Tourist comes to Mai Chau for enjoying the sceneries of nature and meeting the kindly people. The tours included homestay at the stilt house, simple foods and wonderful trekking routes. Tourist also have chance to learn the traditional dance of Thai people with bamboo “ equipments”.
Early in the morning, drive from Hanoi on Highway 6 to the town of Hoa Binh. Visit the huge hydroelectric plant built in collaboration with the Russians. The plant not only provides electricity as far south as Ho Chi Minh City, but the Song Da (Red River) Reservoir that forms part of the project is the largest in Vietnam. The project has also been extremely helpful in forestalling the floods that regularly threatened the region.
Continuing on, you will drive to Mai Chau. Because of its proximity to Hanoi, here in Mai Chau, you may see the government has assisted certain sites in developing tourist facilities, and Mai Chau is one of them.
Nevertheless, like the other villages you have seen, the area is spectacular, and there are many opportunities to wander off on your own. If you were trekking in the spring, the Mai Chau valley would be covered with pink and purple peach blossoms and pac pien flowers. Also in abundance are the snow-white bauhinias or ban, symbols of purity.
The Muong tribes of the area are one of the largest ethnic minorities in Vietnam, and about 300,000 Muong live in this province. They have no written language, and the children are taught orally. Their economy is based on farming and fish breeding, but they also grow rice, guava, oranges, tangerines and sapodilla plums. Like the Thai, whose homes you also visited, their houses are built on stilts with rounded roofs. Although you, as guests, will enter through the front door, the women always use the back entrance. Often during the day, the women can be found weaving beautiful fabrics, satchels and sashes that are used for ceremonies or given as gifts for special occasions.