Back to the village - Mai Chau Valley, Hoa Binh, Vietnam

Mai Chau, A Unique Destination For Couples In Honeymoon

4 January, 2016
Vietnam where to go

Mai Chau, a district in West of Hoa Binh province, is a peace valley with stilt houses crouching in hiding under old trees and fields stretching as far as the eye can see. In recent year, trend of Mai Chau honeymoon has became more popular to couples because honeymoon in Mai Chau isn’t similar with other normal sweet honeymoon. It brings you new experiences like a discovering journey, not holidays.

From Hanoi, it takes 130km to come Mai Chau. Beautiful Mai Chau district appears in front of tourist’s eyes with a green valley of trees, yellow fields and stilt houses to welcome them. In Spring, Mai Chau is covered with different colors of plum flower, peach blossom. Late spring, when peach flowers wilt, whole forests are filled fully by pristine white of Bauhinia variegate. In summer, entire scenery is only smooth green of forest trees, maize fields and rice fields. Especially, in late autumn, Mai Chau appears in splendid beauty of terraced fields in rice harvest. Paddy’s waves cover across hillsides interposing stilt houses. With such unique and typical beauty, it is not difficult to explain reason why many couples go to Mai Chau to take wedding photographs or simply enjoy their special honeymoon, especially couples who interest in discovering mountainous areas, and conquering natural landscapes. Taking wedding pictures at Mai Chau is also one of favorite options for couples who like countryside and adventure.

Mai Chau - The green valley of Thai People
Mai Chau – The green valley of Thai People

Mai Chau also attracts tourists by pure, simple and friendly beauty. The best salience in unpretentious life is interfere in daily communical life of Kinh, Muong, Dao, Mong, Tay, Hoa ethnics, especially Thai minority ethnic. The Thai in Mai Chau is also impressive and separate beauty to attract visitors going to this land. It is friendliness, warmness, hospitality, skills for weaving brocade, manufacturing tools, especially cultural identity in Thai’s community that make Mai Chau become the foremost option for tourists.

Visiting Thai’s stilt houses, according to Thai’s custom, tourists have to wash their hands with water, and then sit on a flowered sedge mat spread in wide floor. Both hosts and tourists gather together next to a tray of food in order to enjoy Thai’s special Can wine – a wine drunk out of jar through a stem and other dishes such as steamed fish. In dinner, they can steep in typical dances of Thai’s young girls in traditional clothes. Wonderful rhythms stir tourists’ heart and make them never forget.

You can’t talk about Mai Chau without talking about Lac Village (Ban Lac), one of the most important places of Hoa Binh. Road linking Mai Chau Town and Ban Lac is like a black thread among immense green of rice fields. Ban Lac isn’t a crowed and magnificent place; it actually is a rural, ordinary and simple village as thousands of villages across Vietnam. Ban Lac is a place depicting deeply cultural identity of 5 ancestries of Thai living in Ban Lac such as Ha, Lo, Vi, Mac, Loc. Since established, Ban Lac has exited within 700 years. In the past, people lived on agriculture and weaving brocade. Today, potential beauty of Ban Lac is gradually discovered by tourists. Some said that Ban Lac was a bright destination on Vietnam’s tourism map because its good impress to visitors. Stilt houses in Ban Lac are made by bamboo plates joining together, which help Thai people to maintain old traditional architecture. Hosts will prepare fully blanket, mattress, and pillow for tourists to express their hospitality.

Along with, tourism services bring deeply national character as traditional song, Thai’s dance, dishes and Can wine. As soon as setting their foot on Ban Lac, tourists can see a wide land where community’s activities are performed as camping, song competitions. Ban Lac attracts tourists because of not only forests, gentle mountainous girls but also warm feeling of people here. The most interesting feature in Ban Lac is that no matter where tourists stand in, they can see image of woman sitting in front of house to weave brocade. Their hands work continuously and quickly, but they always smile with tourists, even give an invitation to you for buying their products. If tourists like and interest, they can try feeling to become a beautiful ethnical girl in multi-colored dress. It is not perfect journey if visiting Ban Lac, but tourists forget to come to local market. In fresh atmosphere of nice morning, local people only buy simple goods to serve daily life, fresh fruits which seem to be harvested in that morning.

Enjoy the Thai performance during your honeymoon to Mai Chau
Enjoy the Thai performance during your honeymoon to Mai Chau

Moreover, Mai Chau Town is surrounded by gorgeous limestone mountain ranges, especially Pu Kha range. Pu Kha play an important role to Mai Chau when it not only is a screen to create romantic valley as today, but also contains no end of mysterious secrets, beautiful trail for trekking tour. Half-day or a full day to trek through rice fields, forest, cross rivers and local villages are optional choices for who want to experience an adventure honeymoon in Mai Chau. The trip will give opportunity meet local people and take wonderful pictures.

Sceneries, cultural space, and people in Mai Chau seem to engrave deeply on tourists’ mind. Mai Chau brings comfortable feeling for people first visiting here and familiar, reluctant emotion for tourists who ever has been friend of this land as well as local people. Obviously, honeymoon in Mai Chau will differ from romantic destination as Ha Long, Nha Trang. Ha Long Bay, Nha Trang or any other places are always considered as ideal destination for honeymoon, but actually, Mai Chau has individual interesting feature which nowhere has ever owned.

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