Bac Ha Market has long been known as one of the unique markets of Lao Cai with full of traditional cultural features and colorful life of the Mong, Tay, Nung, Dao, Phu La ethnic groups. This place is also an attractive tourist destination for domestic and foreign tourists every time they set foot in Bac Ha or Sapa. Especially when coming to Bac Ha Market, visitors will enjoy the famous Thang Co cuisine, drink cups of fragrant corn wine, or sip the bitter, sweet taste of local tea.
General information about Bac Ha Market
Bac Ha Market is located in Bac Ha town, Lao Cai province, 70km from Lao Cai city, Bac Ha Market is located right in the center of town. This is a place for exchange, buying and selling, exchanging and meeting of the mountainous people and ethnic minorities.
Every week, on Sundays, groups of people flock to Bac Ha town to attend the market. Going to the market has become an indispensable cultural feature of the ethnic people here… Looking down from above, Bac Ha cultural market looks like a colorful mobile flower garden of ethnic minority women’s dresses, blending with the fresh colors of the market stalls.
Previously, Bac Ha market was held on a gentle hill, later the market was rebuilt on a concrete foundation and divided into areas, with many sales areas. However, the market has recognized as one of the 10 most unique and attractive markets in Southeast Asia while still preserving the unique cultural beauty of the markets in the Northwest region.
Bac Ha market’s operating hours start from early morning until about 15pm, so visitors should pay attention to the operating hours to be able to visit!
Unique features of the largest market in the Northwest
Deserving of its reputation as the largest market in Lao Cai and the Northwest in general, it seems that the entire of agricultural products of this region can be easily found right at Bac Ha market.
Brocade area
The brocade stalls at Bac Ha market are all beautifully and elaborately decorated by the people, covered with many colorful brocade panels. The brocade items sold at the market are all embroidered and woven by the people of the Northwest.
Sometimes it takes them a whole month, even a year to complete the products. Just hearing this, you can feel the ingenuity, meticulousness and the wholeheartedness that the girls put into each item, right? Stopping at these stalls, you will be able to choose brocades, dresses, bags, scarves, and dolls made from brocade with unique patterns.
Not only brocade, in this market, you can also find handicrafts with beautiful and impressive patterns such as bracelets, rings, necklaces, etc. cast in silver or bronze.
Enjoy Lao Cai specialties
Because the market is only held on one day a week, most tourists and locals will also spend more time going to the market, because this is not simply a place for shopping and trading, but visitors can also interact with the locals, and immerse themselves in the unique quintessence and characteristics of the culture here.
What is special about this market is the culture and customs of the ethnic people living here. Once visiting the market, visitors can hardly ignore the dishes imbued with national identity such as “thang co”- a famous dish cooked from horse organs, “Bac Ha sour pho”, “corn cake”, “day cake” and “banh trung de” …
A guy’s cooking “thang co”
These are all famous specialties of the Bac Ha plateau. The pans of thang co, or the steaming pho stalls located in the market rows are the features that attract tourists when coming to this highland cultural market, especially in the cold winter weather from October to December, many people meet, exchange and sip corn wine next to the pan of thang co, feeling warm inside.
Livestock selling area
A highlight of Bac Ha market is that there is a whole area here that specializes in selling livestock such as buffaloes and horses – two animals closely associated with the life on the vast fields of the Northwest people – and also black pigs, cats and dogs as well.
In the current trend of commercializing highland markets, Bac Ha market is one of the rare places that is still trying to preserve and maintain the national identity and unique features of the old markets. If you have any chance come to visit Lao Cai, don’t forget to come explore this unique market.
Source: collected by An
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