What makes Mai Chau special?

Located in the mountainous area in Northwest Vietnam, belonging to Hoa Binh Province, Mai Chau rural district has all the elements to become an ideal tourist destination: good weather conditions, poetic and grandiose nature scenery, gentle and friendly local people, and traditional cultural identities. Even though it is an upland province, Mai Chau is a valley surrounded by massive limestone mountains. Mai Chau has a peaceful and natural beauty of green forests, ripe paddy fields and streams quietly flowing. Mai Chau is a place for you to avoid the busy life of the urban area and immerse yourself in the outback and enjoy relaxing moments after stressing hours working. What makes Mai Chau district special and become a destination for travelers and a restful place for families and couples?

Weather 

The favorable weather condition throughout the year is the component enticing visitors to Mai Chau. The climate is always mild and temperate, making people feel comfortable and tranquil all the time. Every season has its attractiveness. From February to April is the Spring season, hundreds of Orchid Tree flowers bloom, and the weather is cozy and calm. The natural sight of Mai Chau changes constantly during Summer. May and June are the seasons of ripe grain, and the yellow color of ripe paddy fields covers the alley. July is the season of pouring water when the local collects water for the rice sowing season. From August to October is the best time to travel to Mai Chau and enjoy the chilly weather of Autumn with some sunlight on the fields. At the end of October, the valley turns into a massive silk pattern when it comes to the harvest season. Even though Winter is the coldest season with so much breeze, from November to January next year, it is the blooming season of apricot flowers and white plum blossoms everywhere in the alley.

Thai people in Mai Chau 

The culture of Mai Chau district is the interference of Thai, Muong and Mong ethnicities. Among all, Thai people’s culture is the most significant one because they are the majority population in this area. Nowadays, Thai people in Mai Chau still preserve the cultural tradition in their accommodation, in daily routine and costumes, music, traditional festivals and ceremonies. Mai Chau is a place that has many famous tourist villages like Lac Village, Pom Coong Village, Van Village, etc. where visitors can observe the villagers daily. Thai people also build stilt houses like the Muong people, but Thai people’s houses have bigger yards and are more organized.

Their most common agriculture is wet rice cultivation. The most characteristic rice of Thai is famous all over the country is sticky rice. Besides that, they also do farming to grow corn, peanuts, and sesame. Thai people plant cotton, sericultural, and fabric weaving. Knitting and weaving brocade products of Thai people have a colorful design, durable and secure, and attract many visitors to learn about and buy souvenirs. Brocade weaving of Thai people is the special Thai culture in Mai Chau. From a young age, Thai children have been taught to weave brocade and take care of housework. When they reach the marriage age, Thai girls are already good at doing these jobs. The brocade products of Thai people in Mai Chau are all slubbed from natural cotton and also use natural plants and fruits for the coloring.

The costumes and clothes of Thai people are also a fascinating attraction in Mai Chau. Thai women wear elegant and fit clothes to enhance their beauty. Their clothes have many patterns with diverse natural symbols: birds, flora and fauna, and the Sun. On the other hand, Thai men wear simple clothes, uncolorful and uncomplicated.

Visiting well-known villages in Mai Chau 

Coming to Mai Chau, visitors cannot miss the opportunity to sightsee and stay at the two most famous in Mai Chau, Lac Village and Pom Coong Village.

If you want to discover more about local culture, you should not skip Lac Village which has hundreds of stilt houses aged up to 700 years. This place also has immense paddy field scenery and a stilt homestay for you to spend the night. Even though some of the traditional houses have been innovated to a homestay they still have many conventional features and preserve their customs. Visitors love Mai Chau’s cuisine and they are fascinated by the diverse colorful traditional counters and many young people with beautiful traditional dance.

In Thai, Pom is a hill, Coong is a drum, and Pom Coong means the village of the hills on the giant drum which stands for the fields. Coming to Pom Coong Village, you will enjoy the beauty of the landscape, the diverse culture of Thai or the picturesque stilt houses. Above that, visitors are appealed by the friendliness of Thai people, Thai dance moves, and singing voices all over the mountainous area as they are trying to attract people coming to Mai Chau. If you are a fan of shopping, you would like to visit Pom Coong to buy some handmade gifts for yourself and your friends and families.

A day for trekking and cycling 

Cycling and trekking are common activities with passionate people. It can be tiring and exhausting but it also brings a lot of wonderful experiences when you come across the villages of Mai Chau and enjoy the stunning beauty of the fields. It is not hard to rent a bike in Mai Chau, you can always find bike rental services at homestays and some local houses. The itinerary of bike cycling and trekking always goes through villages, and observing and exploring their daily life, you can also join them if they permit you to join them.

Some of the destinations that you can consider visiting on your way travelling are Thung Khe pass, Kia Cave – a destination full of clouds, Ta Xong A ancient plum garden, Pa Co Market, Kia Cave – Pa Co Conservation Area, Tat Nang Waterfall, Ba Khan Commune and many other more.

When trekking, don’t forget to bring a sun protection shirt in the sunny season, a windbreaker in the cold season and prepare a raincoat in case it rains spontaneously. Don’t forget to bring hiking shoes to make you feel less tired and more durable. And you should also bring some snacks and drinks to boost your energy whenever you can. Travelling Mai Chau, you will frequently encounter grandiose nature scenery, and simple and rustic villages. Don’t forget to bring a camera to capture the beauty of this place.  

Pa Co Marketplace 

The most famous market in Mai Chau is the Pa Co marketplace, only held on Sundays. Even though Pa Co only occurs once a week, it is always in the boisterous brouhaha atmosphere and crowded like a festival. The market sells everything from agriculture products, and pets to fabric, brocade or housewares, etc. The stalls mostly are arranged uncomplicatedly, simply a wooden table or a canvas on the ground but it does not stop the customers from visiting and buying goods. The noise of people bargaining mixed with the laughter makes the market more energetic.

Pa Co market is a diminishing picture of the living habits of mountainous areas. Plain and rustic but it is convergent from the beauty of labor and the diligence of the upland’s people. Visitors can freely choose the favorable products of brocade, fabrics or any other souvenirs. The most remarkable image in the market is the Mong’s colorful fabric weaving from linen, drawing with beeswax and making indigo dyed. Besides that, Mai Chau is famous for its bamboo-tube rice, Phao leaves water, and products made from brocade, all of which can be an option for you to buy as a gift to bring back home.

Mai Chau has the pacific beauty of a green valley, along with many specialties imprinted inside the mind of the visitors. Besides many tourist destinations, Mai Chau has so much fascinating essence to explore. The paddy fields, the friendly villages and the tasty cuisine await travellers, if you still don’t know which place to visit next, Mai Chau is the place that you should add to your bucket list.