In the summer, Ta Xua is deserted, an ideal place to escape the heat and if you are lucky, there are still many opportunities to hunt clouds.
Ta Xua, a mountainous commune in Son La province, is located 180 km from Hanoi, about 4.5 hours away. This tourist destination is famous in the autumn and winter (from October to April of the following year) thanks to its majestic landscape, favorable weather, especially the floating sea of clouds. In the summer, few tourists visit Ta Xua because of heavy rain, making travel difficult.
An Ninh and Sang (travel blogger Onthemars) went to Ta Xua in early July. But they were lucky to have very little rain and cloudy weather throughout the trip.
Ta Xua's specialties are also the coffee shops and the country-style restaurants and ethnic food stalls along the way. These are also ideal spots to watch the clouds.
An Ninh said Ta Xua is also very beautiful in the summer.
"People often joke that cloud hunting is a 'test of character'. We monitor the weather and choose to go after a rainy week, so the rate of hunting clouds is high and we don't get caught in the rain," An Ninh said.
There are many destinations in Ta Xua, of which the grassland is a place not to be missed, with an entrance fee of 30,000 VND per person. The grassland is not large but has a view of the mountains and terraced fields.
There is also a waterfall about 30 km from the center, about an hour's drive away. However, when Ninh arrived, the clouds were thick so he could not go inside. "Everyone should wait for a sunny day to go to the waterfall. According to the instructions, the trail is only a bit steep and not long," Ninh added.
They rented a self-driving car for convenience during their 3-day stay in Ta Xua. "Because the road is steep and narrow, if you are hesitant to rent a car, you can contact the homestay to arrange a shuttle," Ninh suggested.
They experienced two homestays Cloud Forest and Po Mu Homestay, with spacious wooden houses overlooking the valley of clouds. Low season prices are about 1 million VND per room for two people.
The outside space is full of trees. Every morning when you wake up, you can watch the clouds drifting in from your bed.
"The trip opened up a magical image of Vietnam in me. Seas of clouds drifting into valleys between towering mountains, cafes in the middle of the sky and cool green grasslands in the middle of the Northwest mountains and forests," An Ninh said.