Bac Ha (elevation 900m), 144 km from Sa Pa, is a new paradise for tourists and dreamed destination for photographers where you can see 10 minority groups at Sunday Market, a weekly hill tribe event that draws locals in from all over the surrounding area.
Unlike Sa Pa, it is not staged for tourists and far fewer tourists make it up this way... It is warmer than Sa Pa and much less tourism industry than Sa Pa. The bad thing is the infrastructure in Bac Ha is not as good as in Sa Pa (hotel and power are in worse condition). Minority men are heavy drinkers and it is amazing to see groups of tribal women heading home, each one leading a horse behind her with her drunken husband on the saddle. Anyway, the people and landscape are far more interesting than Sa Pa. These minority people live highest in the mountains, and are renowned for their musicality, songs and word-play. The women wear tunic-style dresses of hemp fabric, dyeing with natural indigo to a deep purple-black. They wear strips of indigo cloth as leggings, and stunning silver bangles around their necks and arms.
To attend the Sunday (weekly) Market, minority people may have to walk for 20 km, most of the time with their merchandises in the back-basket. This lady is having sweet rice as lunch while waiting for shoppers at the weekly market.
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