Muong Hum market
The Muong Hum market is about 45 km from north-western Lao Cai Town, passing over the complex of Muong Vi caves and grottoes and Xeo village. This market has preserved nearly intact its life – style, imbued with culture tradition. Muong Hum market convenes on every Sunday is a place where local people meet and communicate. Indochina tours Vietnam
Muong Hum is a large and important market in the northwest region of Lao Cai Province. Very different from Bac Ha and Sapa market which lye inside the district townships, Muong Hum Market is set on open flat land at the bottom of a large and scenic valley by a small river and surrounded by terraced rice paddies. It is often empty and quiet on the other weekday, waken up and busy on Sunday. PANDAW CRUISE
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This market is well-known as one of the most interesting Sunday market in Lao Cai province and possibly a good alternative trip to Bac Ha market for visitors thanks to the very large variety of the ethnic minority peoples to attend and quite easy to be distinguished through their traditional clothes. The flower H’mong wear thick embroidered yellow and red skirts and blouses while the Red H’mong prefer thinner red embroidered patterns on light batik background; In contrast, the Black H’mong in dark indigo with just some decorative motive at the end of the shirt sleeves and round the neck. Red Zao and Zao Tuyen wear black trousers and shirts with fine yellow embroidery motifs and pay much attention to the decoration to their headgears including silver chains and bells. There are also many Zay, Tay and Ha Nhi people joining the market who wear less colorful clothes but no less beautiful.
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* The road trip to Muong Hum takes 2.5 hours from Sapa(75km) and 1.5 hour from Lao Cai although the distant is only 42km due to tough road.
Coc Ly Market in Sapa
Same as Can Cau, Coc Ly is a small rural market nested itself off the beaten track amongst green and fabulous forest, on a bank of the Chay River.
Coc Ly Market is the colorful market in a mountainous area where the Flower H’mong mainly gathers to exchange their homemade products. This Tuesday market is about 35km from Bac Ha. You can get here via a good road, or by road and river; hotels in Sapa and Bac Ha can organize trips. Coc ly is a small village on the Chay River inhabited by the Flower H’mong Minority people. The Flower H’mong traditionally wears a distinctive and bright colored costume. They are a gentle, softly spoken people who live in the steep mountainous country close to the Chinese border. Because Coc Ly is more remote than Sapa, the dress and way of life is more traditional than in the large centers. The market deals in fruit, vegetable, pork and chickens, in addition to colorful fabrics and items of traditional dress. There is a buffalo sale in progress and many of these placid animals are tethered close to the market. Buffalo are still widely used in the growing process, especially in the mountainous regions. Horse are an important form of transport in the North West and a quite a few, sturdy ponies were tied to tree around the market. The horses carry a light timber frame on their back to carry produce to and from the market.
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There’s no dancing or singing, but Coc Ly Market in Lao Cai Province always turns colorful and festive on Tuesdays, when ethnic people gather there to buy and sell goods, dine and drink, or just wander to enjoy the ambience of the montagnard market. Many ethnic traders from Bac Ha and other parts of Lao Cai Province dress up in colorful costumes and bring horses, chickens, buffaloes, vegetables or whatever they can sell to the festive market in the wee hours, and will not return home until 1pm.
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Certainly, what catches the eyes of visitors most are the different colors of the costumes worn by ethnic people and the handicrafts they sell at the market, about 50 kilometers from Lao Cai City in the northern province. You can see young and old Hmong women, wearing skirts and hats with different types of embroidered flowers, crowding the market during the opening hours of Coc Ly. Scarves, clothes, decorations and other items made of tho cam (ethnic fabric) on sale also add color to the bazaar by the Chay River.
The colorful items are put on sale not just for locals but also tourists, particularly foreigners. However, you should remember to bargain when you want to buy your favorites, and the items at the booths located at the start of the path you walk on always have higher prices. Keep walking toward the end of the traditionally ethnic market until you find a real bargain.
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A good idea is to stroll every corner of the once-a-week bazaar as you listen to unexpected conversations, see nice surprises and learn how ethnic people sell and buy farm produce, life’s necessities and other things. After visiting the market, which is the most fresh and unspoiled market of the region, offering a wide range of different colorful ethnic minorities such as Flower C’mon, Black Dao, Tay , Fula, Lachi, Sandui and Nung….There will be an exciting boat cruise winding you through a breathtaking, out of this-world landscape where the mountain grow from water presenting their most hidden mysteries, including caves and tiny minority…A picnic lunch box can be prepared for your most convenience…
