A Glimpse into Vietnamese Life in Mai Chau

There’s charm beneath the frenetic and chaotic surface of Hanoi. But after a few hours of wandering the cold, rainy streets and dodging motorbikes endlessly beep-beep-beeping, I was ready to explore the real reason I came to Vietnam: the countryside.

Mai Chau is a community three hours away from Hanoi. It’s a flat land of endless rice fields, surrounded by mountains. It’s picturesque; it’s quiet– the only sound you can hear is the occasional motorbike scuttling down a distant road.

It was also the best weather I had while in northern Vietnam (note to self: mid-March was sadly not the best time of year to visit this region).

The scenery was stunning, but the best of Mai Chau were the locals, who either smiled at visitors or barely gave an unimpressed glance. They continued going about their business as we walked by, and I loved this glimpse into Vietnamese life.

workers in the rice fields of mail chau

DSC01271

walking tour mai chau vietnam

DSC01513

DSC01498

mai chau marketsDSC01512 DSC01506

DSC01525

mai chau countryside

DSC01527 DSC01533 DSC01552

mai chau market faces of mai chau vietnam

mai chau kid

mai chau babyDSC01579

DSC01583

Yes, tourism is creeping into Mai Chau — there’s an entire area devoted to selling tasty sugar cane juice and trinkets to tourists (not all those silk scarves are made locally by hand you guys) — but it’s years away from being as overrun as Sa Pa. There aren’t any children trying to sell you bracelets — the kids are just being kids.

If northern Vietnam is overwhelming you… visit Mai Chau. And go soon — before it becomes the next Sa Pa.

—–

Pin it!:

maichau-pin

Author: Laryssa

Laryssa has spent 6+ years working on an assortment of film and television projects. She writes about her experiences to help (and amuse) others. If she's not working, she's either traveling, reading or writing about travel, or planning travel. Follow , Twitter, or Facebook.

Share This Post On

3 Comments

    • Thanks so much, Amy!

  1. Blog Commenting is one of the most helpful methods for improving page traffic and ranking in SERPs. It is tough to select high-PR sites to get quality backlinks. Thanks for sharing the enormous list of Blog Commenting Sites……..

    Post a Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge