Bac Ha Market has long been known as one of the most unusual markets with full of culture and colorful life of ethnic Hmong people in the Northwestern area. Moreover, when visiting the beautiful town of Bac Ha, Lao Cai Province, anyone should travel to the Ban Pho once in order to be with the family in the village to cook the corn wine, the delicious and famous wine of Bac Ha people.
Pho Village is just located more than 1 km from the center of Bac Ha town, however, it still retains the original beauty of an upland ethnic village. Coming here, tourists not only can sightsee the beautiful scenery of the highland forests and mountains but also can try Pho village’s specialties, especially wine corn of Pho village. From Bac Ha town, traveling on a winding road clinging to the slopes of the Hoang Lien Son mountain about 4km, seeing the green valleys of young corn and rice in the bottom and Tam Hoa plum trees on two roadsides, travelers will arrive Pho village.
For guests who come from far-away places of busy and noisy cities, sleeping and waking up in the morning in the calm, quiet atmosphere of the highland is very interesting. Besides the work in the fields, a significant source of income for rural households is from delicious corn wine that is famous throughout the Northwest. The wine here is cooked sticky corn that farmers harvested from the previous year and dried in the upstairs of the kitchen. After thoroughly being cooked, fermented by leaves of Hong Mi grass (a grass is commonly grown along terraced hillsides, on upland rice) maize is brought into the autoclave. Along with this enzyme, the cool water from rocky-mountains has contributed to the famous maize alcohol in Pho village. After much waiting, eventually, the clear water tinged with yellow light, the color of maize cultivation, with sweetness but incredibly high tannin taste has begun to outflow to enjoy.
According to the elderly people here, the custom of cooking wine has lasted for hundreds of years in Pho village. Nowadays, although every house cooks wine, they cook to improve income, to serve farmers everywhere in the happy days. In the village, in the hamlet, only in holidays or festivals, it is allowed to drink wine corn, as a result, it hardly has anyone drunk or to affect the order of villages. In the morning of clear space in the Northwestern highland, the guests from afar enjoy the quintessential wine of local people and hear a melody from Khene of Hmong which will be an unforgettable experience for visitors.
During the tours surrounding Hanoi, take the time to visit Lao Cai province will be a great option to learn more about the cultural diversity among the people of Vietnam. After the long trips around the noisy and bustling capital region, discover the quiet land with beautiful nature and fresh air will make visitors’ trip more meaningful.
