Go to Bac Ha to drink corn wine, eat simmered horse meat and offal (Thắng cố)

Our next destination was Bac Ha. According to the document, the name Bac Ha initiated from the Tay phrase “Pac ha” which means “a hundred bundles of straw”. During the French colonial period, the French interpreted the sound of Pac ha into Latin letters as Pakha. The Vietnamese called it Bac Ha which then became the official name of this land. In addition, Bac Ha can be compared with the name “white plateau”, because in the years 1985 – 1986 backward, in mountainous areas of Vietnam such as Lang Son, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Lai Chau, and Nghe An, people grew quite a lot of addictive plants like poppies and marijuana.

Bac Ha town is small and quiet with nothing special. But once we step out of town, there are so many beautiful scenes. This is an interesting destination with charming pristine sceneries, with the sour noodle (phở chua) and the famous simmered horse meat and offal (thắng cố), the cups of warm maize wine and the kind people.

Maize wine in Bac Ha is famous for its quality, so of course, when walking around Bac Ha, you will come across many beautiful cornfields!

In Bac Ha, there is a Bac Ha fair on Sunday, which is a big market, gathering many ethnic people from different villages in the area, selling diverse goods. However, the day we arrived in Bac Ha was Monday, so on Tuesday, we went to another market – Coc Ly market. This market would be a good place to go if you do not buy anything because the market is located on a large rustic lot, however, the price of the products sold in the market is unreasonable. We helped 2 Canadians to shop and we felt really embarrassed. At first, they asked to buy a blanket. The seller said it was 1.6 million. I said oh no, I only paid 600,000 dongs for it in Sapa. I bargained for them. At first, the seller did not agree, but then she ran after us and agreed to sell it for 600,000 dongs. Surprise?!

The only thing we bought at the market was the broom of an ethnic seller. There were only 2 broom sellers in the market, each one sold 1 broom. They did not have a fixed stall but went around with a basket on their backs. Indeed, going to today’s market fair, you must be calm, lucid, and apply the experience of evaluating people and things. When I left, I felt my sadness floating around somewhere ….

Particularly, the food and drink stalls in the Coc Ly market were very decent, and many indigenous people came there to gather and enjoy the food together.

The next day, we went from Bac Ha to Si Ma Cai to attend the Sin Cheng fair. Oh, the names of places are hard to remember!

Si Ma Cai is a Northern border district in Lao Cai province, Vietnam. According to the document, the Northern mountains of Vietnam used to have many places with the meaning of the mythical Dragon – Fairy, among which Sin Ma Cai means that a strange horse appears in the land. Legend has it that a Heavenly Dragon went down to watch the Earth’s people, seeing beautiful scenes, it became a giant horse, which looked different than normal pack horses. Where there are many residents, there is a street market. Sin Ma Cai means the market has a strange horse.

Sin Cheng Market is located away from the center of town, so there are not many tourists and the identity is still preserved over time. The products in the market are products of livestock and cultivation of ethnic people, sold at very soft prices. This photo was taken in a small street on the side of the market with lots of chickens, geese, and ducks.

An interesting point in Sin Cheng market is that there is a whole lot of land for people to sell buffaloes.

How lovely these gingers are!

This basket of organic eggs was so lovely!

Bunches of beans were tied carefully and nicely.

The old woman who sold me some ripe persimmons had a happy face and a gentle smile. She couldn’t speak Viet language, so whatever I said, she would only laugh.

The red persimmons were so delicious!

Fried cake (bánh rán) – the outside is glutinous flour, and the filling is green bean paste, sold throughout the markets in the Northern mountainous areas.

The H’ mong ladies sat by the roadside selling vegetables and fruits. Everyone had a good smile.

Every Wednesday, I sell vegetables at Sin Chieng market. Remember to come and support me! (Ha ha ha, just kidding. I just asked to follow the women to sell vegetables. They did not understand me, so they just laughed and laughed, so I assumed that they agreed!)