Only a bridge across the Nam Thi River from Lao Cai city, Ha Khau town (Yunnan, China) is becoming an attractive "foreign" destination for Vietnamese tourists. With reasonable costs and simple procedures, this place promises to be an ideal stopover for those who want to change the wind after a trip to Sa Pa.
Ms. Thu Huyen (born in 1991, Hanoi) shares her self-travel experience after completing a 2-day 1-night journey in Ha Khau.
With only a budget of 2 million VND, I had 2 days and 1 night to explore Ha Khau, which was wonderful. This cost included round-trip bus tickets, travel book making fees, accommodation to experiencing the culinary paradise of the border region," Ms. Huyen recounted.
Procedures and movements
In order to optimize time, the female tourist chose the Hanoi - Lao Cai sleeper bus route with a shuttle service to the border gate, making travel convenient.
To travel to Ha Khau, tourists do not need a complicated visa but only need a passport through booking services at least 3 days in advance, not counting weekends. If you plan to stay in China, you need to ask for an additional check-in confirmation at the hotel. This is a mandatory document to complete exit procedures back to Vietnam.
After completing entry procedures, tourists can rent an electric car right at the border gate, using it until 12 noon the next day. Walking or hiring a taxi to travel is also a good way to sneak into each street, slowly feeling the rhythm of life in the border area.
Tourist attractions
Light Park has long become a symbol that cannot be ignored when visiting Ha Khau. Compared to a miniature ancient phoenix town, this place has the most magnificent beauty at sunset. When the last rays of sunlight just turned off, the entire system of lanterns and ancient architecture in the park simultaneously lit up, creating a shimmering and magical scene.
If you love quietness, visitors can visit the Wood Forest Park or Bac Son Administrative Square. In addition, the Korean slope, Ha Khau station or small streets with Chinese-style architecture are also extremely popular photo spots for young people.
Cuisine
What makes Ha Khau attract tourists is the world of surprisingly rich and cheap snacks. Right next to the border gate is the street of lanterns, the paradise of grilled sausages and crushed lemon juice.
Here, tourists must definitely try skewered squid, priced at about 20 yuan/10 skewers. Banh Kep, skewered hotpot, rotten tofu, hot banh cuon, vermicelli, Chinese-style mixed pho, banh bao, ha cao... are street snacks that are easy to find.
Ms. Huyen shared: "Ha Khau is not too big, but every square meter can produce quality virtual living photos. Speaking of cuisine, my favorite is Zhejiang grilled cakes. The cakes are diverse in flavor, but I am most impressed with the fragrant onion pork filling and the rich dried beef and watermelon pork filling. The price of each one is only from 3 to 10 yuan.
Besides, sweet lovers will be "fascinated" by snow cream sponge cakes at Sunny or Sweet Time Bakery.
Milk tea lovers will definitely not be disappointed when visiting Chapanda to enjoy cool grape tea or fatty taro milk tea. Don't forget to visit YH.tang to experience fragrant grilled milk tea, cooling fruit tea buckets or matcha with rich fresh milk cream. The price here is extremely affordable, only ranging from 8 to 15 yuan.
In particular, don't forget to visit Dai Lau underground supermarkets or stores with the same price of 3 yuan, 10 yuan (12,000-40,000 VND) to buy domestic confectionery as gifts.
Notes
To make the exploration trip smooth and complete, tourists should proactively exchange currency before passing through the border gate. If you are a regular user of social networks, you should buy a 4G SIM card from the Chinese network.
Lao Cai - Ha Khau International Border Gate opens from 7 am and closes at 10 pm daily Vietnam time, which is 8 am - 11 pm Chinese time. Tourists should adjust the time zone to proactively measure the time to return before the border gate closes daily. Especially, avoid going on weekends and Tet holidays so as not to wait too long to complete entry and exit procedures.
Prepare a pair of soft sports shoes to comfortably walk and explore Ha Khau.
