Holding an umbrella to go to Bac Ha market

The route from Hanoi to Lao Cai now has many routes by train, by high-quality sleeper buses. I slept on the shaking, clattering train, arriving at Lao Cai station around 6am.

The Bac Ha market takes place every Sunday morning. From dawn, the market is still immersed in the clouds, and the sound of people cleaning up things can be heard. For tourists, this is just a sightseeing spot, but for the ethnic people in the highlands of this land, this is the only day of the week to go to the market, go out, and go to the market to buy necessities for the whole week. Therefore, the market serving tourists is only a very small part, mainly still a market for the local people near and far.

People go to the market very early because their houses are far from the mountains and hills, and most of them go on foot. The well-off families carry their children on their backs and ride their Win motorbikes to the market. The families that have horses bring their horses loaded with all kinds of goods down. Some people even take buses. Groups of 5, groups of 3, just like that, dressed up in their best clothes to go to the market. All the roads to Bac Ha are bustling with people going to the market. The sound of laughter and chatter can be heard from far and near.

The market is so big that it is already packed with people. The Mong, Lo Lo, and Red Dao ethnic groups gather together, wearing colorful dresses. On Sundays, the mothers and grandmothers wear their most beautiful dresses, the girls of marriageable age also wear beautiful dresses, and the boys and girls with red cheeks from the cold are also dressed beautifully. Going to the market only once a week, everyone wants to show off the dresses made by their own skillful hands. The whole market turns into a brilliant flower market.

Bac Ha Market sells everything to serve the needs of customers. The stalls of brocade are beautifully displayed outside the market, and inside is a world of colors. The color of bright red chili, the color of lush green vegetables, the color of yellow beeswax, the color of dark black hoes and shovels, the color of colorful shiny skirts and scarves. The cold weather is biting, the clouds are so far away that you can't see each other's faces, but suddenly it warms up because of the colors of the market. The fried cake stall is crowded with children, all of them are excited about the delicious cake. The pho stall is steaming, the sound of delicious slurping. The men have gathered together to enjoy a bowl of corn wine, drinking with thang co.

Bac Ha Market opens from about 6am to 2pm, then gradually disappears. When the sun rises above the pole, the buyers have gradually disappeared. The baskets on their backs are already heavy with the items they need to buy, the Mong skirts leisurely go home. The bustling market has ended by afternoon, leaving only the bare stalls. Colorful dresses spread all over the streets, turning them into flower streets. It was another dozen kilometers of walking back to the village, but everyone was happy and excited because it was a really fun day.

Photo: Many sources, To Quoc newspaper