Taking Part In Long Tong Festival with H'Mong People

Vietnam Dirtbike Travel sets up many leading Vietnam motorcycle tours in Vietnam. We always try our best to provide you best services.

By joining one of our motorbike tours Vietnam, you will be a part of helping maintain the Vietnam’s Nature and Traditional Villages. It’s a great participation of cultural exchange and an insight view on Vietnam lifestyle.

Today, we would like to introduce you one of the biggest and most important events of Lang Son, Lao Cai, Cao Bang, Tuyen Quang… It is Long Tong festival held annually on the 4th day of the year (according to Lunar Calendar).

Although the festival has different names in different places in these provinces, it has the same procedures and parts: worshiping the God of agriculture, traditional games, folk song singing contests, etc. Most of local people here live on agriculture so this festival is mostly to thank for the God of agriculture. the God of agriculture is the one who looks after the fields, gardens. He can conjure up the wind, the rain to make a bountiful harvest and give the villagers a peaceful year.

First, Pu Mo, the head of the festival worships the gods and the kings in the main temple of the village. After that, he leads the people of the village to the paddy fields to worship the God of agriculture. Here, people prepare many gifts such as fresh fruits, wine, boiled chicken, and other traditional dishes to send to the God and pray for the good crops.

After the worshiping, local people gather to enjoy the food and after that it is the time for traditional games. Occasionally, people even invite the Lion dance team from adjoining villages to take part in a contest. They believe that if a lion comes in the spring, good luck and wealth would come to the whole family during the whole year

Joining our Vietnam motorbike tours in the time of the festival to learn more about the tradition and culture of the local people in the North of Vietnam.

Bun Cha - The famous dish of Vietnam

It is no doubt that our customers joining our Vietnam motorbike tours have a great impression much on Bún Chả dish. They can eat a lot of time the same dish Bún Chả.

A lot of visitors do not know much about this special and famous dish, so we would like to introduce you about this dish.

Bún chả is a unique food and you can find an unforgettable impression of the dish even you just try once. People believe Bun cha originated in Hanoi. For some reason, it is not available in other part of the country. Previously, bún chả used to be a dish sold by street vendors, rather than in restaurants. A bowl of bún chả is quite simple, convenient and quick, so we can enjoy it sometimes in place of rice.

The ingredients are pretty common. The chả in bún chả always come in 2 types: tiny grilled pork patties (cha vien) and fatty pork slices (cha mieng). The grilled pieces are usually made from belly meat, while the patties made from minced meat of shoulder or loin. They are both blended with spices before they were grilled over charcoal.

The rest of the dish was for bún (rice noodle) and vegetables. A basket of fresh herbs and vegetable including small lettuces, curled shredded morning glory, stems, cilantro, or some combination of minty, spicy Vietnamese herbs accompany the sauce. In the low season of such herbal vegetables, water spinach from Son Tay is used instead – the stalks are selected and split into small strands. All the vegetables are thoroughly washed, but not crushed and crumpled.

The most difficult part in making bún chả is to get the right mixture of sauce. It really is an art to make a good dipping sauce in bún chả. The sauce will then contain all the essential tastes, sour, hot, salty and sweet. Grilles of well cooked pork would be opened and the contents dropped into the bowl of fish sauce. The dipping sauce is wonderfully mixed into a picky brown, light yellow tasty liquid, while the grilled patties of minced pork or slices of belly meat, generally referred to as chả, are put into the sauce. Some chili and pepper are also added to make the food even more delicious.

Enjoy Bún Chả before joining our motorbike tours Vietnam, sure, you still want to try if after finishing the motorcycle tours Vietnam

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Hill Tribe Love Market in Vietnam

Our customers before booking our Vietnam motorcycle tours always search on internet about the special feature of the local people in the North of Vietnam. And Khau Vai love market attracts them a lot. They ask us whether to provide more information about this market also.
Traveling Vietnam motorbike tours to Khau Vai on lunar March 26th and 27th, you can have a great opportunity to join the market.  Khau Vai love market is held on lunar March 26th and 27th with the participation of a large number of locals in Khau Vai commune, Meo Vac district, Ha Giang province. Here is the home of some different ethnic tribes such as Giay, Nung and Muong. Khau Vai market is a real symbol of love. There are some legends around this market that you should know.

And here are 2 best ones:
Legend has it that once upon a time, there were a boy and a girl born from two different places of the Dong Van Plateau. And they love each other a lot. However, they are forbidden to get married by the two families, so they decided to leave home to come and settle down together in Khau Vai, a prosperous land with green plants. In honor of their merits in cultivating the wild land into a rich land, the local people built the two temples called Ong and Ba (Mr. and Mrs.) to worship them.
Another legend is that there was a young couple from different tribes Giay and Nung who fell in love with each other. The girl was so beautiful that her tribe did not want to let her get married with any man from other tribes. Consequently, violent conflict arose between the two tribes. To stop the blood shedding, the two lovers sorrowfully decided to part. However, they planned to meet once a year on that day, lunar March 27th. The place where they used to meet is Khau Vai, which thereafter became a meeting place for all those in love.

 Khau Vai has attracted not only young but also old couples of different ages. The market not only for people who come here to seek partners for the first time but also for people who love each other very much but cannot marry each other because of different reasons. The special thing is that although a husband and a wife can go to the market together to look for their own partners to share emotions. No one is jealous because the dating at the marketplace is only a temporary feeling exchange, which has no negative influences on real life.
How special the Khau Vai love market is, come and discover the market with us, we will design the best motorbike tours Vietnam for you.

In Sin Chai Village, the local gather together and reside in the valley

Joining our Vietnam motorbike tours to Sapa, you will have a chance to visit many different villages from the main town, for example: Cat Cat, Lao Chai, Ta Van, Giang Ta Chai…However, today, Vietnam Dirtbike travel would like to introduce you about another village named Sin Chai.

Located at the foot of Fansipan Mountain, ‘the roof of Vietnam and Indochina’ is Sin Chai village, about 30 kilometers trekking from Sapa town. You can get there by walking or by riding when take part in Vietnam motorcycle tours with us. Sin Chai is the village of the Red Dao ethnic people, whose women wear beautifully embroidered clothes with distinctive silver jeweler and an enormous red turban and homed of about 1.400 Mong people. Their houses are scattered on mountain side. Sin Chai people’s life is simple, they earn their living by farming, dying indigo, planting flax, weaving fabric.

Sin Chai village seems to be protected by imposing mountains, bushy green forests and terraced fields. The weather here are always cool and sometimes it brings chilly wind and the fog is the familiar image that you can get when you are Sin Chai. In Sin Chai Village, the local gather together and reside in the valley, along with the crystal and fresh stream running from imposing Ngu Chi Son’s foot. The Mong here prefer building breeding facilities far from their houses instead of right under the main houses as in the past or in other ethnics’ area.

One night home-stay in Sin Chai will be a highlight of the motorcycle tours Vietnam. Here the locals will take the time to teach you textile weaving and dying, will take the group on a locally built trail to explain the names and function of the local flora. It will be a great opportunity to participate in the village community.

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.