“Terrace fields of ripe golden rice, buckwheat fields at the beginning of the season fluttering in the wind, dotted with rows of green pine trees, below is the Chay River winding on both sides of the majestic cliffs. All the colors blend together to create a scene that is both poetic and typical of the beautiful Suoi Thau Steppe in Xin Man commune, Ha Giang province, Vietnam."

Suoi Thau steppe is located in Nan Ma commune, this is a land located at the gateway connecting Xin Man district of Ha Giang with Bac Ha district of Lao Cai province. Currently, the total area of ​​planned land in the steppe area of ​​Suoi Thau village is 146 hectares, including land within the administrative boundaries of Coc Pai town and land within the administrative boundaries of Nan Ma commune. With an altitude of about 1200m above sea level, the air is fresh and cool all year round. This place is blessed by nature with wild, majestic and fresh beauty, like a small corner of Europe, so recently people often say that Suoi Thau is “miniature Switzerland”.

WHEN SHOULD YOU GO TO SUI THAU? Suoi Thau is still not as well known as Dong Van or Meo Vac in the Northeast of Ha Giang province, so it still keeps its pristine and clear hidden corners. The best time to go to Suoi Thau is from August to October, late autumn and early winter. When the golden rice fields are ripe and golden, interspersed with cool green corn plots, along with the vast pink and pink buckwheat fields. In the distance are scattered rows of sandalwood trees, scattered with pure and simple Mong wooden houses,

• In winter, the temperature sometimes drops to around 1-2 degrees Celsius
• In summer, the highest temperature sometimes reaches 30 degrees Celsius.
• In autumn, the temperature is quite cool, but sometimes by noon the clouds still haven’t cleared

Everyone should check the time and weather forecast regularly because the road to Suoi Thau is quite difficult. If it rains, the car cannot run anywhere because it is steep, muddy and dangerous.

MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION

In fact, Suoi Thau steppe is still quite new to the local people nearby, not to mention tourists, so besides the sparkling photos on the internet, people only say that the road to Suoi Thau is very difficult. go, but how difficult it is, only those who are passionate about moving from the South to the far Northwest can understand the experience.

There are 2 routes people often talk about going to Suoi Thau:

+ Route no.1: Depart from Hanoi, take a sleeper bus/car to the city. Ha Giang then rent a motorbike to go to Xin Man to continue conquering Suoi Thau. This palace combined with going to Hoang Su Phi is also quite ok

+ Route No.2: Depart from Hanoi, take the train to Lao Cai. Rent a motorbike to go to Bac Ha palace, visit Simacai, go to Suoi Thau and then combine to go to Ban Phung and Hoang Su Phi. This palace is strange and has few people. The scenery is beautiful, the road is okay except for a few offroad sections and a few missed charging sections.

ACCOMMODATION ? (WHERE TO STAY?)

Depending on the schedule and route, people book a suitable homestay/hotel. Following my plan, there is a very satisfactory homestay to share with everyone CHO HOMESTAY: Located right in Bac Ha town so it is very convenient to stop to rest and then go to Simacai or Suoi Thau. Before the covid epidemic, this homestay was extremely popular with foreign guests, the homestay was quite large, extremely beautiful, had a million-dollar view, had all kinds of dorms, stilt houses, bungalows… fully equipped, clean, clean house. The food is spacious and especially the homestay owner’s wife cooks very well and brews great wine.

-– Phone number: 0949423221 (Mr. Cho) – speak English very well

– Address: Phec Bung, Ban Pho Commune, Bac Ha District, Lao Cai Province.

In this article, I only share about the route to Suoi Thau steppe. For a longer itinerary, please see the article about #HaGiang.

DAY 2: HCM – HANOI – LAO CAI CITY

At 3pm, our group flew from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, arrived at Noi Bai airport at 6pm and took a grab to Hanoi station (address 118 Le Duan, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi). To save time and maximize safety, our team chose to take the night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai.

This is a cruise ship with 1 trip per day (4 beds in 1 room, clean, comfortable, polite). Ticket prices range from 500-850k depending on the decoration in each room

While waiting for the train (10pm), we stopped at the beer shop opposite to have a beer for dinner. – I booked the train ticket through Ms. Thu (a place I know and have traveled to many times), so I just needed to scan the QR code and get on the train. Get some sleep and you’ll arrive at Lao Cai station. {{Ms. Thu’s phone number: 0972131363}}

DAY 2: LAO CAI city – BAC HA – SUOI THAU

At 5:30 am the train arrived at Lao Cai station. After checking in, we moved to the motorbike rental place. (People can rent at Ms. Thu’s place right at Lao Cai station or walk a little to 366 Khanh Yen Street, Lao Cai City – I have booked a motorbike in advance for 150,000 VND/motorbike/day).

After checking and receiving the car, we went to have breakfast and enjoyed a bowl of Pho in Bac Ha. Then, no matter what, you have to have a cup of coffee at the SUPPLIED CAFE before starting journey.

The destination is Cho Family Homestay in Bac Ha. A “million dollar view” homestay with super cute owners, delicious food (delicious hot pot) and delicious pear wine that makes you forget the way home. After checking in to the homestay, take a shower and rest, then depart for Suoi Thau in Xin Man, the roads are relatively stable, there are many potholes, especially several consecutive curves.

The road near Suoi Thau steppe is quite bad, the road has many long up and down slopes so you need to drive carefully. Follow provincial road DT153 and turn right through Nan Ma commune, everyone just go straight or use Google map to find the way to “Dung Chan Hoang Point”, right on the turn up there is a sign (the sign is attached right away). the day I leave) so now everyone will move more easily.

The road to Suoi Thau steppe is very difficult and requires an experienced driver. However, when you arrive, you will find that the strenuous journey was worth it.
Currently, this area has received more attention from the government. There is a local motorbike team that takes you up and down for about 40.000VND -50.000VND/round, depending on how many people in your group. If you go to the flower gardens or buckwheat triangle to take photos, ticket is around 50.000VND/person. In general, the price is not expensive because people in this area are working very hard. There are tents selling drinks, costume rentals and snacks such as grilled potatoes/corn.

The color that captivates people the most is probably the faded pink of the vast buckwheat fields.

Coming to Suoi Thau in any season in a year, we can admire impressive landscape paintings, each painting has a unique color and attraction.
-It is a mustard flower that blooms brightly yellow in the sky in spring.
-It is the cool green color of rice fields and corn fields.
-It is a vast, poetic steppe with the yellow color of ripe rice and hills of buckwheat flowers blooming in the fall.
-They are beautiful straight rows of cedar trees amid the cold of a distant land in winter.

Suoi Thau has only recently been known, so there haven’t had accommodation services yet. Traveller usually stay in Bac Ha District or Ban Phung, Hoang Su Phi, or Ha Giang City…. Or some people will bring a tent to camp here overnight (but it’s quite dangerous if there’s a storm).

The locality plan to promote the construction and exploitation of the tourism potential of Suoi Thau steppe to attract tourists, and at the same time invest in building more accommodation and service providers. Tourism services meet the needs of sightseeing and bring many meaningful experiences in the peaceful Suoi Thau Steppe.

The sunset here is very beautiful, but everyone still takes the opportunity to go home to avoid the dangerous dark mountain pass.

Returning to the homestay, showering, eating hot pot, drinking pear wine and chatting with friends and the homestay host was so wonderful.

At the end of this journey, people can return to Lao Cai to return to Hanoi if they only have 2 days and 2 nights on the weekend. If you have more time, you can combine trips to Ban Phung, Hoang Su Phi or Hainan ( China) as my team.

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