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Mai Chau
Mai Chau is located in Hoa Binh province,
approximately 135 km from Hanoi and 60 km from
Hoa Binh. From the top of Cun Mountain, one can
admire the superb panorama of Mai Chau
surrounded by a green valley and stilt houses.
Many minorities, including the Thai ethnic
group, live in Mai Chau.
Stilt houses border both sides of the roads. The
houses are quite large with palm leaf roofs and
polished bamboo-slat floors. The kitchen is
located in the center of the house; the cooking
as well as the making of the colorful tho cam,
the material used by Thai minority to make their
clothes, takes place in the kitchen. The windows
are large and decorated with patterns. Each
house also has a pond to breed fish.
The Sunday market brings a lot of people into
town. People from different minorities living in
the mountains come to Mai Chau market to sell
their specific products: honey, bananas, corn,
and tho cam made by skilled Thai women. The
Sunday market is also an occasion to enjoy
traditional Thai dishes and to participate in
traditional dances.
Mai Chau can be a base for some trekking tours
to the villages around, this is with homestay
overnight on the traditional houses of the
H'Mong and the Thai. Worth a guided treking tour
there.
Hoa Binh is a mountainous province located in
the North. It is bordered by Son La in the West,
Phu Tho and Ha Tay in the North, Ha Nam and Ninh
Binh in the East, and Thanh Hoa in the South.
The culture of Hoa Binh combines six minorities
with their own languages, traditional
literature, and festivals. Tourists especially
enjoy the minority specialty dishes including
rice cooked in bamboo and grilled meat. They
also enjoy watching traditional dancing, music
performances (bronze, drums, gongs), and Thai
minority singing and dancing. The remote
minority villages are attractive sites for
tourists.
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