Conquering the top of Chieu Lau Thi mountain - Ha Giang

Hello Hiver!
How are you today? Wishing you all a very productive week.
Today, I will continue my journey to discover the land of Ha Giang, where I had an article about this place, but only with a small angle about it. Ha Giang is a very large province, but here you need a lot of time to explore it all. And today's post I would like to introduce my journey to conquer Chieu Lau Thi mountain in this journey of discovering Ha Giang land.

From the center of Ha Giang city, we went back to the west to reach Hoang Su Phi district, with a distance of nearly 100km of hilly roads, so this distance takes a lot of time, about 4 hours by motorbike. The roads here are asphalt roads, but because they have been built for a long time, the infrastructure has been degraded and badly damaged. Going on the road you will encounter damaged sections, some broken down the entire width of the road. And especially the road is very zigzag and steep, there are many trucks and large cars, so you have to be very careful, look closely at the bends to be safe.

Our initial plan when we came here was to watch the water season on the terraces in Hoang Su Phi (the season to prepare for sowing, the rice fields will be full of water, and from afar, it will look like giant mirrors sky ball down). But we are unlucky because the crop here relies on rainwater from the sky, so at this time, people have not started the sowing season yet, so we couldn't see the water pouring season as planned initial determination. After the hard road, passing from one pass to another, we reached the center of Hoang Su Phi district. We were very surprised when located deep in the mountains, there is a bustling town like this, although not as crowded as outside the city, but compared to similar districts located deep in the hills, This is a fairly developed town, from infrastructure to population density, to the standard of living of the people here.

Hoang Su Phi district has a border with China, with 1 town in Quang Vinh town, where there are 13 ethnic groups living such as Dao, Nung, Tay, Mong, La Chi, Thai, Hoa Han... These are the ethnic minorities of Vietnam and this is an area that is isolated from life outside with the road to here about 100km. There are also Kinh people living here, mainly from the city, or the districts outside, coming here to trade and do business in hotels, motels... The natural conditions here are very harsh, the terrain is mainly mountainous, but it is divided by rivers and streams, and in the rainy season, there are often flash floods, landslides... So the traffic here is very difficult, partly because the damaged roads have not been repaired, so everything here is even more difficult. But because of such a separate geographical location, this place still retains the wild beauty of primeval forests, upstream rivers and streams, and an ancient tea hill dating back decades.

The entire topography of the district is located on the rocky massif upstream of the Chay River, with an average altitude of 1300-1700m above sea level, of which two peaks are ranked the highest in Vietnam. Tay Con Linh peak is 2423m high, and Chieu Lau Thi peak is 2402m high. And this place is also one of the places to see the most beautiful terraced fields in Vietnam with villages of 11 communes, but the most beautiful and most popular tourist destination is Ban Phung. But because we missed watching the pouring water season, we changed our plan to conquer one of the two highest mountains here, which is Chieu Lau Thi peak.

We arrived at the district center, Quang Vinh town when it was getting dark, we stayed at a motel in the district center. When we were about to go to dinner, it started to rain heavily, and with it, the power went out. And then we were invited by the guesthouse owner to have dinner with his family instead of going out for dinner. The next morning, we started to conquer the top of Chieu Lau Thi mountain with a distance of about 35km, of which about 25km is a concrete road, the remaining 10km is climbing with a road full of rocks. The rocks on this road are not small rocks, but very large stones, lying on the dirt road, very difficult to move by motorbike.
Because the road was too difficult, at first we planned to park the motorbike at the foot of the mountain to trek to the top. But very fortunately right after that, we met an ethnic man here, who also rode a motorbike to the mountain to herd his cattle, so we asked him to help us for part, I was the one sitting in the back his motorbike and my companion drove our car. People's motorbikes here are redesigned to be suitable for traveling in this great terrain, it is possible to climb rocky roads like this, with wheels inserted a layer of chains around the wheel, to increase grip on the tires, which I can hardly describe here. After that difficult and horribly arduous road, we reached the foot of the mountain with the help of that young a brother. Since I had to sit behind and hold him tight, so as not to fall or fall, I was not able to take a picture of this difficult rocky road.

When we reached the foot of the mountain, after thanking the other brother, we parked at the foot of the mountain and started climbing to conquer this 2402m high peak. The road to the mountain is built with concrete steps, alternating with dirt roads, along 3 mountains to reach the highest mountain, Chieu Lau Thi. Although the path is easy, it takes a lot of strength because the mountain is very high, the stairs are steep, and it makes the trekking very tiring and exhausting. After walking, resting, passing through the forests, over the hill, or there is a section where you will be able to keep the big and tall trees, we have reached the top of Chieu Lau Thi mountain.

Chieu Lau Thi Peak, also known as Kieu Lieu Ti, means "Nine stairs". Through the name of the mountain, it partly speaks to the majesty and difficulty of conquering this 2402m high mountain. But when conquering the top of the mountain, you will admire the majestic beauty of this place. Standing on the top of the mountain, you can see the surrounding scenery, below are the green primeval forests, the clouds drifting below your sight. Although it is sunny here, you will still feel the cool and fresh climate, because it is emanating from this primeval forest, helping to regulate the climate here. On the top of the mountain is attached a stainless steel spire, engraved with the words "Chieu Lau Thi, 2402m" and it was placed here in 2016. If you are lucky, you will see the sea of clouds on this mountain in the early morning or evening. But since we came here at midday, we still haven't been lucky enough to catch the sea of clouds in this place.

We took advantage of taking pictures and went down to the foot of the mountain. On the way down, we encountered herds of goats raised and released here, they look very cute, and it seems that they rarely meet many people so they seem scared, but curiously look at them. It's great to be able to take such lovely pictures. At the foot of the mountain, there is a house of an elderly couple of ethnic minorities here. Her grandparents used to mainly cultivate rice, crops, and livestock. Since the state started to build stairs to the top of this mountain, young people like us who love to explore began to know more about this mountain and began to conquer it. Since then, grandparents have worked as a side job, keeping tourists' cars at the foot of the mountain to earn extra income. Above, people's life is very poor and miserable, it is difficult to make money, so keeping a car to earn extra income for 5,000 VND / 1 motorbike also helps grandparents to have some extra money for daily meals. He said, a day can keep at most 40-50 motorbike, that is on weekends or holidays, there will be many guests, and normally, very few people come here except for the locals. Because the roads here are very difficult to get on, some of you will leave your car at the bottom of the mountain and walk up here. Although the source of income is meager, it is also the joy of her grandparents.

Talking with grandparents for a while, we gave them some sweets that we brought from the trip, which are only available in the city, hard to buy up here, and said goodbye to go. down the mountain and continue his journey. The way down seems to be easier than going up, so it doesn't take long to reach the concrete road at the foot of the mountain. We followed the instructions of Google Maps and went back to the main road back to Ha Giang city to continue the journey to discover this beautiful and majestic Ha Giang land.

Goodbye Hoang Su Phi, goodbye Chieu Lau Thi, goodbye to the gentle but kind people here. We do not expect anything more, just hope that this place can develop further, people can have more jobs to earn more income, so that their lives are less hard and less poor. After that trip, I promised myself, with the money that I worked hard for, to try to be thrifty, not to waste it in vain, because there are many people out there who work harder than me. a lot of. Conquering Chieu Lau Thi, to enjoy the feeling of climbing and conquering nature, watching the majestic scenery of the mountains and forests, and this is an unforgettable experience in my young life. The journey of conquering youth, conquering nature is a long journey, and I am still doing it.

Thank you for reading!
See you next post and have a nice day 💜

Conquering the top of Chieu Lau Thi mountain - Ha Giang

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