Bắc Sơn valley in ripe rice season

August 05, 2016 - 11:03

It is one of the hottest months of the year. People are surrounded by the strong heat and high humidity weather, making us easily get frustrated and out of temper.

Majestic: In the valley, smoke from burning straw flies slowly up to the sky.
Viet Nam News

Hoàng Linh

It was one of the hottest months of the year. The heat and humidity made us easily frustrated and bad tempered. If you don’t like the seaside because of hot beaches, consider coming to Bắc Sơn which will offer you fresh and cool air and vast ripe rice fields.

Bắc Sơn is a highland district of Lạng Sơn province, 160km to the north of Hà Nội. From Hà Nội, tourists can take an open bus along National Road No.3 to Thái Nguyên province, then on National Road No.1B for about 80km before reaching Bắc Sơn.

Bắc Sơn is in the centre of limestone mountain, with the majestic beauty of mountains, clouds, and endless green rice fields.

Its beauty has different shades of appearance in different times of the year. From the end of July to mid-November, it is said to have the nicest weather.

Vast ripe rice fields in Bắc Sơn had a graceful nature. A golden colour is everywhere while the clouds lazily flow over limestone mountain tops. The scene was so picturesque that we couldn’t take our eyes off it.

“I feel so overwhelmed. I must take hundreds of photos of the land.” Nguyễn Thu Hà, my friend, said, jumping with excitement.

Stunning: From Nà Lay Mountain Top, the whole valley seems divided into squares with different shades of gold colours. — Photos news.zing.vn

From Nà Lay mountain top, we could see the whole scenery of the area with its all peacefulness and charm. We saw tiny roofs standing one by one. Roads, rivers and people became so little that they looked to be moving in slow motion on a golden background. Smoke from burning straw flew up to the sky, making the whole picture more distinguished.

Bắc Sơn has quite even terrain, good irrigation works so that residents can have two crops a year. Rice crops there are not planted at the same time so they are not harvested at the same time. Farmers in Bắc Sơn often use harvesting machines to accelerate the process so it creates different shades of colour in a single field.

“Look! From above, that field looks like a smiling face!” Hoàng Thu Trang, a friend said.

Rice fields in Bắc Sơn have been rated as “A rare green field of the planet” on the tourism website whenonearth.net for its amazing and unique features.

Leaving the mountain top, we went down to be immersed in the lives of locals. We felt the busy atmosphere of harvesting days. Farmers were excited to cut crops, hopeful for a bumper season. In the middle of the valley, the mountain ranges seemed more majestic.

Living in the highland, Bắc Sơn residents are mainly Tày people who preserve traditional customs like fork games such as stone throwing, swinging, etc. Tày people’s houses face the Southeast, a tradition going back hundreds of years. Life here is peaceful with rustic, calm people and beautiful nature.

We left Bắc Sơn with a memory card full of photos. We knew that we had gained a great asset that cannot be bought at any price. — VNS

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