(110km / 3h of road then 354km / 8h30 of train)
Picturesque, authentic and colorful: the Weekly Bac Ha fair being held on Sunday mornings. Between 7 am and 9 am, roads and mountain tracks are very lively. There, a peasant pulls his donkey who does not want to move forward. Here, another holds a piglet at the end of a leash by pushing it with a bamboo whip. Others, wiser, prefer to carry the little pigs on the platform to avoid losing weight on the way to the fair. Some go by couple, the woman carrying on the back the stack of hoods that she braided, the man the jerry can of alcohol that he distilled. They put on their best clothes. Turbans of all shapes, red, blue or black, cross simpler chests planted with fresh tea leaves or embellished with silver coins. The colorful H'mong women and girls have donned their finest skirts, all folded, swinging right and left at every step, making grandmothers look like children. The tunics are finely embroidered and the aprons shimmering. The sellers offer basic necessities (groceries, books and school supplies, toiletries, haberdashery), relayed, according to rotations which differ, by the peasants who came to sell their production (vegetables, breeding, handicrafts). Finally women calculate the benefit of the day or compare the products, the girls are beautiful, the men clink at the rice alcohol while discussing horses and land. Walk to visit hamlets around Bac Ha: Ban Pho 1 and Ban Pho 2, inhabited by ethnic H'mong variegated. Visit the abandoned house of Huang A Tuong, a former H'mong chief. Then transfer to Lao Cai Station and take the night train Lao Cai - Ha Noi / train KING EXPRESS (or LIVITRANS EXPRESS or CHAPA EXPRESS) - Cabin with 4 berths for categories STANDARD & SUPERIOR; Cabin with 2 berths for DELUXE category / Departure 19h 30. Night on board.
Meals included: breakfast, lunch, dinner
Note : Bac Ha market opens every Sunday, so if your stay does not fall on a Sunday, we suggest you either change the route a bit, or we'll take you to other authentic ethnic markets as, the market Coc Ly on Tuesday morning, the market Lung Khau Nhin Thursday morning or Can Cau market on Saturday morning.