Sapa Market Tour

Sapa market tour has always been a typical beauty of the mountainous people coming to Sapa. Coming here you can encounter and experience the daily life of the highland people, which is extremely interesting and strange. I don’t know if you have ever participated in any of the highland markets. Please join us in discovering the unique features of the highland markets.

Introduction

Highland markets are not only a place to buy, sell and exchange goods but also a place to meet and interact with highland people. The most prominent feature of highland markets is that they are always colorful, from ethnic costumes to brocade stalls displayed for sale on the ground. Although today, the highland markets are no longer the same as before, you should still visit these places once to learn more about the lives of the ethnic people here.

Fairs – The beauty of the highlands

What is fair?

The time when people began to know that labor produced an excess of wealth, and exchanged for things necessary for daily life, that was when the market was born. Starting from a small group of a few people, then gradually increasing to tens, hundreds… People meet at a specific time and place to buy, sell, exchange and gradually form a market.

Unlike normal markets, fairs are only open for sale on special fixed days such as Saturdays and Sundays each week; Some markets open on Thursday and Friday;

A place to preserve the cultural beauty of indigenous people

Developing urbanization – modernization, supermarkets and convenience stores gradually replace traditional markets. However, the fair in the northern mountainous region of our country is still intact as in the beginning, still bustling with sellers and buyers and still as simple as that. Coming to the fair, you will experience a cultural space full of community, a rare highland beauty.

The fair has an unmistakable cultural beauty and is also a place to keep many unique beauties of the indigenous people. The fair is not simply a place to exchange and buy goods, it is also a place to meet, play and cultural activities of indigenous people. At the same time, this is also a place that preserves a treasure of extremely unique culinary culture, costumes…
People come to the market of all ages, from old to young, especially many young men and women. Wives and mothers go to the market to shop. Husbands come to the market to socialize, drink wine, eat thang co, play the flute, dance… Children follow their parents to go to the market. Young men and women come to the market to socialize and find partners. All create a joyful, colorful and interesting scene.

What do people need to prepare for a market?

To go to the market, highland people have to get up while it is still dark. They came to the market with extremely simple luggage. It could be a basket containing a few pounds of rice, a few bunches of vegetables or a bunch of bananas… It could be a small sack containing a few knives, hoe blades, sickles, shovels or kitchen stirrups… They could be leading a few buffaloes and cows. , horses or bring along a few pigs, chickens, ducks… These are all the crystallization of hard work, typical products made by indigenous people.

The goods taken away are very rustic and the way they are sold is also simple and not fussy. These are tarpaulins spread out in the middle of the ground, and any better stalls are small shacks made from bamboo. Although simple, this is a place to display all kinds of delicious and strange things from the pristine mountains and forests.

Bustling atmosphere at the market

It is said that the market is a unique cultural beauty with characteristics of highland people because people here come to the market not only to bring goods but also to bring the beauty and unique characteristics of their people, contributing to the market. Add color to the market.

At the market, you will see the friendly, simple faces of ethnic people in traditional costumes. Vibrant colors are created from the brocade items on display. These are delicately tailored, hand-embroidered dresses and shirts or rolls of colorful thread that mothers and sisters passionately choose. And there is a special color that cannot be ignored, which is the indigo dye imprinted on the hardworking and skillful hands of ethnic women.

Discover famous markets in the Northwest

Each person brings their own ethnic characteristics to the market. Coming to the market, the most exciting thing is still the crowded food stalls with diners visiting. The mouth-watering aroma of rustic highland dishes with steaming white smoke makes it even warmer in the cold, frosty weather. This place sells extremely famous regional specialties, attracting not only locals but also tourists from all over because of its original, unmatched flavor.

Markets around Sapa 7 days a week

Monday – Ban Phiet Market

Ban Phiet market belongs to Ban Phiet commune, Bao Thang district. The market opens every Monday. Compared to other markets in Lao Cai, Ban Phiet market is quite small and not too crowded, but it is a place of trade and exchange of ethnic minorities in the region. The majority of people who go to Ban Phiet market are white Hmong people. The market is simple with some covered stalls, the rest of the Mong people spread a few plastic sheets on the ground to display their goods for sale. Although the scale is not large, Ban Phiet market is impressive with many colors because the main goods sold here are dresses, scarves, hats, belts for women.

The market starts early when the cold is still mixed with dew. It’s always the same in mountainous areas, the most beautiful and colorful clothes are always chosen to wear on the day of the market or the festival.

Tuesday – Coc Ly Market

Located among the hills, immersed in the dreamy floating clouds is a bustling scene of Coc Ly market held every Tuesday. Coc Ly market is about 35 km from Bac Ha town, is a meeting place to exchange friends, exchange and buy and sell goods of the Mong Hoa, the Black Dao and the Nung. The market is divided into separate areas. Items with bold mountain flavor such as vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, wood ear, honey, corn wine, upland rice, household appliances, jewelry and colorful brocade products Colorful, vivid patterns are concentrated in one area, displayed on plastic sheets spread on the ground. However, the most prominent area is still the area selling livestock and poultry such as: Buffalo, cow, pig, chicken, dog, horse and cat… The atmosphere in this area is bustling, buyers, sellers, standing, sitting scattered. trash and agree to buy and sell together.

In the local language, Coc Ly means the origin of the plum and the beauty of this market is not only that people come here to buy and sell, exchange goods (using goods to exchange for goods) but also to travel. meet each other and sing love songs together.

Wednesday – Cao Son Market

Cao Son Market is the market of the Mong, Phu La, Dao and Han ethnic people in Muong Khuong district. Each week the market only holds one session on Wednesday. When entering the market, right from the early morning, on every street, people from the villages came to the market one after another. They travel in groups, groups, pairs, and sometimes individually. People carry goods, people use horses to carry goods, people go to the market by motorbike or bicycle…

Cao Son Market seems more beautiful because of the people, goods and natural scenery. In the vast space of the mountains and forests, people freely buy, sell, and exchange goods with each other. People buy rice, people buy brocade, people buy vegetables, fruits, people enjoy some highland specialties.

Thursday – Lung Khau Nhin Market

Lung Khau Nhin market in Muong Khuong district, held every Thursday morning, is one of the famous markets of the vast Northwest region. Buyers and sellers here are the Mong, Nung, Kinh … and the main trading items are agricultural products such as corn, rice, soybeans, peanuts, vegetables, fruits… and brocade. .

Coming to Lung Khau Nhin market, you will see many close, familiar and necessary items and objects in each family for sale such as: insecticide sprayer, hoe, basket, broom, bowl, plate, kettle, cups … Then bustling scenes of exchange, trading, visiting … all make up the unique tourist attraction of Lung Khau Nhin fair.

Friday – Pot Market

Since the 19th century, Muong Khuong district has had highland markets to exchange goods. Besides the famous fairs such as Muong Khuong, Cao Son, Pha Long, Ban Lau…, Chu market in Lung Vai commune has long become a famous trading center in the East of Thuy Vi continent. The market is not only a place to buy and sell, but also a place to meet and exchange feelings for soul mates, and a dating place for men and women in the villages. Coming to Pot market, visitors can also discover the majestic Muong Khuong with many ethnic cultural traditions, rich in identity that still exist today.

Saturday – Can Cau market, Pha Long market

Can Cau market is a typical market of ethnic minorities (mainly Giay, Mong, and Chinese). Located along Road 153 – a single dirt road connecting Bac Ha town with the border town of Si Ma Cai, in Can Cau commune, Si Ma Cai district, Lao Cai province. The market is usually held every Saturday and on holidays throughout the year, lasting from early morning to late afternoon. This is also the largest buffalo market in the Northwest, Vietnam with hundreds of buffaloes traded in each market session.

Pha Long Market (Muong Khuong district) is the shopping center of people in Pha Long, Din Chin, Ta Ngai Cho, Ta Gia Khau communes of the district. When the market is in session, the Mong, Lo Lo, Tay, Nung, Giay… ethnic groups gather here, making the market scene bustling and crowded. Among them, the most bustling, noisy and eye-catching is the brocade sales area. Pha Long market is also famous for the Gau Tao festival every spring.

Sunday – Bac Ha Market, Sapa

Among the Sunday markets in Lao Cai, the most prominent is the Bac Ha market, voted as one of the 10 most unique markets in Southeast Asia. Bac Ha Market is also the only market in the country with a dedicated area for horse trading with hundreds of horses being traded each session.

Bac Ha Market – one of the 10 most beautiful markets in Southeast Asia.

Bac Ha market is the only market in our country that has a dedicated area for horse trading with hundreds of horses: black, white, striped … all are traded in each session. Bac Ha also attracts tourists by specialties: the very famous Ban Pho corn wine is cooked with spring water at an altitude of more than 1,200m and distilled from yeast brewed with forest leaves. Visiting Bac Ha market, visitors can also enjoy the specialty of Lao Cai, which is Thang Co cooked by the Mong people from the viscera and meat of the horse, along with fruits and herbs, creating a very unique flavor. Need to taste once but will remember forever.

Sa Pa market is located in the center of Sapa town. On Sundays, you can buy medicines, rare forest products, traditional products of ethnic groups such as handmade brocade products; ethnic dishes and many precious forest products. This is also an opportunity for people in the highlands to go to the market and young men and women of different ethnic groups to meet, sing love songs to get to know their partners through love confession songs, flute sounds, flute sounds, and lip lutes.

In addition, you can visit Lung Phinh market (Bac Ha), Muong Hum (Bat Xat) on Sundays of the week.

Conclusion

Today’s market is not only a place to exchange, buy, sell and exchange products with local characteristics made by people of all ethnic groups, but it also contributes to preserving and promoting cultural values. fine traditions of ethnic communities. The market has never ceased to be an attractive destination for highland culture lovers. Coming to the market, you can see the colorful diversity in the culture of honest people in the mountains and forests. The market has become a beauty representing the mountains and forests between the clouds and sky.