Sin Ho Lai Chau: Road Trip To Vietnam’s Mountain Town

About 60 km to the West of Lai Chau along the road 4D is Sin Ho. There are 56,000 inhabitants in Sin Ho District, including 15 ethnic groups living on an area of ​​1,746 km². This is a similar town to Sa Pa town, which is famous for many beautiful flowers and tropical products such as plum, peach, and pear ... so Lai Chau is one of the destinations in our authentic Vietnam tours. 

Sin Ho—An Attractive Destination

From Lai Chau, the path to Sin Ho crosses many thick forests with valleys and streams, and the animal systems are wealthy. From Dien Bien, you can also reach Sin Ho in the 12 routes to Muong Lay, go to Chan Nua junction and turn to provincial road 128 to have a chance along the mighty Da river, conquer the Ma Thom Lay pass (Muong Lay) and Chan Nua pass (Sin Ho) covered with clouds year-round. Whether to follow any path, any tourists can also be invited with the beautiful light and adventurous feelings when passing by the way down.

Sin Ho has many beautiful landscapes such as Cong Troi (heaven gate), Tien Ong mountain, O Da mountain .... Visitors will be amazed at the sight of the rugged mountain peaks or golden valleys bright with the terraced fields in the harvest. Pu Dao, Ta Ghenh, and Phang Xo Lin of the Hmong, Dao nestled on the cliff, visitors think it's like a fairy space when encountering the small wooden houses behind beautiful mist over green forests. You also can see ethnic women bringing in the water and climbing to the top of the slope or the pork running at the edge of the forests ...

Sin Ho is more beautiful when there is a two-day weekend market.  On Saturday morning, but this time the market mainly attracted indigenous people living around the town; only on Sunday is it really crowded. Ethnic people come here with goods usually made at home. They wear the colorful brocade dress in gentle faces; the whisper of buying and selling with laughter crunching on the dishes brought with the taste of the mountains has formed a lively color painting overflowing with local life ...

New Tourism Products

In the last few years, in Sin Ho town, there is a health care service for visitors, which is a massage, “drug leaves” bathing service, and acupuncture massage service provided by Sung A Pao, charged by a Mong ethnician. Many leaders of the district and other agencies have introduced visitors as a "specialty" of the locality, but this type of development can not develop due to lack of capital and proper investment direction.

Bathing material is a black thing made from 10 kinds of plants from mountains, including ginger and citronella, that can be grown in the garden. Guests will be invited to a small room, take off dresses and sit soaked up to their necks in hot water (about 40º) contained in a wooden barrel, with a strong smell.

As a drug, so after a few minutes immersed, the visitors seemed like a dull body in a sense of shock but also very comfortable. No wonder before entering the barrel of medicine, the technician tell you "if there is a feeling of drunk, up and down, exhale." After 30 - 40 minutes, guests will be invited to the house to enter the "technical" phase, which is the massage and acupressure.

Many people after their stomachs experience the finger of the doctor over the body acupuncture. The most interesting is that with the kick on the back as power transmission, guests turn up unexpectedly, ending with unique medical therapy. The point worth mentioning is that the service is unique: only 50,000. Before the break-up, guests are invited to drink a hot medicine cup, which is made from the drug as in the bathwater.

Potentials And Prospects

Sin Ho is a potential tourism area of ​​Lai Chau, a relatively new destination with many visitors. Here are exotic nature and famous landmarks such as O stone mountain, Tien cave, there are two historical relics. With a total of 887 residents, it was selected by a UK travel agent as one of the five most attractive destinations in Southeast Asia. Although Sin Ho attracts about 30,000 domestic and foreign visitors each year, tourism activities are still spontaneous, with no products and services.

To develop community-based tourism, ecotourism connected with cultural villages has been boosted in the Northwestern region to spread cultural values ​​of local people in the area. Besides the potential of ecotourism or resorts, visitors to Sin Ho also have the opportunity to participate in physiotherapy treatment with medicines only in this area and enjoy the famous local food.

Hopefully in the near future, tourism in Sin Ho, Lai Chau, will not only stop at the hidden beauty but also develop reasonably, bringing more excitement for visitors to Vietnam. Sin Ho highland will always be an impressive, simple and tranquil destination in Northwest Vietnam.

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