At this time of the year, in Nam Nghiep Village, Muong La District, thousands of son tra trees planted by local villagers bloom in profusion on mountainous terrain, creating an arresting, charming sight.
Locals often harvest the apple-like fruit, tao meo, produced by the tree to make ruou tao meo, a popular wine in the northwest mountainous region.
Located at an altitude of over 2,000m above sea level, the village is covered in fog all year round, a favorable natural condition for growing the fruit.
Due to dangerous roads and windy paths, tourists are better off hiring experienced xe om (motorbike taxi) drivers to Nam Nghiep Village for VND300,000 ($13.12) per person a round trip from downtown area.
Tran Thuong (pictured) and a group of friends traveled more than 310 km from Hanoi to Mu Cang Chai, a rural district in Yen Bai Province, and then turned to Ngoc Chien Commune in Son La Province to reach Nam Nghiep.
The road from Ngoc Chien to Nam Nghiep was not easy to travel on, Thuong said. If it rained, it would be even more dangerous, he added.
Typically, the son tra trees bloom in March and stay for a month before withering and giving away to the fruits.
