1. Morning: Trek through the Vietnamese Jungles and Rice Fields to Khuổi My Village
2. Lunch: Enjoy A Vegan Meal and Have A Break
3. Afternoon: Get a View of Flora, Fauna and A Waterfall
4. Final Notes

On the last day of November, we decided to take advantage of the autumnal sun and emerged on a hike to a nearby village Khuổi My, Hà Giang, Việt Nam. Khuổi My village is home to the “Dao Áo Dài” (The Long Shirt Dao People) minority ethnic group and is located at the edge of the highest mountain in the Northeast Vietnam – the Tây Côn Lĩnh peak. Here is the full journey that we took through some of Hà Giang’s jungles and rice fields.

Morning: Trek through the Vietnamese Jungles and Rice Fields to Khuổi My Village

We met our guide Mr Văn at Ms Đương’s homestay where we had some tea together prior to starting our journey. We set off at 8.30am walking through Thôn Tha village until we reached the smaller paths that took us to the jungle. From here onwards the hike became a bit steeper and luckily Mr Văn knew his way around as we did take a few turns and shortcuts that only locals seem to know about.

Mr Văn has been working for YESD Travel for the past few years and has been a trekking guide for over 10 years. His knowledge of English is exquisite, we had some interesting conversations about the Ethnic minority groups in Vietnam, their languages and traditions and the importance of passing these down onto younger generations. He also told us a bit about traditional Vietnamese houses, the amount of palm leaves that is necessary for the roofs (around 9000), and the ways how Vietnamese people survive winters in houses without any insulation – lots of layers and warm blankets!

It took us about 2 hours to reach Khuổi My village. However, the lovely French couple who joined us on this hike has spent the past 2 months in Nepal in high altitudes so they were fairly fit. The elevation is around 800-900 meters and even though it is a gradual incline throughout the whole hike it is still fairly physically demanding so bear that in mind, bring the right footwear and some snacks to keep you going before lunch! All the sweating and heavy breathing is definitely worth it for the views though.

Lunch: Enjoy A Vegan Meal and Have A Break

We had delicious lunch at the top of a hill prepared by one of the local families. Since Timo and Claire (the French couple) are vegetarians, the lunch was both vegetarian and vegan friendly with plenty of vegetables, tofu, eggs, rice, mushrooms and some vegetable broth – silly me forgot to take a picture! However, I do have pictures of the view that we get to enjoy during our lunch. This should be enough to convince you to hike up here.

As we were fairly fast to reach the top Mr Văn said we have time to take a nap as our way down is probably going to take us less time than usual. Timo took him up on this whilst me and Claire had a conversation about our travels and experiences in Vietnam. If walking is not your preferred mean of transport we have seen some tourists on motorbikes, as well as locals biking around. The roads up to KhuổI My seemed in a very good condition, so if you do have biking experiences, it is an option.

Afternoon: Get a View of Flora, Fauna and A Waterfall

On our way down through the jungle we saw lots of beautiful and unusual flora, as well as many colorful butterflies, chickens, and buffalos. We got to talk to Mr Vận about the animals of Vietnam, the big spiders that you can spot in the caves of national park near Ninh Binh, as well as the rare monkeys that you can see in the Du Già National Park.

At the bottom of our trek we reached the the Hà Thành village that is famous for its beautiful waterfall. This waterfall is about 20 minutes walk from the Thôn Tha village, and perfect for swims during the summer. Sadly, the water was a bit too cold for a swim this time of the year, even though we still saw some brave people who jumped in. If you don’t fancy going all the way to the waterfall, you can still enjoy the beautiful views from one of the homestays that is at the bank of the river, and perhaps have a coffee or a tea to refuel yourself for the last bit of the journey.

As mentioned it is not too far to reach Thôn Tha from the waterfall. The walk is beautiful, surrounded by many vegetable fields where you can see locals harvesting, pruning, or taking buffalos for a walk. Once we got back to Ms Đương’s homestay she hosted us with a traditional Vietnamese coffee. The whole walk took us about 6 hours, as we arrived back around 2.30pm.

Final Notes

Needless to say, our lunch break was fairly long due to our speed, so if you just want to go for a hike without stopping and you are fairly fit, the walk could be done in 4-5 hours. I would recommend to always go with a guide as it is easy to get lost, and not only you will get to know more information about the lives of ethnic minorities and traditions, but you provide a well needed income for a local family. I can highly recommend Mr Văn!

Late autumn and winter months are perfect for trekking around northern Vietnam, just make sure to bring some warm clothes as the temperatures are around 16-23 degrees Celsius, and much cooler throughout the night!