Mai Chau Valley

Why go to Mai Chau?

Mai Chau is a beautiful valley where there are charming and quiet villages of White Thai people, surrounded by green mountains and dotted with lakes, rice fields, rivers and thatched wooden houses on stilts. This pretty valley looks like a huge green stadium where small dirt roads wind through rice fields and lakes. At sunset, the villages of Mai Chau are invaded by a vaporous light, white clouds and mist. White smoke escapes from the houses on stilts scattered along the slope that leads to the Thai villages. Here and there, we pass the elegant silhouettes of young girls who, gracefully dressed in their traditional clothes, bring smiles to the faces of visitors. The majority of the population of the Mai Chau valley are the White Thai. They are extremely respectful towards foreign travelers. The main assets of Mai Chau Valley are the natural and colorful landscape and the culture of the White Thai people. There are many villages in the area that attract tourists, foreign travelers and expatriates from Hanoi such as Lac Village, Pom Coong, Sam Khoe, etc.

Here, the houses on stilts are high, clean, with solid floors, separated by 1.5m from the ground. The floor is made of bamboo of various varieties. The roofs are covered with palm leaves or rattan. The windows are large enough to catch the fresh wind and also the ideal place to hang orchid branches or bird cages. A cloth weaving machine and brocade are placed next to a window. This is the workplace of the woman of the family. Through the window, we see a square pond adjacent to the columns of the house where fish swim in the clear water, further away some black buffalos are in the middle of green rice fields.

The atmosphere in Mai Chau

Staying one day and one night in a wooden house on stilts with White Thai people is a real invitation to share their daily life, to discover their crafts. You are carried away by the simple and pleasant atmosphere. People will welcome you warmly in their home as if you were family, they will offer you food and lodging, rudimentary but clean. A participation in the traditional folk dance of the White Thai is a must, you also have the opportunity to taste ruou cân (fermented rice alcohol that is drunk collectively with the help of bamboo stems). You can also taste com Lam, a specialty of the ethnic minorities made of glutinous rice packed in pieces of young bamboo, corked at one end and cut at the other, the whole is grilled on the fire until the bark is well burned. At mealtime, this charred part is removed, keeping the white interior of the bamboo that surrounds the rice. The fragrant com lam tube is cut into pieces and eaten cold. Another specialty, Muong pork (meat of a small breed of pig, raised in the wild to have firm flesh) is cut into pieces and flavored with spices (onions, garlic, sesame, chili). The whole is skewered. Once grilled on charcoal, it spreads a delicious smell that will immediately make your mouth water.