Savoring the Paradise of Mustard Flower in Moc Chau

At the beginning of winter, when the buckwheat flower season in Ha Giang was ended, we had the chance to visit Moc Chau where themustard flower was blooming, creating a stunning scenery in the Ang Village, Coc Village, Pa PhachVillage, and Moc Chau Farm Town.

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Lost in the “Flower Painting”

Moc Chau plateau is located in Moc Chau District, Son La Province in the Northwest region of Vietnam. It took us nearly 5 hours to travel 180 km from Hanoi to this plateau. According to our guide from Motorcycle Tour Vietnam, this land is 80 km long and 15 km wide. The average temperature is 18-21 degrees Celsius – a favorable condition for flowers bloom all year round. Moc Chau has different beauties in each season, and this timeis the beauty of flower painting.

Unlike Hanoi with limited flower fields, the mustard flower here covers every hill completely, stretching from the valley to mountain foot. An enormous area is submerged in thepure white color of the mustard flower.

There are some popular places to enjoy this magnificent beauty, including pine forest in Ang Village, Pa Phach and Coc Village, etc. and we decided to choose Ang Village to stop by. From Moc Chau Farm Town, we drove 2 km along National highway 43 to get to the village.

It was a very dramatic view from the mountain looking down into Ang Village. Traditional stilt houses are scattered in the midst of the vast forest. The huge lake with light blue color sitting next to the village is surrounded by green pine forest. The faraway scenery is Moc Chau Plateau with tea hills, green pastures or white mountain ebony, plum flowers that adorn Ang Village’s attraction to the travelers. 

Experience Thai People’s Culture and Tea Picking 

We had the chance to visit H’mong people villages in Long Luong and Van Ho. Then, wediscovered unique cultural customs of the Thai in Ang Village. It was quite interesting when you can take part in various daily activities of the locals such as sleeping on the cushion made of rice cotton in a stilt house, tea picking, fish catching in streams, and many others. Especially, riding a horse around the pine forest in Ang Village is an extraordinary experience that I will never forget. It was lucky for us to stay in the house of an excellent cook. She made plenty of local specialties for us such as bamboo stem rice, fried calves, smoked pork, and various kinds of vegetables.

Moc Chau plateau is also famous for spacious green tea hills covering an area of more than 30 hectares. It is truly an emerald poetic germ. There are hundreds of tea types here, including some outstanding names such as San Tuyet tea (the tree is hundreds of years old), O Long, Kim Tuyen, etc. If you travel here, don’t forget to try tea picking in this plateau. You will be instructed carefully to pick fresh tea buds like a true local farmer. The tea leaf only has the best quality when being picked in the morning or mid-afternoon under mild sunlight to ensure proper moisture. After picking up, you can try amazingly fresh flavor of the tea leaves harvested by yourself.

With the "flower painting" in Ang Village, Coc Village and Pa PhachVillage, Moc Chau is totally suitable for short trips in eco-tour or community tour to experience the local life. For more info about this beautiful place, you can visit Vietnam Motorbike Tours and then choose an appropriate tour.