The strange land and sky of the Northwest, the attraction of the harvest season has made many people come, just to admire the vastness of a golden season.
Instead of going to Mu Cang Chai, we stayed overnight at a homestay in La Pan Tan, because this place is convenient for visiting the terraced fields during the rice harvest season.
Actually, it is not the first time I have been to the Northwest, nor the first time I have been excited to set out just to see the ripe rice. I have been to Sa Pa many times, walked all over the fields until my back was soaked with sweat, looked at the golden rice fields, or taken the cable car to the top of Fansipan, looked down at the Muong Hoa valley like a golden carpet, a beauty that captivates people's hearts. But seeing the rice fields in Mu Cang Chai is like a conquest to satisfy my travel itinerary.
Raspberry Hill
At the end of August, through September, the green fields turn yellow, and the yellow season lasts for about a month, then comes the harvest season. Right at the La Pan Tan intersection, there are always dozens of local motorbike taxi drivers ready to take you to visit tourist attractions. The reason you have to take a motorbike taxi is because the road is extremely dangerous, only about 0.6m wide and up and down, sometimes next to a cliff.
Even renting a motorbike to experience it yourself is a difficult task because you are not used to such roads.
The homestay takes care of cooking dinner and breakfast for guests, because there are no shops around the area, there are coffee shops that close at 5pm, the small market sells a lot of brocade and medicinal forest plants. The homestay owner used to be a forest ranger, the food organization is quite good, and if you need a motorbike, it is available if you are brave enough to go by yourself.
The road to Mu Cang Chai
We chose to go to Mu Cang Chai, the motorbike taxi drivers gave us helmets for safety, and then they drove on the road that must have been very familiar.
There is a steep, winding slope passing through terraced fields, below the valley are golden ripe rice fields, as beautiful as a painter mixing colors. But the rice fields in La Pan Tan are similar to those in Sa Pa, just stop to take a few photos, watch the sky and clouds and then continue.
The road to visit the golden rice season is about 10km long, but sitting behind the motorbike taxi driver sometimes makes my heart stop. The slopes are very steep, sometimes following the mountains, entering the fields, and the motorbike just keeps going fast. But the motorbike taxi driver must have carried many passengers who enjoyed the feeling of fear, so he said: "Don't worry, I will drive very safely."
There, on the side of the road, there is a parking lot, and to buy tickets, there is a station along the road to sell. When you get there, you will be captivated by the magical space of the golden rice fields in season, sometimes deep below, sometimes curving in an arc, sometimes nestled on the mountainside, and the highlight is the rice field that looks like a raspberry.
In Mu Cang Chai, there are Tay costumes for rent, an ethnic group that accounts for 17% of Yen Bai and lives in large numbers in Mu Cang Chai and Van Chan. There is also a basket with a few branches of yellow mustard flowers or buckwheat flowers.
Everyone tried to get to the raspberry hill, and were surprised to realize that the hill with a circle about 10 meters in diameter could grow rice. The golden ripe rice fields shimmering between the sky and earth were a beautiful sight for those who strolled today, and were the bread and butter of the farmers.
There are also winds carrying the scent of ripe rice, and magical golden terraced rice fields that stretch endlessly. You just need to hit the road to encounter them.
(According to 24h, September 21, 2023)
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