The Flowery Moc Chau Plateau

Plum flowers are blooming during the time when the local Mong in Moc Chau and Van Ho celebrate their traditional New Year’s festival. In the villages of Na Ka, Ba Phach, Chieng Di and Loong Luong, plum flowers are blossoming all over the mossy roofs of houses, along the paths leading to the hamlets, and in the fields. The white color helps highlight the colorful dresses of the Mong women going to the festival, making the highland landscape as beautiful as a painting.

Whiteapricot forest in Muong Sang commune, Moc Chau. Photo: Nguyen Thang Pure white plum flowers. Photo: Tat Son Moc Chau is regarded as “the capital of flowers in the Northwest”. Photo: Tat Son A path running through white plum trees in Nong Truong, Moc Chau. Photo: Tat Son A Mong woman embroiders under plum trees in Chieng Di village 1, Van Ho district. Photo: Tat Son Na Ka plum valley attracts photographers. Photo: Tat Son Na Ka is one of the most beautiful valleys in Moc Chau. Photo: Tat Son Mong girls in traditional costumein plum forest.Photo: Cong Dat Plum flowers blossom in Chieng Di village 1, Van Ho district. Photo: Cong Dat White plum valleys in Chieng Di village 1.Photo: Thong Thien A Mong woman in a plum forest in Loong Luong commune, Van Ho district. Photo: Cong Dat Plum blossoms inNa Ka village. Photo: Khanh Long Giang Thi Muaworks under white plum trees in Chieng Di village 1.Photo: Khanh Long Spring arrives at the home ofa Mong family in Chieng Di village 1. Photo: Trinh Bo A Thai girl in an apricot forest in Muong Sang commune. Photo: Thong Thien Plum flowers blossom beautifully only for two weeks. Photo: Thanh Giang Monggirls in Chieng Di village 1. Photo: Thanh Giang Photographer hunt forbeautiful pictures of bloomingplum flowers. Photo: Tat Son

If plum flowers represent pure and fresh beauty, peach blossoms remind one of their fragility and fullness of vitality. Compared to the previous years, peach blossoms are blooming on Moc Chau plateau ahead of the lunar New Year festival.

Forest peach trees are difficult togrow in the northwest. They grow thanks to the soil amid rocks, and the mist and wind, not because of man’s care. Peach blossoms are blooming all over the grey mountainsides, along the roadsides, amid plum flowers, and around houses, providing a warm outlook over the plateau.

Around mid-November, when the first cold wind of winter is blowing, it’s time for mustard flowers to fully bloom on Moc Chau plateau. The Mong and Thai people grow rows of mustard plants to get seeds, so mustard flowers will bloom for three months until late January.

There are many places to see mustard flowers in full bloom, and the most beautiful ones are in Ba Phach, Ang, Thung Cuong and Bua villages. Each site has its own beautiful view that is quite differentfrom the others.

The path that leads to Ba Phach village is covered in fields of mustard flowers along the way. White mustard flowers are overwhelming the entire area where there are some rough, uneven soil paths and small houses of the local people. Ba Phach has a nickname, “a paradise of mustard flowers” on Moc Chau plateau, an ideal destination for photographers.

Yellow and white mustard flowers mixed with green grass create a symphony of colours. Photo: Trong Chính Ba Phach mustard flower field in Nong Truong township is a favourite destinaiton of photographers. Photo: Viet Cuong Mustard flowers bloom white in Ba Phach village. Photo: Viet Cuong The Mong in Na Ka village grow mustard as way to raise incomes. Photo: Tat Son Mong girls pose in a beautiful mustard field. Photo: Dang Tien

There are also other kinds of flowers blooming all year round on Moc Chau plateau, including daisies, apricot flowers, poinsettias and orchids. All make the landscapes so romantic. Visitors to Moc Chau plateau have a feeling that they are contemplating a perfect beauty, which is like that of a young girl with a wild and mysterious beauty.