Explore Hang Tau - Village primitive in Moc Chau, Son La

Explore Hang Tau – Village primitive in Moc Chau, Son La

Lately people tend to go for healing, Kame doesn't have anything "broken" to heal so he just goes "hiding". Escape deadlines, everyday dust, project pressures,... go to the "primitive village" "3 no" on Moc Chau plateau: no electricity, no phone signal, no internet - Hang Tau.

If people are too familiar with a town of Moc Chau full of endless green tea hills, plum gardens laden with fruit, fields of white mustard flowers that look like flowing silk, then Ban Ang Pine Forest, Dai Yem Waterfall, Moc Chau Heart Tea Hill, Pha Luong Peak,… Now a new, strangely charming, very pristine place – Hang Tau Moc Chau (Nguyen Thuy village) – is a new highlight for tourists from far away looking for the “Northwest muse”.

Where is Hang Tau?

Hang Tau Location: in Chieng Hac, Moc Chau district, Son La province, Vietnam

Hang Tau, in the local language, means empty land, or basin. About 20km from the center of Moc Chau town (Son La province), from Ta So intersection to Hang Tau is a distance to both experience and admire before tourists “penetrate” the original village.

Certainly when first hearing Hang Tau Moc Chau (or Primitive Village), people will mistakenly think this place is a cave, but in fact this place is a farming and agricultural production area larger than 1 hectare with only about 22 households of the H’Mong ethnic group are living.

2. When should go to Hang Tau?

According to local people, each season Hang Tau has its own beauty.

In spring (February-March), people will see plum blossoms blooming next to corn fields.
Summer (May-June): plum season is red and delicious. The ripe plum season lasts about a month until the ripe peach season.
In late fall or early winter (October – January next year), there are countless flowers blooming here, giving you plenty to stop and take photos.
However, around July-August: it is the rainy and landslide season, so the road is often slippery, muddy, and dangerous

Plum season is in May in Hang Tau, Moc Chau, Son La

3. Means of transportation to Hang Tau:

To get to Hang Tau, we almost all start from the center of Moc Chau town, Son La province.

For those of you from the South of Vietnam, you will have to travel by plane to Hanoi and take a sleeper bus or rent a private car or limousine to get to Moc Chau town center. After arriving in Moc Chau, you can rent a taxi for convenient transportation if you are comfortable with the budget and are not used to driving a motorbike on steep roads. Personally, I rent a motorbike because I am so familiar with the passes, motorbikes are convenient to explore some places that cars cannot reach.

Although it is only about 18km from the center of Moc Chau town, to get to Hang Tau, visitors have to go through an arduous journey of 3-4km of rocky and steep dirt roads. There are sections where you almost have to walk.

If you take a taxi or car, about 3km from Hang Tau, cars cannot continue. At this time, you should rent a motorbike taxi to move deeper inside. Motorbike taxi service is very convenient with a price of about 150,000 VND/2 way. If you ride a motorbike and have a strong handlebar, you can drive yourself to your destination. The important thing is that your bike is strong enough.

4. Accommodation (Where to stay?)

Currently, there is no homestay service with full amenities. If you want to stay, you will stay at the house of ethnic people, eating, drinking, and sleeping like them. There will be no electricity, internet, or phone signal. You will feel like a person going camping. Or you can stay at a slightly better homestay outside Ta So village.

5. Journey details:

The road to Ta So is very beautiful, cars can easily drive up, the slope is not too difficult

The exact address of Hang Tau, people just need to search Google map “Bản người Mông Nguyên Thủy” to find it.

The first destination from Moc Chau town center is Ta So intersection, specifically the Ta So greeting rock.

Check in the “Wecome Stone gate” “to Ta So Village

About 7km from National Highway 6 in Moc Chau, there is a rock welcoming the entrance to Ta So village towering above. The road is beautifully concreted, making it easy for vehicles to move. Right next to the slope, rare Obsidian with the words “WELCOME TO TÀ SỐ-KÍNH CHÀO QUÝ KHÁCH” ” is a familiar check-in place for tourists.

The immense beauty between the vast mountains and forests and the blue sky seem to blend into one. Zoom out into the distance to see the undulating mountains and majestic nature.

Looking down below are green valleys of fields of corn, potatoes, cassava, plums, and peaches

Right at Ta So intersection, people turn right onto the road leading to Nguyen Thuy village. There will be a local motorbike taxi team available here for 150,000 VND/person round trip. The road starts out bad and slopes up and down. On muddy rainy days it is really difficult and slippery to walk.

Ta So village is peaceful with simple tiled houses and plank walls.

Ban Ta So – a friendly, hospitable village that has not been touristized. From old people to young children, from people holding dignitary positions as village chiefs or ordinary people, all are kind and simple. Entering the village, meeting tourists, they are all warm and ready to show you the way. Customers who want to pick plums or peaches happily agree… Their industrious and hard-working nature is clearly shown through their enthusiasm for work. Terraced fields, corn fields halfway up the hill, or plum or peach orchards in the valley.

It rained the day before so everywhere is green

Beautiful peaceful scenery on both sides of the road at the entrance to Hang Tau village

The day I went to Hang Tau was plum season. I was lucky enough to meet local people harvesting plums at the garden. They stopped to take pictures and ask for some plums. Eating plums from the tree is delicious, everyone. Fresh, delicious, sweet and sour. The local people here are very enthusiastic and hospitable.

The peaceful, pristine beauty on both sides of the road are persimmon gardens, plum gardens, corn fields, and in the distance, the shadow of people’s stilt houses is the most attractive point for me throughout the journey that remains when looking for Hang Tau.

My next stop is a Hmong family’s soft drink shop right on the slope down the valley to Hang Tau. Because I wanted to explore, I sent my motorbike here. Buy some water to support the people and start walking down the slope, admiring the beautiful scenery on both sides of the road.

The slope looks so high and difficult. But below the main slope is a super large plum valley. The scenery is also breathtakingly beautiful.

Crossing the slope is a green plum valley, punctuating the winding pathway before entering Hang Tau.

I felt extremely peaceful when walking on the pathway, on both sides were plum gardens, scattered with green corn plots, and a few unripe green persimmon trees. Astragalus flowers grow wild on the side of the road. The children played freely. This beautiful, simple and peaceful scene remains in my heart forever

Hang Tau welcome gate, managed by local authorities, with entrance ticket of 30,000 VND/person

Entrance fee to the village is 30,000 VND/person, parking for a motorbike is 10,000 VND/vehicle. Nowadays, the government in Moc Chau is interested, so there has been propaganda and tourists know more about Hang Tau. There are shops on both sides of the road as soon as you pass the welcome gate. The food is made by the people in the village, so if you want to experience it, you can try ordering it from them.

Households here want to earn extra income, so they set up small food kiosks and let tourists rent ethnic costumes to take photos. All prices are listed, not ripped off. If you have time, please support the local area.

One thing to note when entering the village is that you should not bring food of animal origin into the village. Actually, it’s not because the people want to monopolize the food trade, but because the place is quite isolated, so often the resistance of livestock, poultry, and domestic animals in the village will be different from that in the outside and may be harmful, cannot tolerate diseases from outside animals (can easily cause disease and death for pets and livestock)

Hang Tau appears as a peaceful, pristine scene with stilt houses, cattle, poultry, and domestic animals freely foraging around the valley.

Cows calmly graze, ducks line up to return home after playing in a few water bodies in the village’s valley.

The little pigs and their mothers wander around in the dirt looking for food and play.

The children say they like to eat instant noodles, but they rarely get to eat them because their parents don’t have money to buy them for them. Something that urban children normally don’t want is a precious thing that children in highland areas who still have many difficulties and lack of material things desire. However, a sincere smile always appears on the children’s lips, even though it is not as complete as other places

Hang Tau is also very poetic when there are gray smoke rising from the stoves, flying through the roof, flying into the forest.

The largest house in Hang Tau with the national flag hanging is Ms. Mi’s house; She and her daughter often sit at the base of the house to embroider, to separate corn, and to cook rice and food for the pets in the house. However, today there is no real Ms. Mi, there is only “fake Ms. Mi” Kame.

Coming to Hang Tau valley, you will experience peace and wilderness, walk around taking photos, play with dogs and pigs, see simple houses and the days pass leisurely. Escape the hustle and bustle to the quietest, most poetic and purest place.

Some personal sharing points:

The road to the village is the most beautiful because on both sides are plum gardens. If you go in plum season, it is full of fruit. When you go in spring, both sides are filled with white flowers, which is also very romantic. Everyone is willing to walk downhill for about 700m but it’s worth it 🥰🥰🥰
Go away when the weather is beautiful and the grass is green. The village has just over 20 households, most of whom cultivate gardens nearby.
Peace and simplicity are the first feelings when coming here. Chatting with the children in the village and chasing black pigs are also equally fun😅😅😅
This is probably the place Kame finds most worth going in Moc Chau for those who like to explore.
The not-so-beautiful things here are probably due to tourists checking in. Why wear Chinese clothes to take photos right on Vietnamese soil? What do you wear to check in to help local people promote tourism? It’s okay to not stay in the garden and wear Chinese clothes. 🙂

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