Ta Phin Village is located about 17km northwest of Sapa town center. This is one of the tourist attractions extremely attractive to tourists both at home and abroad when visiting Lao Cai. Traveling to Ta Phin Village, where will we eat and play and what should we note? Let us explore through the following article.
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Discovering ethnic culture in Ta Phin
Ta Phin Village is a village of Red Dao people in Lao Cai with its unique architecture, costumes, and especially festivals. Coming here, you will have the opportunity to explore the daily life and customs of ethnic minorities with Bai Tram dance rituals, wedding ceremonies … Ta Phin is still famous for sophisticated brocade items which You can use as souvenirs. If you are a foodie, do not forget to enjoy the specialties bearing traditional flavors.
The unique culture in Ta Phin is welcoming you.
Tourist attractions in Ta Phin
1. Ta Phin Cave
Ta Phin Cave is also known locally as Ti O Cam. The cave gate is about 5m high and 3m wide, opening a path to the ground. On the door of the cave, there are also 6 words: “Dai Binh Ta Thanh Long Dong”. Going deep inside, you will see rocks bearing different shapes such as a young mother holding babies, fairies, or giant stick rice tray. In the widest area of the cave, stalactites are flow, undulate, glittering. Especially deep inside the cave, there is a strange stone with the image of chicken feet and horse feet. The opposite cliff still remains the French inscriptions carved with hard objects. The ticket price is 5,000 VND and you will have someone holding a light to visit.
The stunning Ta Phin Cave.
2. Ta Phin Monastery
Ta Phin Monastery was built in 1942 in Ta Phin Village. This is a place for Christian nuns who lived for many years before leaving for Hanoi in 1945 due to the unsafe security situation. Since then, the monastery was abandoned as a ruin, but due to its solid laterite construction, the walls and pillars still exist today and keep the solidity, becoming a check-in point hot with young people.
The pristine look of the monastery.
The monastery consists of a horizontal house facing west, a small staircase and an underground basement. In front of the building was a wide, long hallway that was old with time. This horizontal house is the residence of the nuns. In addition, on the right side of the building is a storage area for food, furniture, and the kitchen of the monastery. Currently this monastery building has been seriously degraded. The entire roof is gone, leaving only the ancient moss-covered walls.
In the foggy high mountains, the image of the old, mossy, and ruined monastery hidden in the white mist of Sa Pa, along with the dense trees make people think of fanciful stories easily. Although it has been abandoned for a long time, the ancient architectural features and quiet space of the monastery are attracting many tourists to stop by and take photos.
3. Cloud bridge
The next counting point when traveling to Ta Phin Village is a very special suspension bridge over Muong Hoa stream. This bridge is made up of rattan ropes, so it is named Sapa May Bridge. Another explanation of the name Cloudy Bridge is that on days of dense fog when crossing the bridge makes people feel like walking on clouds.
Cloud bridge Ta Phin Sa Pa.
Interesting experiences at Ta Phin Village
The first thing you need to do when traveling to Ta Phin Village is to visit the brocade stalls. For the ethnic people here, brocade is not only used to serve daily life but also has a spiritual meaning, is a souvenir of love or dowry on the wedding day. The lines of delicate patterns shown on each brocade are the quintessence of the weaver, of a culture imbued with national identity. This makes Sapa brocade stand out better than other types of brocade in other regions. In addition, this is also an indispensable souvenir item for tourists visiting Sa Pa to give to family and relatives.
Brocade will be an indispensable gift.
Not only is it a place with majestic natural beauty but Ta Phin Village is also famous for its healthy folk medicine bath service. Unlike other places, Ta Phin has more medicinal plants than other regions, on average about 10 to 100 types of leaves are boiled per bath time. Therefore, this service price is up to 80-100 VND / time, but the money you spend is completely worth it. This is a very popular activity by both domestic and international tourists when traveling to Ta Phin.
Bath with medicine leaves of the Red Dao ethnic group.
Things to know before visiting Ta Phin Village
When traveling to Ta Phin Village, there are a number of rules and customs that you need to remember for a good and smooth trip as follows:
According to the concept of the ethnic people here, guests who want to visit the house must follow the instructions of the owner. H’mong houses usually have the largest pillar buried deep into the ground as high as the roof. This is called the main column, where the devil resides, you are not allowed to hang your clothes or sit leaning against that pillar. The middle part of the house is a place of worship ancestors so guests are not allowed to sit here. The chair at the end is a place for parents, visitors are also not allowed to sit in. When the host offers wine, if you do not want to drink, please refuse well.
Don’t wear just plain white or whistle when you enter Ta Phin Village.
When entering the village, be careful not to wear white clothes because it is the color of the funeral, and do not whistle while walking around the village. The reason is that the ethnic people believe that the whistling sound is the devil calling to the village. Those are some useful notes for you to travel to Ta Phin Village to have the best trip.
