The road zigzags along the
foot of the mountain from Lao Cai provincial town of Lao Chai Province,
which is 300 km north of Hanoi, to an altitude of 1,000 meters where
there appears a small district town in a green valley of tall Samu
trees. It is Bac Ha district town, home mainly to the Mong ethnic
minority.
Bac Ha has
long been known for its aromatic corn spirits, and now this reputation
is added to with its market activities, which have strong cultural
characteristics of the Mong. Tourists flock to this peaceful oasis
because of its natural attractiveness and the distinct traditional and
cultural identity of the local minority.
The Bac Ha
market opens every Sunday. All roads lead to the market on this day.
From dawn, hordes of people in colorful costumes and baskets on their
backs accompany horses loaded with goods to the market.
In the
market, one corner may be reserved for clothes and fabrics, while the
next is for home utensils such as trunks, and baskets. Some yards away
is a section for food--rice, corn, tomatoes, meat--and a bit farther on,
one for domesticated animals: pigs, chickens, and horses.
The most
exciting place is perhaps the corner for men. Gathered around the
flickering fireplace to heat Thangh Co, a favorite local soup cooked in
a large pan with pork and pig bones and organs, are all sorts of people:
the old, the young and couples. People sit together talking, drinking
and enjoying their traditional cuisine, and laughter and the sound of
the melodic khen (a local traditional panpipe) resounds there.
In other
parts of the country, the market is where people purchase and exchange
goods, but not so in Bac Ha, where market days are really festive days,
representing the distinctive cultural activity of the mountainous
community.
After a
hard working week, this is a good opportunity for girls to display their
best outfits. Only God knows how many couples have been matched on
market days.
People
continue the exchange activities, men continue to drink their fill and
the market keeps the hectic atmosphere till it gets dark. Many
intoxicated husbands leave their wives and horses with big loads on
their backs to wait a long time.
When dusk
falls, hordes of people and goods-loaded horses return home on the snaky
paths to the mountaintop hamlets. Among them, one may see some wives
walking beside the horses hauling weighty goods and their drunk
husbands.
One day
trip to Bac Ha market gives tourists a chance to live in a mythical
oasis of natural beauty and see with their own eyes the traditional
costumes and lifestyle of the ethnic Mong. And the impressions from
market day will not easily fade for any visitor.
