For foreign visitors, coming to Sapa without joining in the ethinic minority’s market once would be a pity for you. The highland market is the place contains full of cultural color of each region that you cannot experience in nowhere else. In Sapa, visitors should not miss a chance joining in highland markets.
1. Bac Ha Market:
Bac Ha Market is established in Chau Bac Ha. Since then, Bac Ha Market has been held on Sunday weekly and extremely crowded.
Located in the high mountains, visitors want to join in Bac Ha Market will have a chance to admire many beautiful scenes and passing the winding mountain roads. Along the way, every few kilometers, the Mong and Dao people can be seen in colorful costumes and carry the goods on their backs. They walk or ride buffaloes from the village to the market for sale.
Brocade products of ethnic minority women is sold in the main areas. From the entrance, there are many large stores sell brocade bags, wallets or colorful handkerchiefs. Brocade dresses or hats will be put on the ground, or hung up in high selves. In this market, visitors can freely choose brocade products depend on their favorites. Visitors can also be dazzled with the colorful dresses of Mong or Dao young women selling goods. In Bac Ha Market, people also sell buffaloes, dogs or cattles.
One specialty dish of Bac Ha Market is “Thang co” – a dish made from horse. When eating, the pan is still on the stove and people often ladle to each bowl. This dish is very suitable to enjoy in cold days.
2. Love Market:
Located in Sapa, Lao Cai Province, this is a market of the Mong and Dao people which is held every Saturday night next to the stone church.
At the Sapa’s Love market, young men and women in all villages will come here to meet and join together in many activities such as tug of war, blowing leaves, exchanging singing love songs ... After the market, this night there are many couples will become more intimate, or maybe finding successfully the spouse.
Especially, the custom of the Dao does not prevent a married man from finding a spouse. While the girls are dress beautifully with silver rings or silver buttons, the boys will hang around the girls, then open the cassette for the girl to hear or flirt her and give gifts. At first, the girl will give up and run away, the boy need to hold her hand. This is called "pulling", a feature expresses the fierce confession. If the girl "dots" a guy, she will give him an engagement. The engagement can be a ring, a bracelet or a comb.
Then the girl returns to her group. After a quiet time, two or three other girls take this girl to the man she choosed.
3. Coc Ly Market:
Right next to the bridge hanging over the Chay River is Coc Ly market. This market is not too big but it is very important for ethnic minority in the west of Bac Ha district.
Coc Ly is held on every Thursday. It is a place for gathering goods, exchanging merchandise or selling souvenirs of the Mong, Dao and Nung people. This is a normal market in Sapa, where people sell everything from local souvenirs, gifts for tourists or even the Chinese goods. People go to this market with two aims: selling goods and playing, eating, meeting other persons and finding new friends.
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