Ta Xua Nature Reserve (Bac Yen district, Son La province) has become a popular tourist destination for many years.
Especially this is one of the most ideal place for people to look at clouds, photo, “sniffing” the flowers of heaven and earth each spring.
Going to watch the night
From Ha Noi, there are many roads leading to Ta Xua Nature Reserve. For the travel enthusiasts often they will choose to follow National Highway 32 and Highway 37 with the length of about 200 km.
The last stretch from Bac Yen Town to Ta Xua is nearly 20 km long, which is also the most impressive. This is a road with many steep slopes, constantly appearing requires the driver to have the skill of climbing-good pass, master of the means.
Up to the center of Ta Xua community, Bac Yen district is also the core zone of the Nature Reserve where we are present at an altitude of 1,500-2,000m above sea level. Ta Xua Nature Reserve was established in 2002 with a total area of 42,000 ha (including core and buffer zone).
After a tired day with the bends, steep slope us and some groups choose a popular motel for overnight with dinner dishes such as cat vegetable, hen chicken, fried bamboo shoots, sour soup. A group of young people choose group room for 50,000 VND / night. Those who need privacy and wanted to sleep with less people choose low-cost rooms also costs only 150 thousand VND per night.
At 10 PM, an amateur photographer from Hanoi invites everyone to watch the night sky. According to his experience, in the spring of Ta Xua, the clouds often appear in the valleys from 10 pm to 11 pm.
Just out of the motel, saw the clouds appear on the surface. From the resting point, if you want to watch beautiful clouds and many of us can run 2km to Mount Wind, 4km to Ban Game, or go about 11km to the area “Back Dangerous Territory” (*) …
(*) According to the tourist, there are two places in the North West that are called “Back Dangerous Territories” that many people mistakenly think of as one. In fact, there is a “dorsal backdrop” with towering mountains in which the highest peak of 2,865m lies in Tram Tau district, Yen Bai province. The remaining dorsal spines are in Ta Xua Nature Reserve, Bac Yen, Son La with the height of about 1,200m. Because of their low altitude, they can ride a motorbike along the mountain slope, so some people still call “Thao Xie” back in Ta Xua “Back of the Lizard.”
From the car lights, electric lights of the houses in the mountains, plus the technique of good exposure, people began to hunt night clouds. After about an hour standing in the cliffs, many people took impressive photographs. The bright stars appear in the image as small streaks, like the meteor shower falls into the sea breeze floating in the light of the electricity. It gives a magical feeling in the mountains.
When it was light in the morning, Ta Xua Nature Reserve appeared with the clouds, fog all over the way. Standing on the high peaks, we thought we were lost in the foreground. The sky is in harmony, the chain is close together and the person is small, she is in the immense, the same. At dawn, the sun rises from the vast sea of clouds. The rim of the sun shines with red gold, shining down the valleys filled with clouds that satisfy everyone’s expectations.
Clouds fly, bloom
Ta Xua valleys are often covered by towering mountains, with little wind, so the clouds often bellow, bloating very long tan. When the sun was rising near the top of the head, the clock at 10-11 hour that the sea of clouds still not dissolve.
Ta Xua is blessed with cool temperatures all year round. In the spring, the weather is usually very nice, from 10-20 degrees Celsius. Especially during the day, there is sunshine, blue sky is very suitable for hunters, rattan hunting, mountain view.
We wandered through the village of many communes such as Lang Chieu, Xím Vàng, Ta Xua, Lang Dong to see the clouds. Those who have traveled to Sapa, Tam Dao, Sin Ho, Binh Lieu to look at the clouds and take pictures must enjoy most of the time, because the clouds in these places often tan quickly.
In the spring, people go to see peach blossoms. In Ta Xua, dugout forests often bloomed from pre-Lunar New Year until the second lunar month next year. The blooming red peach blossom with the sky and the sky makes the scene more springy.
Peach blossoms swaying with the winds of the Hmong/mong make everyone happy and wish for a good year. During the trip, we also know a peach blossom called peach bells, peaches of the Hmong/Mong or Thick Flower.
In many villages in the core zone of the Nature Reserve, Mong people account for over 90% of the population. The Mong people here bring light and bring bamboo shoots into the forest, collecting firewood. Others go to the fields to take care of rice fields, maize and cassava for the family. In recent years, thanks to the many visitors to visit Ta Xua, some Mong people have opened more services to earn more income than traditional farming.
Mong girls with traditional costumes waering colorful spread skirts go to the slopes, go to market, go to play too. Dating girls go on the high cliffs with their partners to see the love between clouds and lands.