Dao San country fair is held every Wednesday and Sunday in the central of Dao San Commune, Phong Tho District. This is a typical fair in Lai Chau and the whole Northwest region.
From early morning, all the roads from 8 communes are filled with the sounds of people, horses, and motorcycles. All the mountains and forests wake from their sleep and is in an eager bustle. Groups of Mong, Ha Nhi, Dao, Thai people in colorful dresses stream to the market like patches of beautiful flowers on the green mountains.
The Dao San country fair is not simply a place to exchange specialties such as cardamom (a forest product of high economic value), other forest or traditional hand-made products, but it is also a place to exchange unique cultures from many ethnic groups. People are going to the fair as if going to a festival. We can catch the moment of Mong men with pan-pipe in one hand, the other hand leading the horse, and a cassette on the shoulder playing Mong folk songs. They sometimes take a pan-pipe dance contest or singing in groups, flirting at each other. One can also watch groups of young men and girls of Thai, Ha Nhi people sing and chat up each other. Mong women often go to the fair with a baby on the back, sitting on rocks and working on their embroidery or holding the umbrella for their sleeping husbands. Mong girls sit in groups to chat with each other and watch the men playing tickle game, pan-pipe, or Thai people playing “to mac le”, etc.
Going to Dao San Country Fair, tourists have many chances to enjoy the beauty of mountain ranges, sparkling waterfalls, terraces, streams, suspension bridges, the villages in the foggy clouds on the winding 40km road from the center of the district center.
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Mong's apple
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Dao san country fair full of local citizens
Cập nhật: 6//8/2014
Phương Liên
Translator: Thu Phương