Northwest and Ba Be Lake highlight tour

The day started in the centre of Hanoi. Vinh (the guide) and I met up with Mr. Chinh - our driver of the old short wheelbase Toyota Land Cruiser at 8am.

Our trip to northwest began with the first 90 minute leg of our journey was to Hoa Binh, a large town which has the second largest hydro power station in the country.

We did not stay around too long and soon headed to Mai Chau via a mountain pass which gave great views of the surrounding country. We arrived there at around 11.30am and went straight to the White H’Mong village set in the rice fields.

Green peaceful Mai Chau - Vietnam Northwest tour

The peaceful life in Mai Chau valley

A village of Black Thai in Mai Chau

These ethnic people live in stilt houses and offer great home stay accommodation. These home-stay houses are exceptionally clean and the top floor offers mattress on the floor style beds with areas partitioned off by cloth screens. The toilet and shower block below were very clean and presentable.

After lunch we continued the long drive to Son La where we had yet to organize overnight accommodation. The mountain scenery along the way was spectacular. We passed through tea plantations, hillside farming of small fruit, apiaries, corn and other vegetable crops. Villages were predominantly ethnic but every now and then were a substantial town inhabited by Vietnamese (Kinh people) alongside White H’Mong, Black H’Mong, White Thai, Black Thai and Tay peoples.

Breakfast was buffet style and provided a good selection of local dishes plus the usual western offerings. Leaving Son La we headed off to the new Lai Chau. The old Lai Chau used to be north of Dien Bien Phu but the provincial government has decided to move it further north and develop a more suitable location for their capital. A new more direct road was being constructed and parts necessitated slow travelling. Nonetheless we made good average speed through beautiful mountain scenery interspersed with ethnic villages and markets.

On the way to Son La

O Quy Ho Pass in lai Chau - Vietnam Northwest tours

The marvellous beauty of O Quy Ho Pass in Northwest Vietnam

We stopped for lunch at a small town, **Than Uyen (Than Uyên)**. There we were treated to a delicious hot pot meal in the kitchen behind the motorbike shop owned by Vinh’s relations. It was also a new experience to taste the wild apple wine made by the H’Mong people living in the mountains. Probably the best Vietnamese wine I have tasted. After lunch we pressed on to Lai Chau. The beautiful mountain and rural scenery mixed with absorbing village life made a long journey very short. After an early breakfast we hit the road for Sa Pa. Not far along the way we came to a wide river which we crossed by a vehicle punt driven by a small tug boat. After this crossing we proceed to climb the Hoang Lien Son mountain range. This part of the journey could only be described as spectacularly beautiful as we just kept on going up and up and the valley below just kept disappearing.

We reached a scenic point which they refer to as Heaven’s Gate where one can take in the breathtaking views below and look even higher to see the peak of Fansipan Mountain 3143metres above sea level. It is the highest peak in Indo-China. They say one can hear from this point the morning mountain roosters crowing in far off Lao and Cambodia.

Spectacular Hoang Lien Son Mountain Range

At 6am next morning we left Sa Pa for the long haul to Ba Be lake. The first short leg was to Lao Cai where tourists arrive at around 5-5.30am after the night train from Hanoi. As we were descending to Lao Cai these tourists were heading up the mountain in small buses to enjoy the experience of Sa Pa. The long journey to Ba Be took over 12 hours covering in excess of 500km. We passed through the towns of Bac Quang, Dong Hy, Thai Nguyen and Bac Kan before arriving at Ba Be. The scenery was varying through limestone mountain country, ethnic villages, river flats and rice paddies. Not an uninteresting moment

We left Ra Market Town early and arrived at Ba Be around 9am. Being a National Park it is run by the Government. This alone is a huge handicap to its successful management and operation. The Park’s sleepy Sales Manager gave us an impromptu demonstration of how to pick your teeth while trying to give his sales pitch and explain the Park.

The lake itself is beautiful as are the surrounds. We stayed at an excellent home-stay. The people are wonderful hosts and I am confident any visitor would come away very happy. There are boat cruises in the lake in small local boats and the cruise lasts for about 3-4 hours.

Going to the Tay village and home-stay you have to survive a torturous car trip along a cliff edge track. In fact at the time of my visit there were two places where the track had given way making it difficult and potentially dangerous to traverse. A driver error or further road collapse would see passengers and car disappear down the vertical 500 ft drop to the lake.

In summary, while Ba be is very beautiful in itself it is a long way to go even direct from Hanoi. The Park is a big disappointment in terms of service and facilities. There are better places to visit to see forests, lake scenery and ethnic villages.

Ba Be National Park

Tay people rowing on Ba Be Lake - Vietnam tours

Tay people rowing boat on Ba Be Lake

Smiles of ethnic minority groups

We left the park mid morning and started the long trip back to Hanoi. Country ethnic villages did not take long to give way to larger Vietnamese towns. We stopped for lunch at the equivalent of a large truck/bus stop.

We arrived back in Hanoi at 6pm tired and road weary but much more knowledgeable about the north-west of Vietnam and its charming and hospitable people.