Yen Bai, August 15 (VNA) – Activities to mark the NationalDay (September 2) and the Mu Cang Chai Terraced Field Festival is scheduled totake place in the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai between August 29and October 18.
Highlights of the events include a marathon race, themeddiscovering Mu Cang Chai, which will feature 100 athletes; a helicopter tour toexperience the landscape from above; and a photo exhibition on the charms of MuCang Chai.
There will also be musical shows on Saturday nights and a MuCang Chai fair of local farm produce, among other activities.
Mu Cang Chai district is home to 500 hectares of riceterraces in La Pan Tan, Che Cu Nha and De Xu Phinh communes, cultivated by theH'mong people for centuries. The local terraces are among the 2,500 hectaresrecognised as national heritage sites in 2007 by the Ministry of Culture,Sports and Tourism.
The locality is about 1,000 metres above sea level, makingit impossible to cultivate wet rice as in deltas. Local residents grow rice interraced fields to stop water flowing downhill.
Terraced fields in Mu Cang Chai are beautiful year round.Visitors in March can see glittering ponds before locals transplant riceseedlings in the period from April to May. After May, the hills are covered ingreen until the fields start to turn yellow with ripe rice in early September.
During the harvest in October, the golden rice fields standout amidst green forests./.