TRAVELLIVE MAGAZINE Travellive 12-2015 | Page 119

I started searching for information about this pristine mountain. To make it clearer, we came to the site and asked locals living around there. On dirt roads, we tramped to the villages of the ethnic Dao people in Den Sang with the small houses of Ha Nhi and ones in Chung Chai, Pha n Can Su and Phin Ho before meeting H’Mong residents in Ngai Cho village, Y Ty commune. We are familiar with friendly H’Mong people, who are good at trekking, and the wonderful beauty of Y Ty. However, the journey to Lao Than is memorable in a new way. From Ha Noi, we traveled to Sapa by coach. Sapa greeted us with her tranquil and picturesque beauty of vaporous dew and sluggish clouds above the lake. Right after leaving O Quy Ho and following the route connecting Xeo village, Ta Giang Ping, Muong Hum and Den Sang, we had the chance to immerse ourselves in the clouds. We met our two funny guides - A Ho and Lu in the center of Y Ty and started preparing luggage with rice, vegetable, chicken, pork and thousands of other things for the long days of trekking. We approached the mountain foot from an old airport of the French colonial period in Phin Ho. We went through unwinding hills of imperata cylindrical grass. Some natural trails are so flat as if they are covered by large white stone. A strange layer of white dust covers some paths. Ho shared that in the rainy season, villagers often graze cattle in this area, making it an immense grassland. TRAVELLIVE 119