When mentioning Tay Bac, people think about magnificent mountains, windy hills, immense terraced fields and ladies with tawny complexions in colorful brocade dresses with bamboo papooses on their backs.

Especially, visiting Tay Bac in spring, excursionists will surely be surprised by the picturesque landscapes and peaceful life and can not resist wallowing in nature.

For those who prefer a ‘smooth’ road and less tortuous, less perilous and less collapsed rocks, Moc Chau, a plateau of Son La Province, is suggested as a priority. The Moc Chau Plateau is 1,050 meters above sea level and nearly 200 km north-west of Hanoi.

People often say: dairy cow + green tea + white plum = Moc Chau. That is right. The terrain is endowed with many steppes and has fewer mountains than other highland regions of Tay Bac. Therefore, it is covered by the colorfulness of wild flowers and the greenness of grasslands as the climate is warmer and more comfortable and does not suffer severe chills as the winter of Tay Bac.

Loong Luong Village is nestled outside and Ta Phinh Village lies inside. All appear in tourists’ eyes with valleys overwhelmed by the endless whiteness of plum flowers, and winding roads to the village entice tourists to step into the village as the legendary garden. Amidst limitless whiteness it is studded with radiant smiles of children who are striking with sunburned skin and weird costumes. They stroll in lands, in forests, in gardens, and are innocent like wild grass. With them, trees are friends.

Stepping for some kilometers on the winding roads strewed with plum flowers, tourists can get lost in the boundless tea valleys, growing in lines from the foot to the peak of the hills. Teas here are not too seasoned and large like Ta Xua tea, a very special type of tea in Tay Bac, but Moc Chau’s teas are short and green.

 

The daily life there is so simple, peaceful as well as colorful. Stilt houses lie obediently in valleys, halfway up mountains. The fronts of the houses are always decorated with wild sunflower and wild peach and many wild unknown flowers. Wandering around the villages, tourists sometimes can see pigs running around. They are black and much smaller than pigs people often raise on farms, and most of them wear wooden necklaces which can protect them from banging their heads into mountain walls.

Adults go to farms far way, children stay at home and play in the vast space of the mountains and forests and young couples in colorful costumes decorated with many necklaces and bracelets hang out in love markets.

Under the sunset, tourists can catch some couples seated side by side on mountaintops and looking down over the endless valleys. They keep silent in order to let their souls connect, let their emotions stretch into nature. The silence falls into sleep with soft hugs and kisses.

That is Moc Chau, fresh and primitive, giving travelers a chance to escape the bustling and hustling urban life. Have you ever thought about a simple journey to nature to find stillness and balance for your soul after stresses of daily life? Pack a bag and go ahead.