Hong An Commune in Cao Bang has a terrain featuring winding hills and mountains, which impede traffic and economic development here. The People's Committee of Hong An (middled) is surrounded by hills and the H'mong's signature clay homes, which are interspersed by the white tint of plum and pear blossoms.
Lensman Ha Cuong, author of this series of photos and a resident of Cao Bang Province, said trekking to Hong An, about 70 kilometers from Cao Bang Town, rivals the stone plateau in neighboring Ha Giang Province in terms of sheer beauty. However, the area remains off the beaten track.
From the Hong An People's Committee, tourists could travel about 2 kilometers to Ca Dam Village and another kilometer to Vai Non Village.
Motorbike riders can access most villages in the commune during the dry season (November-May).
Ca Dam includes about 66 households, growing staple food crops like rice and maize.
Each year, locals harvest their crops only once, and both productivity and yield are typically low. Cows, pigs, chickens and goats are also reared in the locality.
Cuong said he was fascinated by the magnificent, natural scenery and H'mong life in still-to-be-electrified Ca Dam, still in the grips of poverty.
A H'mong family in Ca Dam prepares a meal for guests and neighbors with stir-fried pork blood, black pig meat, corn rice and corn wine.
"People here follow the traditional custom of slaughtering a pig to prepare for a new crop,” said Cuong.
From Ca Dam, Cuong traveled to Vai Non, a land of rocky mountains. Here, peach, plum and pear blossoms typically enter bloom after the Lunar New Year holiday.
Children in Vai Non after school, with traditional stilt homes in the back. Visitors to Bao Lac, Nguyen Binh or Bao Lam districts would notice four-roof houses built entirely of wood.
