Dear Steemit friends,
Today I want to bring you along to Mai Chau, one of the places that is not very well known but absolutely charming that is located in northern Vietnam.
Northern Vietnam is famous for its rice fields and terraces and I have seen many beautiful photos of them. So when I made it to Hanoi, I know I have to see them.
The most famous and best places to see the rice terraces is called Sapa. So when we arrived in Hanoi, we tried to make arrangement with the hotel we stayed.
But unfortunately , going to Sapa is not easy and it requires a time-consuming journey of around 8 hours ( just for one way ).And since we didn't have much time and we are also not hikers and aren't particularly looking for hiking trails, our agent from hotel suggested a place called Mai Chau.
He also told us that during that time of the year, the weather at Sapa would be foggy and we won't see very much.I wasn't very convinced but instead of spending time in busy Hanoi, the rural area with the rice paddles fields sounded like a better idea.
The journey from Hanoi to Mai chau took us around 4 hours. The drive went through up to the higher mountains . Our driver made a stop at a view point, where we could get a great view.
Mai Chau is nestled in a picturesque valley surrounded by mountains .The pictures couldn't make justice of how huge and scenic this place is .
We spent a night at the Mai Chau Ecolodge. It's located in a beautiful and quiet place , also it promotes environmental sustainability which I think was incredible as the region has been developing so quickly.
The main industry in Mai Chau is rice farming. But we could feel that tourism is starting to take over. Most of the people working in the rice fields are older people while you can see the younger working in hospitality area. I think it real good things that tourism helps to make better living but will it become like one of those places that are over run by tourists some day and ruin the beauty?
Since Maichau is considered a bigger town in the region so if you are looking for other alternatives, you can also explore nearby villages.
We got ourselves bicycles to explore around. Although the hotel provided mountains bike , I decided to choose the regular type which I found cute .But I have to say it was not a right choice as the roads were not flat and had lots of slopes..
Since it's the end of the season , most of the farms are being harvested. But I can only imagine even brighter endless yellow fields at the right time. I am no strangers to rice fields as I used to live near the farm when I was young , but the lovely landscapes of this place stole my heart.
Another major industry for the residents of Mai Chau is weaving . They have a market where they display different and design patterns.. And of course I couldn't resist getting one myself .These weaving reminded me of my home country .
The local here are minor ethic tribes and some of the ladies still wear their traditional dresses .
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised to love this place very much and it become one of my Favourite places that I have visited in northern Vietnam.
Thank you for reading .. I hope you enjoy it.
As always I would appreciate the up-vote if you like it and resteem with your friends who might enjoy reading this.
If you are new to my blog , please Check out my other articles here ;
- Cruise journey along Lake Brienz
- What is it like to be on a cruise for the first time?
- Journey through Northern Vietnam
- Traveling to Kalpa , A Scenic Village In The Indian Himalayas
Thanks for this excellent little travelogue about an out-of-the-way place. In particular, I liked the photos of the long paths stretching straight and far int the distance. (Is that you on the bicycle?)
thank you very much.. yes it's me! ( great observation) hehe
It's been a while since I've seen any of your posts, but I just noticed that you have been active. I'll hope to "keep in touch" -- or at least "keep in view."
likewise and thank you.. it seems like it's hard to keep in touch on steemit ( no notification or that sort ) as lots of ppl post and it is very quick to disappear from the feed!
Yes, that's a bit of a drawback, but also an advantage. One of the things I hated about Facebook was the constant updates / notifications that I did NOT want to read. Let's stick with Steemit. (New slogan ... "Stick with Steemit.")
I like your new slogan" stick with steemit".. for facebook, I disable all the notification and unfollow most of the ppl general selfies , so currently it only appear travel and crypto updates.. lol
Oh, you went to many places in Vietnam
yes.. I have been to several places in north and south vietnam..
Young people used to travel and explore. I hope you have a great experience for the trip :))
I had a great time .. thank you
It looks so lush and green there. They must get a lot of rain. Those mountains look huge! I had no idea that Vietnam had such big mountains. That picture from the viewpoint looks incredible! And I also love the colorful patters that they are weaving. Those look way cool. Seems like you had a fun time in Mai Chau, much better than if you had stayed in the city I bet. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you.. yeah the mountains are so huge.. actually I wasn't really excited because I felt like I have seen some of the best places in further north places but it was really beautiful and fall in love right away. yeah it was definitely a good choice..
Great post!! I had no idea that Vietnam was that beautiful. I hope it stays that way.
Thank you! it's really one of the most beautiful countries that I have been.
It looks very peaceful. Make me wanna go to Vietnam again.
it really is very peaceful.. where places you did you go in Vietnam ?
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wow this is truly amazing thanks for sharing your experience :)
Thank you very much
I See so many space, so green, so fresh and also very colorful. I try to imagine what stress level those people have, on one side they are still close to nature and take care for their own food, on the other side; they See more and more tourists with all kind of gadgets and materials. Would that let them think and bring in a certain way stress ?
I think in a way, yes.. thank you for visiting.
That is where my rice came from. heheh
They sure are! :D
Are you at vietnam now , my sis ?
Nope.. it was 2 years ago..
I really would to visit Vietnam, thanks for sharing! cheers @aburmeseabroad!
It's a beautiful country. thank you for reading. :)
You should visit morocco its beautiful country
Thank you.. i will come next year.
Vietnam ေတာ့မေရာက္ဖူးေပမယ့္ ေစ်းလာ၀ယ္တဲ့ Vietnam သူေလးေတြအေတာ္ေခ်ာၾကတယ္ဗ်ာ
yes.. vietnamese are so beautiful.
I am Vietnamese ^^ I am very happy to visit my hometown. Wish you happy ^^
thank you very much.. I love vietnam!
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Wow that looks great! I have never been to northern Vietnam but this really makes me wanna go there. Only been to southern Vietnam and I definitely wanna come back.
Upvoted and followed ;)