of these minority people.
Lac Village in Mai Chau Valley
Location: In Hoa Binh Province, approximately 135km from Hanoi and 60km from Hoa Binh City.
Characteristics: From the top of Cun Pass, one can admire the superb panorama of Mai Chau surrounded by a green valley and stilt houses. Many minorities, including the Thai ethnic group, live in Lac Village.
Mai Chau is located in Hoa Binh province, about 135km (83 miles) from Hanoi and 60km (37 miles) from Hoa Binh. Mai Chau is well known for its natural beauty. The valley is home to many ethnic minorities, including the white Thai. From the top of Cun Mountain, the panorama of the lush green valley with its stilt houses is laid out before you.
Coming to Lac Village, you will see stilt houses border both sides of the roads. The houses are quite large with palm leaf roofs and polished bamboo-slat floors. The kitchen is located in the center of the house; the cooking as well as the making of the colorful tho cam, the material used by Thai minority to make their clothes, takes place in the kitchen. The windows are large and decorated with patterns. Each house also has a pond to breed fish.
The Sunday market brings a lot of people into town. People from different minorities living in the mountains come to Mai Chau market to sell their specific products: honey, bananas, corn, and tho cam made by skilled Thai women. The Sunday market is also an occasion to enjoy traditional Thai dishes and to participate in traditional dances.
Traditional dance, bamboo dance in Mai Chau
For an overnight stay in Mai Chau, the performance is a must (and the only) to see in Mai Chau at night. The performance are dances and songs to describe the life of the farmers, seasons of a rice growing year like when they sow the rice seeds until the harvest season, their happiness with the productive season, their hopes, their wishes... The end of the performance is always the bamboo dance which audiences are invited to join with the dancers followed with traditional cereal wine (taste like very light and sweet wine) as a good-bye for the show. If you're interested in the show, just tell the host - she's also the show organizer!
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