Vietnam Women's Union

Visit Bac Ha for Corn Wine and Kermis

26/06/2006

Bac Ha District is located in Lao Cai Province, a mountainous region in northern Viet Nam. It is well-known for its naturally subtropical scenery and average temperature of 19°C. Tam Hoa plums are really a local specialty: sweet and fresh. Bac Ha is also reputed for its wine made of corn grown on high mountains. Traditional values and identities are well-maintained in kermises. Visitors to Bac Ha will have an opportunity to understand the local traditions and customs, taste local specialties, meet nice people and know a land named “white plateau”.

Amazed with Ban Pho village

At 9 am, with the headlight turned on, my motorbike could not run faster than 10 kilometers/hour in thick mist.

Nearly 10 kilometers from Bac Ha district’s center, the mist was clearing. Corn was appearing, with fields of corn stretching as far as the eye can see.

We stopped by a typical Mong family home, a cloud of smoke was hovering over the house. Sung Xuan The, an 11th grade student, was tending a fire on which corn wine was being brewed. The’s mother invited the guests to try newly-brewed wine. We liked the alcohol very much and wanted to try it again and again.

90% of the commune’s 550 households are Mong people. All of them grow corn and brew corn wine, at least 20 litters a week by each household. Wine brewing technique is passed through many generations. It is strange that the same corn, same enzyme and the same person from Ban Pho village cannot produce wine with the same quality somewhere else. It might be the climate and the water here which make the difference in the wine, which keep you drunk longer, but merrier and more relaxed.

Exciting kermes

Bac Ha received over 50,000 visitors nationally and from 28 countries in 2005. Visitors are always eager to go to kermises. There is only one kermis every Sunday with the attendance of 14 ethnic groups.

Though people live 50 kilometers away from the kermis, they arrive in the market very early. They do not go to the kermis only for trading but also for fun. Ethnic minority people are feeling so at home, standing in front of foreign visitors’ cameras with a friendly smile. one of Bac Ha kermis’ most attractive traits is the variety and originals of traditional costumes, especially Mong ethnic minority women’s skirts and costumes.”

A specialty of Bac Ha kermis is Tam Hoa plums (a famous plum strain in the north). This kind of plum is very sweet and a main source of many households’ income. Tam Hoa plums create a very unique beauty for Bac Ha. When the spring comes, the central highlands is brightened with the white color of plum flowers. It is where the name “white plateau” was supposed to have come from.

We left Bac Ha while the kermis was still crowed. Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of the District Hoang The Dung got quite carried away when talking about projects to make Bac Ha more attractive without losing its original and natural traits.

A VND100-billion project is planned to build a water reservoir in the town center and a new market to make up a community entertainment center. Also, Hoang A Tuong regime’s old house architecture relics are being restored.

Hopefully, green fields of corn, glasses of corn wine imbued with Mong people’s love and country kermises without bargaining or competition will always draw visitors.