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Geography
Located in North-West Vietnam, Lao Cai is
surrounded by Yunna (China) on the north, Lai
Chau Province on the west, Ha Giang Province on
the east and Yen Bai, Son La provinces on the
south.
Lao
Cai's terrain is divided into main kinds
following: valley, low and high mountainous.
With 3,143m in height, Fansipan is considered
the highest peak of the Indochina Peninsula. The
province has 107 rivers including Red, Chay and
Nam Mu rivers... The province also owns 31 types
of mineral, of which apatit, cooper, iron are
most valuable.
The
remarkable feature of Lao Cai is biologic
diversification. There are 2,000 kinds of flora,
442 kinds of birds and animals... of which 60
kinds of animals only found in Lao Cai, 9 kinds
of floras only found in Sapa. So that Lao Cai
owns a treasure of valuable and rare genes,
making up 50% rare floras in Vietnam.
Lao
Cai has typical mountainous climate. The dry
season lasts from October to March, it is cold.
And the rain season is from April to September.
Annual average temperature is 23ºC. Specially,
sometime, there is snow in Sapa.
Tourism
Lao
Cai preserves lots of special cultural and
historical sites. Outstanding vestiges is
ancient stone engrave area with picture of map,
handwriting, people thousand years ago in Muong
Hoa Valley (Sapa), Pho Rang vestige. There are
many beautiful caves like Thuy Tien (Bat Xat),
Ta Phoi (Cam Duong), Tien-Trung Do (Bac Ha),
Xuan Quang (Bao Thang).
Lao
Cai is very proud of Sapa, a unique natural
tourist site. Many new married couples like
spending their honeymoon in Sapa because of good
weather and romantic sightseeing. Visitors to
Sapa in summer can feel the climate of four
seasons in one day. They enjoy discovering other
interesting places including Ham Rong Mountain,
Silver Waterfall, Rattan Bridge, Bamboo forest,
Ta Phin Cave and Sapa ancient rock field. Taken
place every Saturday night, Sapa Market is an
attractive place for visitors who are keen on
exploring traditional cultures.
In
addition, Bac Ha Market hosts the biggest fair
near the mountainous highlands. It is a typical
weekly activity for the H'Mong and other
minority groups living in the locality. In Cat
Cat Village many H'Mong residents are good at
manipulating gold and silver jewelry.
It
is festinate to travel from Lai Chau to Lao Cai
following National Highway No. 4D because of
scenery along roadsides and impressive sight of
Hoang Lien Son Range. This way attracts to
people liking the adventure and discover on
bicycle, too.
Ethnic groups
Lao
Cai has a colorful culture of 27 ethnic groups.
They are Kinh, H'Mong, Tay, Dao, Thai, Giay,
Nung, Phu La, Ha Nhi, Lao, Khang, La Ha, Muong,
Bo Y, Hoa, La Chi, San Chay, San Diu, Khmer, Lo
Lo, Ka Doong, Pa Co, E De, Gie Trieng, Gia Rai,
Cham, Ka Tu. The life of minority people groups
base on planting rice on the paddy, on the
fields in the mountains or on terraced field.
Festivals here are very special including Pray
for good crop, Spring Mountain, and Long Tong
festivals. There are many merry games such as
nem con, tug-of-wars, cockfights.
Transportation
Located 300km from Hanoi, Lao Cai can be reached
by car or train. There is National Highway
No.70, 279, 4D linking Lao Cai to Yen Bai, Lai
Chau and Ha Giang, China in turn. There are two
trains depart from Hanoi daily to Lao Cai.
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