A market in northeastern Ha Giang Province, Vietnam’s northernmost region

The road from northwestern Lao Cai Province to Ha Giang Province is one of steep slopes, mountain after fog-covered mountain, and twists between rising cliffs.

It is rather cold in Ha Giang these days, with temperatures of 2-30C. But this is also the time that adds an extra zing to the many specialties that the province has on offer.

This land, 320 kilometers north of Hanoi, is inhabited by many ethnic groups including the Mong, Dao, Tay, Lo Lo and Giay, giving the province a cultural diversity that visitors find very attractive.

Like other areas in Vietnam, Ha Giang adds its particular flavor to many of its culinary specialties, whether it is the steamed sticky rice eaten with a mixture of salt and peanut powder, the pickled or boiled bamboo shoots accompanied with salt and sesame, or a variety of meat dishes that include horse meat, chicken, piglets and dry-preserved buffalo or cow meat. Hot-tasting vegetables round off the menu.

Early on a cold morning, another Ha Giang special comes up. The rice-flour cake with chicken-egg fillings is ideal foil for the cup of hot tea. The sauce for this cake is soup stock garnished with some spring onions and minced pork.

The province also has a collection of special beverages worth tasting, not to mention taking home - Shan tea and Bac Ha corn wine.

Shan tea, also called Tuyet or Shan Tuyet tea, is fragrant, strong and very clean as it is cultivated on high mountains.

Bac Ha corn wine is also fragrant, pure and strong. People distill it using dried corn plants as firewood.

Another must-try and must-buy product is Dong Van honey, produced from the violet flowers of a species of wild plant, greenish yellow with a sweet taste and unique aroma.

Daily life in the province, especially its markets, bustle with traders and ethnic women in colorful clothes selling and buying a wide variety of usual and not so usual goods, is another Ha Giang attraction.

Particular places of interest include the Lung Cu Flag Pole in the northernmost part of the country, the Vuong Palace and the Ma Pi Leng Mountain.

Reported by Dinh Ha