Want to find the cool and clean air … and silence … All what is now often lacking in Vietnamese cities. Let’s go for the great outdoors of the very new ​​nature conservation area, Ngoc Son Ngo Luong. We will ride for 150km, announces Mr. Khan, our guide. So let’s go for a few hours, on a small and fairly busy road. Very quickly we find the rocky peaks, characteristic of northern Vietnam. Beautiful scenery made of karsts silhouettes that stand quietly in the mist. Local Tourism

Arrived at Ngoc Son Ngo Luong, we are greeted by our local guide, Ms. Khuyen, a young woman of the Muong ethnic group. This region is one of the oldest settlement of this ethnic group. The Muong (pronounced Meu-eung) are the largest of the 53 officially recognized minorities of Vietnam. With an estimated population of 1.2 million people, they live in the mountainous regions of the north. The Muong are closely related to Khinh Vietnamese. They are linguistically close to them, but culturally closer to Tays, another minority very present in the north of the country and that has settled as well in Laos and in the north of Thailand and Myanmar.

Few people here, we meet a few motorbikes and some people returning from their fields. Towards the end of the day, we reach the village of Mu, where children refresh themselves in a mountain stream, having fun on small bamboo rafts, surely made by the fathers. A colony ducklings swims near them.

We continue our walk through the rice terraces, facing the karsts, to Khuong village. The limestone contained in the water down the mountain stream, created here full of small natural pools, ideal for a swim. We meet families who welcome us in this village for 2 nights. 3 families are chosen for our small group of 6 people and thus give more people an opportunity to receive at their home and participate in rural areas welcoming. Tailor Made Tours

We might have a very deep sleep, the temperature is pleasant. The humidity of the forests around us gives a little more freshness even.

The picnic lunch, and the nap that followed, was a great moment of relaxation, in the shade of a big tree, contemplating the rice terraces, with a light wind to lower the temperature. Then, at the cool end of the day, we meet villagers working in their fields. They remove weeds, by spade or by hand. We pass the end of the day to help them and return to the village for a swim in the stream.