Muong Hoa Valley

Below a stone bridge runs the Mường Hoa stream, murmuring. The fields hold the first water of the season, and it glints on every step. Mountain wind carries the smell of wet grass. These are the first things anyone meets on stepping down into the Mường Hoa valley. It is a strip of land at the foot of the Hoàng Liên Sơn range in Sa Pa, in Lào Cai province.

The Lào Cai newspaper reports that the valley stretches about 15 kilometers along the stream. It begins at the center of Sa Pa and passes through Lao Chải and Tả Van. Then it runs on through Hầu Thào and down to Bản Hồ. The stream winds between rice terraces stacked from the foot of the hills to the heights. Together they form the backbone of the whole landscape.

The terraces are what sets Mường Hoa apart. The Lào Cai newspaper confirms that the Sa Pa terraces of Lao Chải, Tả Van and Hầu Thào were recognized as a national scenic site in 2013. The recognized area covers 749 hectares. Each field is the work of many generations of Hmong, Dao and Giáy people. They learned to grow wet rice on a steep slope, and they bring water down from high mountain gullies, one step at a time. This is not decoration. It is a living that runs every day.

The valley holds a second national monument. According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the Sa Pa Ancient Rock Field lies here as well. In October 1994, the Ministry of Culture and Information ranked it a national historic site. The archaeologist Victor Goloubev found the field in 1925. He worked for the French School of the Far East, a French institute that studies the classical civilizations of Asia. Nearly 200 stones carry patterns and old marks. There are figures of people and of fields, and lines that science has not yet fully deciphered.

The Lào Cai newspaper says four ethnic minority communities live in the valley: the Hmong, the Dao, the Giáy and the Tày. Lao Chải is home to the Hmong and to wide-spreading fields. Tả Van is home to the Giáy, and to a model of community tourism. Hầu Thào gathers many of the old stones. Bản Hồ, at the end of the valley, is the Tày part of the land.

The season when the water is poured in falls around May and June. People let water into the fields so the rice can be transplanted, and the flooded surface mirrors the sky and clouds like tiers of silver. The ripening season comes around September, and the whole valley turns a deep gold.

From a hillside, hundreds of golden steps run down to the glittering Mường Hoa stream. Farther off, the peaks of the Hoàng Liên Sơn blur in cloud. Found in 1925, the old stones carved with human figures and fields lie quiet in that scene, waiting for more generations to come, look and wonder.