New Rice Festival of the ethnic Thai people in Vietnam

Lai Chau is the home of the ethnic Thai people, so travelling with us through motorbike tours Vietnam, you will have a chance to join many festival held by the Thai people here.

Kin Lau Khau Mau, known as Thanksgiving or New Rice Festival of the ethnic Thai people is the annual festival held by ethnic Thai to give thanks for a bumper harvest and a chance for boys and girls to meet each other. The festival is again held annually at Huoi En Village, Muong So Commune, Phong Tho District of Lai Chau.

The Thai people consider their ancestors’ blessing very important for ensuring a bumper crop. So, before harvesting, families offer rice to their ancestors, expressing their gratitude to them. The Thai people celebrate the New Rice festival when harvest time comes. This custom has been passed down from generation to generation.

The exact day of New Rice festival is not fixed. It depends on the families and clans. The new rice festival celebrates the crossroads of earth and space, and the combination of factors necessary for a good harvest. Long ago, upland rice was always used to make green rice because it kept the sweet flavour and stickiness best. Today, the amount of upland rice is limited, so local people make green rice from common sticky rice or Luong Phuong rice instead. When the rice is ripe in the field, the Thai people kill buffaloes and pigs, and cook new rice to make the offerings. After worshipping, the host presents the meal and invites neighbors to have. Only one member of each neighbor family come to join the meal, there are gifts for others.  

Besides Thai people, many other ethnic groups in the north of Vietnam also celebrate New Rice festival. However, depending on each ethnic group, organizations, the festival will be held differently but commonly, there are offerings giving ritual, new rice eating ritual…  

Joining Vietnam motorbike tours is the best way to learn more about the ethnic people’s culture. So, please contact us via email dirtbiketravel@gmail.com and we will reply you as soon as we receive your email to ask any questions for one of the best motorcycle tours Vietnam ever.

Hai Van pass is well known for its dangerous roads

Traveling with us for motorbike tours Vietnam along Ho Chi Minh trail, you can have a chance to ride through Hai Van pass which is situated along the Hai Van mountain side, on the border of Thua Thien Hue Province and Da Nang, and is one of the world’s most scenic coastal drives. Hai Van means “Sea Clouds”, since the peak of the mountain is in the clouds while its foot is close to the sea.

When you ride through Hai Van pass, you will have 2 feelings: amazement at passing through the clouds and fear when seeing the dangerous bends of the road. Hai Van pass is the longest and highest mountain pass road in Viet Nam with a length of 21km.  Its summit is 496m above sea level. Hai Van is well known for its dangerous roads, and accident warning boards carefully appear regularly along the side.

Motorcycle tours Vietnam through the pass on a sunny day, you can enjoy dazzling panoramic views over Da Nang, the Tien Sa Port, the Son Tran Peninsula, the Cham Islands, and the picturesque endless white-sand beaches. Here, if the weather affords it, there are views to both the North and the South. The road on the pass winds along the mountainside. If you cross in winter, the pass serves as something of a visible dividing line between the climates of the north and south. With sudden curves, blind corners and covered by a thick layer of mist all year round Hai Van pass is like an arrogant but beautiful girl challenging those who like adventures. The road is difficult and it’s a nightmare in the wet or dark (or both).

Tourists can discover the beauty of the pass, visit the Hai Van Gateway or behold Thong Nhat trains passing through mountains under green canopies. Combining nature and the creations of man, the Hai Van Pass deserves its name “the most marvellous wonder” as given by Emperor Tran Nhan Tong in 1470. Previously, Hai Van pass was the only road connecting the north and the south. However, in 2005, the 6280m-long Hai Van Tunnel opened, bypassing the pass and shaving an hour off the journey between Danang and Hue. Because of this, few people now use the pass.

So if you find the pass so attractive when reading this brief introduction, please contact us for the best Vietnam motorcycle tours to visit one of the highest passes in Vietnam as soon as possible.

Foods on our Vietnam Motorcycle Tours

You might once taste noodles of other countries or Vietnamese noodles somewhere else, but nothing could beat the amazingly subtle flavor of Vietnamese noodles in Hanoi. You are unlikely to find good “Pho” in a big hotel. Many of the best “Pho” restaurants have very basic tables, chairs, and decor but are full of customers.

Many customers joining Vietnam motorcycle tours with us agree with us that the most special “Pho” restaurant in Hanoi is Pho Bat Dan (located at No.49, Bat Dan). This restaurant servers “Pho” Noodle- a long lasting traditional dish of Vietnam. It has opened years now, despite all-day sale, it is always much in demand. In order to enjoy the cuisine, you have to stand in line and wait until your serving done. Yet, with the excellent service, it only takes you about 10 minutes for waiting, rest assured.

A bowl of “Pho” includes five essential ingredients: flat rice noodle, meat, broth, herbs, and spices. As many loyal customers here said: “Once you enjoy the noodle at Bat Dan, you will see noodles in other places really tasteless”. The price here is quite expensive, for normal set 35,000 VND and for bigger dish 45,000 VND.

Let’s see the review of Mr. Pratik P from Washington DC: “Wow. The pho at Pho Bat Dan is HANDS down the BEST pho we’ve had in Vietnam. That’s right—in ALL of Vietnam.  Let me start with the best part of the experience: the beef. Tender, delicious, and fresh. They also pack in a lot for you, so it’s not like other places where they skimp on the meat. Get the Pho Bo and you’ll see what I mean. Noodles: cooked perfectly. Broth: just like everything else above… freakin’ delicious. All for 50,000 VND ($2.30) per bowl. It’s really a no brainer. Go and enjoy :)”

Now. Com with us for amazing motorbike tours Vietnam and also have tours to enjoy the most famous dish “Pho” in Bat Dan.

Muong Hum Market, a popular market of hill tribes in North of Vietnam

Vietnam Dirtbike Travel offer rides motorbike tours Vietnam to all over the northern mountains of Vietnam, down the Ho Chi Minh Trail with powerful dirt bike for all level: novice, intermediate and expert.

Today, we would like to introduce you about Muong Hum market, a very famous market in Bat Xat District, Lao Cai province which is approximately 45km away from Sapa Town. It would be a real miss to skip this merry farmer market in your trip to the Far North. The market is full of people making transactions, bustling activities and colors.

If possible, it is the best experience when joining Vietnam motorcycle tours to Muong Hum market from Sapa. Muong Hum Market is set on open flat land at the bottom of a large and scenic valley by a small river and surrounded by terraced rice paddies. This market convenes on every Sunday is a place where local people meet and communicate.

Many ethnic minority come to the market to sell their homemade products including vegetables, fruits and also domestic animal. The colorful dresses of the market attendants are so fun to watch. There are several ethnic groups going to this market-Giay, Dao, Hmong and Ha Nhi. To some visitors, the diversity of the market attendance alone is bewitching enough. In the market, many Thai girls wearing long pink, green shirts gather around the stall selling handmade silver jewelries. At other corner, there are orange and green dresses of H’mong girls crowdedly standing around the heap of pomegranate. The young Dao girls wear beautifully and sophisticatedly with red scarves on their heads which are rolled up and long to the ears. The long black dresses of Ha Nhi ethnic group is embroidered with green patterns that is new and sophisticated.

The town is awakening by human and horses sounds and colored by the costume worm by local people come down from mountain around. Some famous dishes you can enjoy when coming here are: horse meat fried with onion, pig entrails served with mint leaves and don’t forget to have them with Lao Cai wine or fresh beer.

When the market ends, tourists will be surprised when seeing H’mong wives walking and taking the horses along to carry their drunken husbands to home and the children speaking English proficiently despites of never going to the language school…

Muong Hum market still reserves their own traditional and their lifestyle. When you come here even you are a stranger but people here are warmly welcome you not only with their smiles they can invite you to their meals as well.

Visit our website: dirtbiketravel.com for more information about our motorcycle tours Vietnam.
Tag: Vietnam Motorcycle Tours, Vietnam Motorbike Tours, Vietnam Adventure Tours, Tours Vietnam, Motorcycle tours vietnam, Motorbike Tours Vietnam

Sa Pa church, the most ancient architectural work of the French left in Sa Pa

Vietnam Dirtbike Travel is specialized in organizing custom Vietnam motorcycle tours covering every destination in Vietnam. All of our trips are designed to suit every rider with different preferences such as laidback sightseeing tours, intensive enduro tours and everything in between.

If you love Sapa and found the information about this beautiful town through the photos on internet before coming with us for one of the best motorbike tours Vietnam, you can see the Sapa church which is so oustanding in many photos.

Sa Pa church is located in a prime location, shielded by Ham Rong Mountain on the back, facing a large, flat area, which is the home to colorful festivals of the mountain town. The church was built in 1895 and it is the most ancient architectural work of the French left in Sa Pa, Lao Cai. Before starting to build this structure, the French architect selected carefully about the terrain. was built in 1895 and it is the most ancient architectural work of the French left in Sa Pa, Lao Cai.

The whole church was built by stone (walls, floors, bell towers …) that are linked by a mixture of sand, lime and molasses under the cross by Roman gothic architecture With total area over 6000m2, Sapa church has enough rooms for the arrangement of the area. The interior is decorated with lovely stained glass windows in a modern style that depict the life of Christ. The church includes seven spacious rooms of more than 500 m2, with the 20 m bell tower and a bell of 1.5 meters high, cast in 1932, weighing 500 kg and the resonation within a radius of nearly one kilometer. Choosing the direction of the church has important spiritual significance for Catholics. The church faces the east, towards the rising sun to welcome the light of the God. At the end of the church (the bell tower) is the west, the birthplace of Christ.

The church of Sapa is always a place where holds many traditional cultural activities of ethnic minorities. At the church, ethnic minorities often held traditional activities known by tourists as ‘market situation”. Additionally, because the structure was designed early, the church of Sapa experienced many events of history.

Though having been standing in the land for more than a hundred years and witnessed the contemporary history of Vietnam, Sapa Church is always under quite well maintenance. Sa Pa Stone Church has been nominated by the Vietnam Records Book Centre as one of the top five over 100-year-old churches in Vietnam.

Do not hesitate to contact us to book one of the best motorcycle tours Vietnam ever to visit this so famous church in Vietnam.

Dirt Bike Crash - Vietnam Dirtbike Travel