White Rock Pass

National Road 6 links Hanoi with the northwest. On the way up to Mai Châu or Mộc Châu, one stretch of road is among the places where travelers stop most often to take photographs. It is Thung Khe Pass, and its other name, Đá Trắng, means white rock.

The second name explains itself. To build National Road 6, workers had to cut into the limestone mountain. Patches of white limestone slid down the slope, and they gave it a white color that can be seen from far away. That color is limestone, not snow. Still, from a distance and in the fog, especially in winter, it feels like looking at a mountain road in Europe. That is why people love this spot.

The pass lies on National Road 6, in the old Hòa Bình province, now part of Phú Thọ. It sits between the Tân Lạc area and the Mai Châu area, and it runs about 22 kilometers. One side is a sheer cliff of limestone, and the other falls away into a deep abyss. The road is high, so fog often settles in early morning and late afternoon.

On a clear day, the stopping place on the pass looks down on rice fields and villages below. The valley is Mai Châu, with fields of rice or green corn spread wide. It is one of the finest views along all of National Road 6.

The road is grand, and it is also unforgiving. From 2017 to 2020, the area of the pass saw 71 traffic accidents. Eight people died, and 82 were hurt. The Hòa Bình newspaper once listed it as a black spot for road safety. The mountain does not wait, the fog does not step aside, and trucks take the bends with a heavy hand. The beauty of the pass is real, and so is the danger.

The view is not the only reason to stop. Along the roadside, people from nearby Mường villages sit grilling corn and skewered meat and boiling eggs for passing travelers. The Mường are an ethnic group of northern Vietnam whose language is closely related to Vietnamese. Smoke from their stoves mixes with the mountain fog, and the smell of roasting corn rises in the cold air. These small moments turn a ride over the pass into a memory.

The white of the pass is most beautiful in the morning, when the sun shines at a slant across the cliffs. It is most magical when a thin mist still clings to the summit. The limestone glows as if someone had poured light inside the rock. Standing on the pass and looking down at the valley, between white clouds and green fields, it is easy to see why people keep wanting to stop here, if only for 15 minutes.