New Year Holiday and Tet Festival of Vietnamese is coming, we would like to inform all of our customers/partners about the schedule of New Year Holiday 2012 of our company as following:

• Our office will close for Tet Festival from 21 to 24 January 2012 and reopen on 25 January 2012.
• Our tour operator will off from 21 to 24 January 2012 and back to work on 25 January 2012.
• Our sales staff will off from 21 to 25 January 2012 and back to work on 26 January 2012.
• Our business will resume normal activities from 25 January 2012.

During above period of time, some of our services are still available for customers. If you need any support, feel free to make a reservation before 21 January 2012 for a smooth tour.

For other requests, please contact out hotline number: +84 972 257 228 or drop us a line at sales@maichautrek.com.

We will get back to you as soon as possible!
We wish our customers and partners, a new year filled with health, wealth and happiness.

—
THÔNG BÁO LỊCH NGHỈ TẾT NHÂM THÌN 2012

Công ty TNHH Du Lịch Trọn Gói Việt Nam trân trọng thông báo đến Quý khách hàng / Đối tác lịch nghỉ Tết Nhâm Thìn 2012 như sau:

• Công ty sẽ làm việc đến hết ngày thứ 6, 20 tháng 1 năm 2012
• Thời gian nghỉ Tết: 4 ngày từ 21 tháng 1 năm 2012 đến hết ngày 24 tháng 1 năm 2012
• Thời gian làm việc trở lại: sáng ngày 25 tháng 1 năm 2012

Tất cả các yêu cầu trong thời gian nghỉ Tết trên Quý khách hang vui lòng liên hệ theo số điện thoại nóng +84 972 257 228 hoặc email  sales@maichautrek.com. Chúng tôi sẽ hồi đáp lại tất cả các yêu cầu một cách nhanh chóng nhất có thể.

Kính chúc Quý khách hàng năm mới Hạnh phúc – An khang và Thịnh Vượng!

Hy vọng ngày càng nhận được sự hợp tác của Quý khách hàng / Đối tác trong năm mới.

Mai Chau valley, Vietnam

Most seasoned travelers in Vietnam already know the enchanting White Thai communities of Mai Chau Valley in Hoa Binh Province.

But in the same lush valley, a group of ethnic Mong communities have begun opening their doors to tourists in Pa Co Commune.

Boasting the same rigid mountains and rich rice fields as Lac and Pom Coong hamlets, where the White Thai have been welcoming home stays for years, Pa Co also offers a centuries’ old tea forest that’s still cultivated today.

About 73 kilometers southwest of Hanoi, Mai Chau is only reachable via one of Vietnam’s most scenic drives.

After exiting the city, the road hikes up into the green limestone mountains, revealing fresh rice paddies and fruit orchards below. In the summer, each orchard is a different color as the fruits begin to ripen.

Behind the crowded shops that flank certain parts of the road, crystal clear canals and patches of jungle shine in the distance. As you approach Mai Chau Valley, traditional stilt houses can be seen interjecting themselves between the modern homes. As the road descends into Mai Chau Town, the difference is clear: modern homes along the road, stilt houses in the valley’s rice paddies.

A little over a decade ago, Mong locals in the area still lived as nomads. But now, many have settled in Pa Co Hamlet to farm tea or enter the tea processing trade in nearby Tra Day Hamlet. Here, locals offer tourists the local specialty, Shan Tuyet tea, made from trees that have been growing in Mai Chau’s highest mountains for hundreds of years.

According to Pha, director of a local tea processing business, Pa Co Hamlet is famous for its tea trees, about which the Mong communities still tell a local legend. According to the story, the trees appeared on Pa Hang Mountain hundreds of years ago when yellow -beaked phoenixes scattered tea seeds throughout the area because they liked eating tea tree fruit. It is said that the trees in the northwestern mountains of Vietnam were their favorite. The tea trees grew incredibly fast and soon formed a forest thanks to both the superb tea-growing climate and the special seeds scattered by the phoenixes.

Pa Co’s tea forest still has more than 1,000 old trees. These days, tourists can visit Pa Co to walk through the forest and sample the Mong’s centuries’ old tea recipes.

Source: TN

Vietnamese Cultivates Wet Rice

Vietnam has two huge deltas: the Mekong in the south and the Red River in the north. From time immemorial the Vietnamese have known how to build dykes and avoid flooding, creating more land for wet –rice cultivation. Thousands of kilometres of dykes have been built along the Red River to protect this vast fertile delta and its population.

Recently my friend Huong Do and I visited her uncle, who is a farmer in Hai Duong province in the very heart of the Red River delta. The host, Mr. Hien, was very enthusiastic about showing us rural life.

Generally they cultivate two types, sticky rice and ordinary rice. The first is used for special events and ceremonies such as Tet ( lunar New Year) and weddings.

Talking about wet-rice-cultivation, Mr. Hien recites a Vietnamese proverb:’Nhat nuoc, nhi phan, tam can, tu giong’. This translates as ‘First one needs water,then manure,then diligence, and finally high quality seed’. ‘In the north we have two rice crops and one subsidiary one, according to the weather’, he said.

The winter –spring crop begins in the 12th lunar month and finishes in the fourth. The summer –autumn one lasts from the sixth to the 10th lunar month. After these crops there is time for the land to heal and we plant maize,taro, potato and sweet potato’.

To Start a crop we have to prepare the land. We empty the water from each field. Then we plough deep and rake it carefully with the help of the buffalo. The buffalo is well cared for and respected in the same way that many foreigners care about dogs’.

There are three things that are critical to every Vietnamese farmer’s life: purchasing a buffalo, getting married and building a house.

‘In order to prepare the land we put down fertiliser, either natural or chemical.water is constantly needed too’.’Different varieties of rice are very important.

Normally we select the best species from previous crops, using techniques passed down through generations. “In order to germinate it we put the paddy in a jute sack and soack it in water for 24 hours. We then take it out of the water and arrange it in a dark, damp place to facilitate germination. After 12 hours we repeat the process.

In cool winter weather straw ash is mixed with the paddy in order to keep it warm. When the roots reach two to three centimetres you can sow rice in a small prepared area.

During this period the young rice plants need water, but not too much. After one month you pick the young shoots and transplant the rice seedling to another field. ‘Working the fields requires diligence, During the three- and-a- half months of rice development you have to constandy watch your field! You need to pull out any weeds growing with the rice. This work is normally reserved for women.

There has to be water in time for each period of development of the rice’.

The ethnic minorities in mountainous areas practice wte- rice-cultivation on terraces.

It is not until you actually take off your shoes, roll up your trousers and muck in that you really appreciate the skill and energy required to harvest rice.

As Mr Hien says,’when the rice is mature the whole family has to work. We cut the rice with sickles and bring it home by ox cart.

Fortunately, machines are now used for separating the paddy and straw. Last year we had a big harvest. This year we have had to work very hard due to floods’.

With a trace of sadness Hien adds that the farmer’s life is till difficult. ‘We depend on rice but if the price is too low there is no profit. The government should pay more attention to our life, to build processing zones for agricultural products and find markets for us’.

Famers in the south harvest three crops a year and the wet-rice-cultivation technique is also different.

Source: thingsasian

Landscape from Mai Chau, Vietnam

Mother nature has given special favour for northwestern Vietnam with grandiose mountains, fanciful caves, lots of bumpy streams and winding rivers. Besides, it’s the unique traditional culture of the ethnic minorities that creates the seductive beauty for the northwest.

One of the favorite traveling programmes for foreigners is trekking through the mountainous villages of the northwest region. This is a new kind of tourism for those who love to discover, experience, and learn about manners and customs from many cultures.

The Muong ethnic group still transmits orally the saying “First Bi, second Bang, third Thang, forth Dong”. The saying names four accent mountain villages of the Muong ethnic minority. These are the biggest villages that the Muong ethnic group gather and settle down.

In Hoa Binh province, some villages are being exploited for tourism purposes. 10 kilometers from Hoa Binh City, Giang Mo village lying at the foot of Mo Mountain includes 106 houses on stilts. These houses are kept in their original form in structure, daily life activities, water system, rice mortar, bow and cross-bow, farming method, tradition and custom of the Muong people.

Being guests in these houses, you will be warmly greeted, enjoy folk art performance; buy tiny souvenirs made by the Muong people. It is even more interesting when you have a chance to listen to the host playing the flute and monochord beside the traditional wine jar (drunk through pipes).

Mai Chau village is 60 kilometers from Hoa Binh City. It has been a popular, tourist attraction. The houses on stilts are quite large and are covered by palm trees. The floors are made of bamboo’s wood. The windows not only are big in order to pick up the wind but also hang on orchid of baskets and bird cages. It is difficult for tourists to forget the camp-fire nights playing gongs, communicating with artisans, dancing with Muong girls.

According to Mr. Ha Cong Tim, the head of Lac village, tourism has brought a great change in the ethnic minorities’ life here sice 1993. There are 25 Houses on stilts in Pom village and Coong village to serve tourists. In 2007, more than 14,000 tourists went there; 60 percent of that was from foreign countries.

Only three kilometres from Son La town, you can live in Thai’ ethnic tradition. Thai’ girls who have not gathered their hair in a high bun yet (it means isn’t married) will invite you to their traditional party with wine, bamboo-tube rice, “com khau”, “mang lay”, “ pinh top” etc. Son La also has Mong village which is a green tourism, cultural, and relaxing site in the Hua La commune. Mong village has a hot natural stream named Bo Nam Un. The water has got medical properties. 100 Thai families live in here.

They live in houses on stilts in the edge of mountains. The roofs are well-decorated with the images of elephant tusks and the moon. The handicraft here includes forging, making brocade, knitting, making pottery. The sound of drums, gongs, birds, combining with stretching dance, butterfly dance, Pieu dance and the song “Inh La Oi” in will make good impression for tourists visiting Mong village.

Trekking Mai Chau, Vietnam
Cooking culture with unique dishes is an interesting factor to attract tourists. To name some traditional dishes, they have steamed glorious rice, bamboo tube rice, grilled fish, vegetable, bitter bamboo sprout, dried meat, thin-top mushroom, etc. Coming to Nam Son commune, Tan Lac district, Hoa Binh Province, visiting the original Nam Son cavern, you will enjoy the specialty here: Nam Son chicken.

It is not only soft but also sweet. According to Mr. Bui Thanh Truyen, the president of Nam Son commune, it is one of the three special dishes of Vietnam that is introduced into the famous book Slow Food Editore with 1600 other dishes of 150 countries by Terra Madre Organization (administered by Italian Department of Agriculture and Forest).

In an exploration to some North- West tourist spots, representatives of tourism companies affirmed that mountain villages of the ethnic minorities are a potential advantage. What we have to do is to connect the main tourism spots in Hoa Binh with other provinces to make a route for inter-provincial tourism program including adventurous exploration, mountain biking, trekking, etc. We have to support the trade name North-West Tourism, consolidate the stability of tourism and improve the economical life of the northwest ethnic minorities.

Although most local no longer wear traditional dress, the Thai women are masterful weavers who ensure that there is plenty of traditional – style clothing to buy in the village centre. You will see women weaving on looms under or inside their houses in the village. Much of the silk looks similar to that seen in Laos. The Thai of Mai Chau are less likely to employ strong-arm sales tactics than their H’mong counterparts in Sapa: Polite bargaining is the norm rather than endless haggling.

GETTING THERE

Mai Chau is 135km from Hanoi and just 5km south of Tong Dau junction on High Way 6. There’s no direct public transport to Mai Chau from Hanoi; however, buses to nearby Hoa Binh (25,000 d, two hours) are plentiful. From Hoa Binh there are several scheduled buses to Mai Chau (20,000d, two hours) daily. Usually these stop at Tong Dau junction; a xe om (motorbike taxi) from there to Mai Chau proper will cost about 15,000d.

Theoretically, foreigners must pay a 5000d entry to Mai Chau. There is a toll booth at the state-run guesthouse on the “main” road. More often than not, there is nobody there to collect the fee.

WHEN TO TREK

The best time to visit Mai Chau – Pu Luong is any time. One of the principal tourist lures of the area is its equitable climate. There aren’t any extremes of climate here, nor are there extremes of temperatures here. What you have are three principal seasons, hot, rainy and cold, with variations in temperature and the rainfall.

THE TREKKING DAY

A typical trekking day start at about 8.30 am after breakfast. Lunch times can vary depending on the terrain. We aim to reach the next overnight stop by 4.30 or 5. During the trek we will have short breaks for rest, snack and photographing.

If you plan to stay in a stilt house, the best thing to do is walk around the villages (they’re very close, Lac starts where Pom Coong ends) and see which location you like best. Also check if there are other people staying – the rooms are communal so if you want more privacy you should go for one that has no other guests, and hope no-one else turns up!

For a bit of luxury, Mai Chau Lodge (+84 218 3868 959) is the only option. It’s located on the main road out of Mai Chau town, at the point where you turn off onto the dirt track for Pom Coong and Lac. It’s a lovely small boutique resort with a small pool, free shuttle transfers between Mai Chau and Hanoi, and the usual range of comforts you would expect in the $100+ bracket.

There is a market on Sundays which brings together different minority groups from the surrounding area, but given the higher numbers of weekend tourists (see ‘Stay away from’) this is not necessarily a reason to time your visit for a Sunday.

But I don’t want to keep my pictures that I made in the peacefull valley of Mai Chau…

so just a short story…

Mai chau was on my priority list since the beginning… if you know me a bit than you won’t be surprised that I was immediately excited by reading ” get a real experience by staying at a stilt house with the local family”… last friday I finally “created” some time to get this experience…

The yourney from Mai Chau was a challenge and a test for my patience and survival skills… first the bus, then a motorcycle to catch a another bus, being kicked out in the middle of nowhere and with people around me that were showing me only 3 fingers ( = 3 kilometers, right) so I started to walk, grapped a ride on the back of a cycle when I was tired, bagged a girl to help me to catch a taxi. I walked again, the lady followed me and picked me up and brought me the next village (=3 kilometers but not Mai Chau) and there I found a man that wanted to bring me to Mai Chau on the back of his Xe Om ( motorbike)… a trip in the dark through the valley and the mountains of more than an hour!

But, don’t worry… everything under controll and I reached Mai Chau, booked my coconutcarpet on the floor in the house of a local family … the beginning of an amazing experience!

The valley is a source of peace and quietness… paddyfields all around, the people still live in stilthouses and the mountains keep the beauty as a treasure…

it is one of my favoriths in North Vietnam!

The white flowers on blue sky.

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The simple flowers.

Nguyen Hong Phuong

We are picked up by a 4×4 outside the hostel and already theres a Canadian lady and her daughter sitting tightly in the back two seats. We are now sitting in the middle with the tour guide and the front two seat are occupied by the driver and co driver who’s role is still unclear even to this day!

This is going to be a rough ride and its not long before we’re hurtling down the bumpy highways towards our village in the mountains. Two hours later at the halfway mark has us at a grim roadside cafe where the toilets were the worst ever and to make matters worse its started to rain as we drove the steep mountainous roads. The inside ot the 4×4 stinks of burning fuel which is giving me a sore head and I’m pondering asking to get out for a few minutes.

Well its all going just swimmingly now as we have the two lads in the front talking Vietnamese loudly over the music and the two Canadians being even louder in the back seats while we’re stuck in the middle trying to keep it together.
I’m trying to get some sweets out my bag on the floor when all of a sudden theres a loud shriek from the back seat followed by Jill going ‘no, oh, noooo!’ I look up to see a large dumper truck followed by a dog, or what was left of it lying in a pool of blood as we drove by. Jill has witnessed the whole thing and is now in tears. I’m living the dream now aren’t I?

All the tour guide could come up with was the fact that we won’t be eating dog tonight and starts rattling on a bit to far about the dogs that they breed for eating and stuff. Its not long before I give him the evil eye and told him to hush as Jill’s tears are still streaming from her eyes.

We eventually reach Mau Chai district and we stop high up in the mountains looking down on the town. The views are pretty cool up here as we can see the hundreds of Rice Fields and the town itself which is wedged between the mountains. Above the Town to the left we can see the Thousand Step Cave which we are visiting tomorrow and we’re not sure if we are looking forward to that judging by the steepness of it.

Ten minutes of downhill driving later and the weather clears up just before we reach the beautiful Village outside the Town in Mau Chai.

We are shown to our communial room where we are sleeping which is a very large wooden house on stilts witha very thin floor of bamboo sticks. It feels unsafe but in fact its perectly safe as bamboo as we all know is a very tough material.

Theres a nice Vietnamese lady who works in the House and she prepares us tea and lunch and helps us get our stuff organised up in the large sleeping room.

We left the house with a different local lady wearing a traditional Vietnamese hat who shows us our bikes and leads us on our way through the village.

Theres chickens, dogs and the odd child roaming the small lanes around the village which has virtually no one walking about. Theres shops along the roadside with people happily working, weaving or woodcarving gifts and they smile and wave occasionally as we cycle past on our rickety old bikes.

We leave the village out into the wide open floor of the valley and its gorgeous to say the least. Rice fields and Mountianous scenerys surround us as we cycle along happily following the guide with her Iconic Vietetnamese hat on.
Theres people working the fields planting and harvesting crops and theres Ox’s freely roaming about without a care in the world. Theres nice colours of plants along the way and also nice little wooden shacks that the farmers use to keep their farming tools. We kind of do a large U turn and head towards a different little village on the other side of the valley. Large Ox are being led along the road and farmers are going back and fore on makeshift tractors that are just an engine with two wheels tied to a cart.

We reached a large house which turned out to be the guides own house and she happily invites us in for cups of tea.
Inside Our House
Her english is ok and she shows us around the house and also points out her two Ox hiding behind the garden shed down below.
The Mai Chau area is well known for its stilt houses which are called Thai stilt houses and are made of bamboo and timber. These houses are elevated 10-12 feet off the ground in order to avoid water damage and shelter animals from the elements.

The Vietnamese lady shows us hundreds of business cards and photos she has collected down the years from other tourists and its quite compelling as a lot of people have sent hand written letters and commented in a few books.

We then crossed the road over to her mother and fathers house where we sat around the fire for a few minutes as she made another cup of tea. Her mum and dad spoke zero English so we kind of sat about not saying much at all until we went outside to look at the water well and animals running amok in the garden below.

We’re off and cycling again and we head back across the valley floor on a different route around the base of the mountain until we arrived back at our own digs. Its tiring stuff and we had a short nap before sitting down for dinner of chicken, rice and potatoes which tasted much better than we’ve had recently. The rest of the group headed off to watch a Vietnamese dancing show after dinner so we headed upstairs to our room. Our bed is very hard underneath and isn’t comfortable at all but we made the most of it and got an early night making sure the mosquito net was tightly secured.

We woke up to the cockerels crowing at around 5am and then the dogs barking at around 5.01am! It’s a broken sleep for the next two hours while the dogs and chickens carried on with their competition to see who can be the loudest!

Breakfast was eaten with one eye open and we tried to get freshened up and get ready for the cycle into town to begin the climb up the 1000 Steps Cave! The enthusiasm is brimming through the both of us now…honest.
It was actually very pleasant as we cycled through the little village avoiding the chickens and the dogs who were cheekily sleeping until I got my revenge by screeching my brakes on as i passed!

We watch farmers working on the land as we cycle into town and every so often a large Ox would stare at us from behind a bush which kept us on our toes. Its a relief cycling on the smooth tarmac in town and we dont cycle very long until we reach the first step of the staircase that would lead us up to the Cave at the top.

The cave was used during the Vietnam war as a place for the villagers to hide in while the town was being bombed.
We started climbing the steps and it took us around a half hour to reach the cave where we sat and enjoyed the views. Theres a lot of litter lying around and its pretty dirty inside the cave so we didn’t bother going into the cave so waited for the others to explore it before heading back down. 1360 steps later and we’re at the foot of the mountain heading for the town market.

Once we arrived at the street market we were amused at the selection of fresh fish for sale which are still alive swimming in very shallow buckets of water. ‘Ill have that one please, Chop! There you go!’ is how it seems to go.
Theres large carp, trout like fish and smaller fish like whitebait for sale either dried, cooked or fresh. Theres also 12 different types of rice for sale and its no surprise that it costs a fraction of the price it does back home and much bigger grains too.

Theres lots of fresh vegetables and fruit for sale and theres livestock tied to the side of the road along with baskets of live chickens for you to pick from and they’ll even prepare the meat for you there and then. Then horror struck as we passed the local dog meat stall and I don’t mean pedigree chum! Theres visibly parts of dogs such as hind legs, ribs and even the tail end. We walked by without saying a word as all we could think of was the poor pooch that got run down the day before. A Scooby snack sounds so wrong now!

We reached the end of the market stalls so we hopped back on our bikes and cycled the few miles back to the village where our lunch is served much to our approval.

After lunch we all headed back to Ha Noi and endured another nightmarish 4 hour drive jammed in the back seats of the same 4×4 although there was no roadkill to report this time.

We are so glad to be back at the hostel once more as the things we took for granted such as warm and comfortable beds feel like heaven.

We fly off to Ho Chi Min in the morning so its going to be good to compare the North and the South.

Pa Co white plum flower.

Pa Co white plum flower

Cloud Mountain on the way to Hang Kia.

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Dear distinguished customers, Summer is coming! The beautiful valley of Mai Chau is an ideal destination for those who wish to have a cultural touch with Vietnam ethnic minorities as well as relaxing in such a beautiful place. Join us to enjoy the summer in Mai Chau, Vietnam with our special offer: Mai Chau tours promotion:

• Our offers: discount 10% tour price for all tours to Mai Chau quoted on Mai Chau Trek’s official website at: www.maichautrek.com
• Available time: Apply for above tours departure in the period of time from May 01st 2011 – July 31st 2011

Terms and conditions of this promotion program:

• This promotion is applied to new bookings sent from March 15th only
• The promotional rates are valid for bookings which have staying-date from May 01st 2011 to July 31st 2011 based on the announcement above.
• Promotional rates are not applicable in conjunction with any other promotions, or discount.

For further details, fell fee to let us know at info@maichautrek.com

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