LAI CHAU – Located at an altitude of 1,500 meters, Sin Suoi Ho village is a cool and peaceful place for those who want to temporarily stay away from the noisy city.
The village is located at an altitude of 1,500 meters above sea level, in Sin Suoi Ho commune, Phong Tho district, about 30 km from Lai Chau city. In the local language, Sin Suoi Ho means “golden spring”. The air here is fresh and cool all year round.
Morning: Market session – Visiting local people life
Entering the village, visitors are warmly welcomed and invited to drink a glass of cardamom juice in a bamboo tube. The reason they use cardamom juice is because it has cool properties, good for the throat.
The Mong people worry that visitors from the plains to the mountains, when the altitude changes suddenly, they are prone to a hoarse throat. In addition, cardamom is also a popular forest tree in this area and is the main source of income for local people.
Local people also use cardamom in the preparation of many everyday dishes.
Like other upland villages, Sin Suoi Ho fair is held early every Saturday morning. The market is designed in a circle, with stalls lined with rocks and large stones.
The products for sale are mainly agricultural products raised, grown, or harvested from the forest by farmers; and traditional costumes. At the fair, visitors will be able to participate in folk games of ethnic people, watch music, enjoy “thang co”, experience corn milling …
Previously, there were no markets here, people mostly self-sufficient or exchanged goods. Want to go to the market or buy things, people have to go very far to Lai Chau city market.
When Sin Suoi Ho was recognized as a community tourism village in 2015, the villagers gathered, bringing the idea of building a market to exchange, purchase, and at the same time attract more tourists.
About 10am, visitors start to visit the village. The tour guides are the native Mong ethnic people. Visitors can experience traditional crafts such as forging, rattan weaving, fabric weaving, dress making, traditional baking … depending on customers’ needs.
Noon: Explore the Northwest cuisine
12 o’clock, visitors stop at the homestay to rest and have a meal. The villagers have prepared simple but beautiful dishes. Food is spread on a green banana leaf, a tray usually has 6-7 dishes.
The typical dish here is roast pork rolled with herbs leaves with forest pepper, “diagonal” sauce – a typical spice of the Northwest. Forest pepper leaves are sour, sweet, and numb to the tongue, creating a unique taste.
Visitors can also enjoy upland sticky rice, a type of sticky rice that is wonderfully colored by natural leaves. In addition, bamboo shoots salad, giant vegetable salad … are also specialties to try.
In the village, you drink wine contained in bamboo tubes, with small bamboo cups close to nature.
Afternoon: Heart Waterfall – Bungalow Area
Around 13:30, visitors start to go to Love Waterfall, also known as Heart Waterfall. Journey up the waterfall will go through primeval forests, beautiful cardamom hills. The distance from the village to the waterfall is just over 1 km, but because of the high mountainous terrain, it takes about 2 hours to move both back and forth.
Around 4:00 pm, visitors can visit some homestay, flower garden or bungalow … Children in the village often gather here to play, so visitors have the opportunity to chat, play football … Sunset at San Sin Ho is also an experience that visitors should try.
Evening: Cultural exchange with Mong people
In the evening, visitors can stay in the village to rest and have cultural exchanges with the people. Currently in Sin Suoi Ho, there are 10 homestays, 1 guest house and 3 bungalows, all operated by local people.
Additional note:
- Transportation: Sin Suoi Ho is about 30 km from Lai Chau city, it takes about 1 hour to travel. Visitors can rent motorbikes, cars or taxis from Lai Chau city. If traveling by car, only 29 seats can be used.
- Weather: Lai Chau has 2 seasons: rainy and dry seasons. The rainy season between May to September, dry season between September to April next year. In the rainy season, roads are often slippery and more difficult.
- Landscape: Sin Suoi Ho village is beautiful all year round. If you come here near the Lunar New Year, visitors will admire the orchid flowers. April – May is the pouring season, September – October is the golden season of the terraced fields, or visitors can come from November to December to see the wildflowers.
Cost
- Ticket price to the village: 20,000 VND / person
- Homestay price to stay at the village: 250,000 VND /night/person (including 1 breakfast and 1 main meal).
- Ethnic costume rental: 50,000 VND / set.
- Car rental in Lai Chau city is 150,000 VND / day for motorbikes, about 1 million VND / day for cars (self-driving) or visitors can rent a taxi from the city.
