1. Morning: Visiting A Hidden Waterfalls and the Buffaloes
2. Lunch: A Delicious Meal and Tea Break
3. Afternoon: Visit Local Villages With Friendly Animals

On Thursday morning, we set of on a hike through beautiful rice fields, luscious forests and buffalo pastures in Hà Giang, Việt Nam. The sceneries of Sà Phìn Hamlet were absolutely stunning, and here is our full adventure through Hà Giang on foot.

Morning: Visiting A Hidden Waterfalls and the Buffaloes

We started our day at 8AM in the Thôn Tha village, where we were welcomed by our tour guide for the day Mr Huấn. We all walked together to Ms Đương’s homestay where we met the rest of our group and had some tea. We were lucky as Ms Đương decided to join us for the hike and her navigation skills and knowledge of the area came in handy later in the day! Once everyone was ready to go, we were loaded into a car and driven for about 15 minutes to the start of the trek.

Even from the car, we were admiring the beauty around us, but nothing could prepare us for the serene scenery that awaited us once we started walking. The weather was on our side with a pleasant temperature and no rain, and even though it was a bit overcast the clouds were just adding into the whole fairyland atmosphere. Our first part of our walk took us to a stunning waterfall, however, we needed to top up our strength before going through the luscious greenery, so we stopped for a quick tea break at home of one of the locals.

We followed Ms Đương and Mr Huấn up a steep hill and through the jungle in a pursue to reach the waterfall. However, the paths weren’t very obvious or easy to follow so after a while we all agreed it’s not worth risking getting lost and we headed back. I still think that the parts we managed to see were gorgeous! I mean you don’t just get to see flora like this anywhere.

Once we returned to the main road it was easy to follow the path that was about to take us to our lunch spot. We walked up a couple of steeper hills and got to enjoy the view of the rice fields that filled with buffalos. The beauty of Tây Côn Lĩnh mountain range just kept on giving, if you are an artsy person I’d recommend you to bring your watercolors and paint those views!

Lunch: A Delicious Meal and Tea Break

After a quick stop to admire the buffalos, we reached our lunch destination in Xà Phìn village. We were first given some tea to warm us up as even though the weather was pleasant 23 degrees, the altitude of 1000m above the sea level was making the air a bit cooler. After finishing our tea we were ushered inside and served a beautiful feast. Ms Đương checked for our dietary requirements in the morning and they were able to accommodate for my vegan needs! There was an amazing selection of vegetables, fish, eggs, pork, and of course a plenty of rice. The food smelled and tasted delicious!

Afternoon: Visit Local Villages With Friendly Animals

As we were full of good food, green tea and positive energy we set off to continue our journey. The views just kept on getting better, we walked past traditional houses of which the roofs were covered in moss for better insulation, made friends with a local puppies who kept us company for a little while and were greeted by curious local children. As our group members were from various backgrounds, we kept having interesting conversations about our cultures, future goals and experiences we gained in Vietnam. Mr Huấn was a great guide but even better photographer, who made sure we had plenty of pictures to show our friends and families.

On our way back to Tha village we encountered some buffalos on the road, which did not want to move. However, Ms Đương took matters into her own hands and shoved them to a side, what a courageous lady! Apart for buffalos, we also spotted some beautiful butterflies and some more puppies. As we were walking past young cinnamon trees, Mr Hương told us a little bit about the harvest and let us taste some of the cinnamon – very interesting sweet taste! For the rest of the journey we were surrounded by the beautiful greenery, little mountain waterfalls, and breathtaking views, right before the end of our trek we met a baby buffalo that was only a few days old!

We finished our hike in Phương Do village where we got picked up by a car and driven back to Thôn Tha. The whole trek was approximately 17km and took us around 8 hours to finish, we arrived back to Thôn Tha at 4.30pm. This hike was all fitness levels friendly, and if Ms Đương can do it in wellies, there is no excuse for you not to! So pack your walking shoes, raincoat, and a jersey and head over to Thôn Tha to do some trekking. We can even go and pet some buffalos together!