A very special day in Tu Le

Tu Le rice fields after harvest.

Tu Le rice fields after harvest.

1. Although this place is only a sparsely populated commune, about 700 people, mainly living by growing rice. Here, except for the newly built resort, there are few motels and the place we booked is only on the 4th floor, and there is no elevator. No problem, sometimes it is worth working a little hard to enjoy the strange feeling.

Tu Le is 50 km from Mu Cang Chai, and leaving the village will start to go up Khau Pha Pass. The village is located in the middle of a road that sinks down like a hammock, the houses are right next to the road, and behind are rice fields, and deeper are the villages of the Black Thai, H'Mong, Dao... ethnic groups with stilt houses.

There is no scenic spot, except for a sign pointing to the Fairy Cave, but it seems that this place is not very attractive to tourists . Come to Tu Le for the rice fields and the specialties here are sticky rice and sticky rice. Sometimes coming to a land, encountering the simplicity, without makeup or fancy restaurants and shops is fun.

2. We followed the hammock road, the signs introducing the goods of the shops. The houses have many functions, selling fertilizers, sticky rice and even groceries. There are no luxurious restaurants, only familiar dishes such as stir-fried vegetables, stir-fried meat, fried stream fish but they are delicious enough. In Tu Le, people are used to seeing tourists coming here to stroll, they are ready to smile at customers, inviting them to buy rice and sticky rice. During the harvest season, the whole road has houses making green rice, in addition to creating an atmosphere, also stimulating tourists to buy. Tu Le green rice is made from the first crop of sticky rice, very delicious and famous. In the twilight of the night, on a small porch, a cast iron pan with a red fire, people pour rice in to stir-fry until cooked, let it cool and then pound it into green rice. The mortar is placed close to the ground, made in the form of a lever, customers who like can practice making green rice together, no one forces them to buy. However, it can be seen that buying green rice is something that no tourist does not buy, because it is a precious gift to give to friends when returning to the city. I also tried to pound green rice with a pestle for fun, and of course only pounding it to take pictures because making a batch of green rice is very elaborate. One thing that everyone who comes to Tu Le buys to bring home is Tu Le sticky rice. You visit any store, after buying, the seller will put it in a vacuum bag, very convenient to bring away.

3. Leaving the stalls, we turned onto a small road, which led to picturesque rice fields, attracting people's footsteps. The rice fields in the ripening season, the yellow color and smoke from burning fields rose up. The cows were let loose to forage, strangely they ate the blooming flowers, the green grass and the fragrant straw that had just been thrown out. It is known that more than 70%

The rice fields here grow sticky rice, and almost after the harvest, there is only a limited quantity, so if you want to buy genuine Tu Le sticky rice, you can only go there. And it was really fun, when in the morning before leaving this small village with the beautiful name of Tu Le, we stopped by a shop for breakfast. It was hot sticky rice eaten with pork floss or sausage. Just leave the sticky rice on a plate, wash your hands, pick up the sticky rice, dip it in sesame salt and eat it with a very delicious feeling.

The rice fields are nestled in the valley, with a hot spring flowing through. The stream curves through the rocks, the water is always at 45 degrees, which is a favor to the people here. The resort has designed a separate area next to the stream for its guests, and the people choose a convenient spot, so that in the afternoon they invite each other to go to the stream to bathe, creating a rare sight.

Tu Le is like that, just the curving road, the fragrant rice fields in season, the famous green rice, and the sticky rice eaten in the morning are enough for a very special day here.