Cultural encounters

The hike takes you through some of the most picturesque rice terraces in all of Vietnam, down dirt trails dotted with bamboo huts used by local farmers as a temporary lodge during the planting and harvest seasons.  

Leave Topas Riverside Lodge and walk down Nam Cang’s streets, observing the Red Dzao women completing their sewing outside and kids leaving for school. Shortly, the road will start its incline as the H’mong are known for building their villages at the top of mountains. As the climb gets steeper you will see the rolling farmlands of rice, corn, and wheat below your feet. Stop at a Blue H’mong home and learn about their daily life in regards to farming, hunting, dying hemp, and batik design. 

Then, continue on to Nam Nhiu village where you will quickly recognize the attributes of the Red Dzao which you have seen in Nam Cang, with beautifully embroidered outfits, red handkerchiefs, and shaved eyebrows. You’ll also see how the houses have changed from mountain huts to large wooden dwellings as you sit down for lunch with a local family. 

End the trek passing cornfields and more rice terraces as you return to Nam Cang Village and back home to Topas Riverside Lodge to relax.