These days, tourist attractions in Mai Chau district, especially those highlighted by the charming and romantic white Ban (Bauhinia) flower blossoms, are attracting a large number of visitors from across the country. Visiting these sites, tourists can immerse themselves in the pristine and majestic beauty of nature.
Ban flower trees along roads in Mai Chau
district are starting to bloom, attracting many people to take photos.
March is the peak bloom time of Ban flowers. The
northwestern region is dyed white with a spectrum of flowers, resembling a
landscape painting. On mountain peaks, slopes, and rocky cliffs, everywhere is
a pristine white colour dotted with romantic purple spots. Looking closer,
full-bloom Ban flowers are like flying butterflies. Some flowers have a purple
petal among white ones, some have a light pink petal. The Ban leaves are shaped
like horseshoe, but many Thai girls like to think that they have the shape of
double hearts.
At close distances, you can see slender Ban
flowers resembling the hands of mountainous girls. When in full bloom, the
flower spreads wide like butterfly wings with beautiful pistils.
During March, nature enthusiasts often plan
journeys to the northwestern region to admire the beauty of the flower and at
the same time enjoy the fresh, invigorating atmosphere of the spring weather,
and to capture memorable moments.
The Ban flower is closely associated with the
cultural and spiritual life of ethnic communities in the Northwestern region,
especially the Thai ethnic group. It symbolises love and faithfulness through
the love story of a beautiful girl named Ban and a smart man named Khum. The
story has it that Ban and Khum were in love with each other. Unfortunately,
Ban’s parents did not accept their love because Khum was poor. Failing to
persuade her parents, the girl left her home on a Spring morning to look for
her lover. She went and went deep into the forest, and finally collapsed and
died. In the spot where she died, trees grew with thousands of flowers, the
petals of which look like the girl’s beautiful hands. Khum came to the place
but all he could find was Ban’s head scarf. He desperately called her name
until he died and became a bird named Loc Khum. Since then, when spring comes,
white Ban flowers blossom across the forest, while Loc Khum birds keep on
singing like the voice of the man calling his lover throughout the Ban flower
season.
There is another story about the flower, which
says the flowers have their origin in the white cloth that local people tied on
trees in mourning of local insurgents who died while fighting against evil and
oppressing forces.
The flower is also a symbol of pride in the
treasure trove of folklore literature of the ethnic minorities in the
Northwestern region, as it represents the purity and innocence of women. It is
also a symbol of happiness, love, and prosperity, as well as the filial piety
of children towards their parents and reverence for spiritual deities.
In the first 9 months of 2024, Hoa Binh province continues to implement the expanded tourism development cooperation program plan of 8 Northwest provinces with Ho Chi Minh City; deploying digital transformation content in tourism and developing a smart tourism province. Hoa Binh province received about 3.6 million views, an increase of 7.9% over the same period. In which, international visitors are about 380 visitors, domestic visitors are estimated at 3 million 220 visitors.
Spanning thousands of hectares and winding gracefully along mountain slopes, hillsides, and riverbanks, the terraced rice fields of Lac Son District present a stunning and captivating beauty. This region, renowned for its remarkable terraced landscapes, is also the centre of Hoa Binh Culture known for numerous archaeological sites.
The life of Mong people in Hang Kia and Pa Co communes of Mai Chau district has improved much thanks to tourism development.
The man-made Hoa Binh Lake, with a water surface area of approximately 9,000 hectares and a capacity of 9.45 billion cubic meters, stretches over 200 kilometers from Hoa Binh to Son La provinces. With the goal of developing into a national tourism area, the Hoa Binh Lake tourism area is expected to not only become the largest tourism centre in the province but also one of the 12 key tourist destinations in the northern midland and mountainous region of Vietnam.
Da Bia hamlet, now Duc Phong, in Tien Phong commune, Da Bac district, was once almost isolated from the outside as the only way to the hamlet was to get a boat ride across the Hoa Binh reservoir. However, as its tourism potential has been unleashed, the hamlet has established itself as one of the most attractive destinations on the tourism map. It has even received the ASEAN Community-Based Tourism Awards in 2019.
In the first 9 months of 2024, Mai Chau district, Hoa Binh province welcomed over 684 thousand visitors to visit and relax. In which, over 516 thousand domestic visitors and more than 168 thousand international visitors. Total revenue from tourism is estimated at over 821 billion VND.
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