Vietnam farm and sightseeing tour 9 days

Transfer to Hiep Hoa district, Bac Giang province.
Arrive a local’s family after 45 minutes driving; you are warmly welcomed by a host. You’re invited to enjoy welcome drink with local sweeties. Here you will get the chance to see the house architecture and their daily life, talking with them to know more about family’s tradition, ancestor worship of Vietnam.

Then cycle through small alleys to see daily life of villagers, visit communal house, pagodas, temple along amazing rice fields and visit some farms of pig, duck, fish, buffalo.

Around lunch time, take part in “cooking class”. Learn how to cook local Vietnamese food. Enjoy local lunch with variety of local fresh food.

In the afternoon, attend “Kite Making Class”. The kite is known as a “child-hood toy” for kids in Vietnam. We will teach you how to make a kite by yourself. After that, you are able to use your “own product” to fly it in the blue sky.

Continue on, disguise as a real farmer in farming uniform, preparing farming equipment. Then, get on water buffalo cart (known as “Rolls - Royce Phantom of Vietnam” for farming works). You will learn how to transplant rice, plough the land...explore the farming process of wet rice in Vietnam. Back to the family and say goodbye a peaceful village and leave for Hanoi.

Overnight in Hanoi.

07:00AM: Pick you up at your hotel and depart to Sapa, following Noi Bai - Lao Cai high-way. Along the way, you will have chance to admire the beauty of northwest mountains with terraced fields. Have a short break for 30 minutes en route.

After check-in the hotel, we drive uphill offers the most spectacular scenery of Fansipan Mount. Just a kilometer out of the town rose flower farms and later chayote grows on bamboo frames covered a vast area. We’ll stop at the magnificent Silver Waterfall before continue the road trip for some kilometers further to Heaven Gate and Tram Ton Pass. At 2047m above sea level, the Heaven Gate & Tram Ton Pass is the highest mountain pass in Vietnam. From here enjoy walking around for half an hour for the beautiful scenery of both two sides of Hoang Lien Son mountain range. The wind blows stronger to force the clouds to move constantly. It is the best point here to enjoy the breathtaking scenery of the two sides of Fansipan Mountain Range. Amazingly that the weather is very different by the side: In many days It is foggy and cloudy on Sa Pa side and sunny brightly the other side.

We continue to visit the salmon farm, Sapa is considered as the "capital" of cold-water fish because of the natural conditions fit this fastidious species. Salmon is now raised right at the foot of "the roof of Indochina" - Mount Fansipan, at Silver waterfall. Visitors can see the "engineers" farmers are learned by themselves, mastering techniques to feed successfully this "Fish princess". About topography, architecture, each farm is a special construction on slope mountain to ensure a cold water source around the year and continuous flow of water from the waterfall and providing oxygen for the species fish come from Europe.

Leaving the Heaven Gate for the way back downhill 7 km, then stop to pay to visit some lush farm in O Quy Ho where different kinds of vegetable, flower, fruit trees and even medicinal plants are grown for years which makes this part of Sapa evergreen.

You will commence your short journey by driving south toward Muong Hoa valley. You will then start your walk by descending into the valley, which is the largest rice paddy terraced among the Sapa area. The guide can provide you interesting information about rice. If you visit the valley sometime between May and October, you will be able to observe and experience how the locals do planting and harvesting, one of the most important activities in daily life. The walk takes you from Lao Chai village of Black Hmong minority to Ta Van village of Giay minority including a visit to the local Catholic Church.

Black H’mong is one of the biggest minority groups in the Sapa area. They are proud of their culture and keep their traditions and way of living. They have their own language and wear traditional indigo blue clothing.  Giay is a fairly small minority group of about 38.000 people who live mainly in the mountains in Northwest Vietnam. The development has meant that some of their old customs have been lost but many women still wear traditional shirts with a purple, blue or green colour. The Giay’s houses are built of wood and bamboo with a clay floor. Having a cup of tea with them at their house, listening to the tour guide introduced and explained about the process of the rice how to grow it.

After visiting Ta Van the car will return you to Sapa.

Approx: 1 hours driving/ 2 hours walking.

After breakfast, we check out the hotel then transfer to the region market.  On the day of the week, Bac Ha, home to the flower H’mong hill tribe minority people is open on Sunday; Can Cau on Saturday or Coc Ly on Tuesday.
In all these markets, we can meet hundreds of beautiful women from Flower Hmong tribe, who are famous for their wonderful craft and hand-made flowering clothes and textile fabrics, or intermingle with people from Black Hmong, Dzay, Dzao and other ethnic groups coming to the market not for purchasing stuffs, but for meeting and chatting – just once a week - like in a real cultural center. After lunchtime, we drive back to Hanoi. Check in to the hotel and free at the leisure.
Overnight in Hanoi.

Breakfast at the hotel.
We depart Ninh Binh for Ha Long Bay, listed as a World Heritage Area of outstanding natural beauty. “Dragon descending to the sea“ as it is known in Vietnamese, picturesque Ha Long bay has more than 1.000 limestone islets rising from the sea, many of them containing beautiful grottoes. On the way, we stop to visit the rice fields or the local farm in Kinh Mon or Thanh Ha, Hai Duong.

Upon arrival at Ha Long Bay we embark on a boat trip to cruise discovering this magnificent UNESCO World Wonder. This is a great journey among surreal islands rising from a tranquil emerald sea. In the late afternoon, we anchor for the night on the bay and enjoy a delicious seafood dinner on board.

Overnight on a junk boat in Halong Bay.

Early morning coffee and tea will be served on the sundeck followed by a Tai Chi class. After breakfast we take a Sampan boat to explore Luon Cave. Visit the floating farm, or pearl farm on the bay. We may have a chance to see the wild monkeys that gather around waiting for food from the tourists. After that we continue to cruise around the bay. Lunch is served on the boat on our way back to the docks then we transfer to Noi Bai airport for a short flight to Sai Gon.

Depending on the season, we will stop on the way to visit the agriculture farms in Hai Duong province:
1/ From Jun to Sep & From Feb to May: Rice fields in Kinh Mon district
2/ Orion & garlic farm in the winter season in Kinh Mon district.
3/ From April to June: Litchi Farm in Thanh Ha district.

After breakfast at the hotel, we drive to Chau Doc.
Continue on, we transfer to Chau Doc. Then visit Tra Su, getting to the wild birds Sanctuary, cruising smoothly with small boats to discover the arrays of splendid canals deep into the forest, watching storks, cranes and other tropical birds.

Visiting here, in the space of houses floating along the upstream Cuu Long River and two branches of Tien River, Hau River, you will admire the process of raising fish in the river, listen to stories of ups and downs, of the profession here. Afterward, you will work with them to experience as a fisherman such as taking raw materials for fish food, checking the health of the fish, weighing, and feeding them, etc. These jobs are simple but very interesting.

Overnight in Chau Doc.

Remark: If time permit, we will stop in Long Xuyen to visit The Phan Nam farm (you will take a trip around the orchard and vegetable farm, and join the farmers in picking the watermelon, vegetables, tomatoes...)

Check out hotel for the speed boat trip along Mekong River to Cambodia.