The West

This trip lets you see a diversity of countryside to the west and north west of Ha Noi within just six days. The route is designed to let you meet a range of people from different ethnic communities and see something of their life and work.

September 2011

  • Core tour five nights/six days
  • Stay in the Thai village of Mai Chau
  • WInd your way along the delightful route 32
  • See south east Asia's largest dam
  • Pass through a range of ethnic communities
Picking you up from the airport, or your hotel, we travel west from Ha Noi pausing at the fine Thay Pagoda before heading up to Mai Chau.Ma Pi Leng Pass
Here you can sleep in a traditional stilt house, meet the ethnic White Thai people, and enjoy their dancing and music, maybe with rice wine. In the morning you may like to cycle around the fields of this farming village before you leave. Now as you travel west you will see many plantations of cherry and other fruit trees. Women at the Bac Ha market
This area is home to several ethnic minorities: Green H`mong, Dzao, Thai, Muong. We arrive in Son La in time for you to visit the old French prison and the museum of the colonial days, or take a bath in the hot springs. Early next morning you may like to visit Thuan Chau market, and then on over the hills to spend the night in Than Uyen. From there we wind our way down the delightful Nam Kim valley through terraced rice fields and spend the last night at Nghia Lo before returning to Ha Noi via plantations of some of Vietnam's best tea, and through the famous lacquer producing areas of Phu Tho and Son Tay. Two houses

 

  • Open Jeep for two or three passengers
  • Jeep fully covered in bad weather
  • English speaking driver
  • Suggested route: Mai Chau, Song La, Thuan Chau, Thanh Uyen, Nhgia Lo
  • Add extra days continuing to Bien Dien Phu and/or visiting Cuc Phuong National Park and/or Sa Pa and/or Bac Ha Market

 

Below the map shows a route you might take in red.

Map of the Far North