Hoang Su Phi is about 300 km away from Hanoi. From Hanoi từ Hà Giang, the highway is up for the whole trip. From Ha Giang to Hoang Su Phi, it is all about winding road followed by narrow mountains with less transportation.
In this series of articles, Vietnam Responsible Tourism would want to introduce you 3 places that you can visit when in Hoang Su Phi. The third destination is Tay Con Linh.
At an altitude of 2,427 m, Tay Con Linh is one of the highest mountains in Vietnam, the rooftops of the Northeast Forest Mountains.
Tay Con Linh is a mountain range in the west of Ha Giang, spread over the districts of Hoang Su Phi and Vi Xuyen. Although not the highest mountain in Vietnam, the conquest of the Northeast roof seems to be much more difficult than the high peak Fansipan. Because, the road to the Tay Con Linh is far away and has not been shaped into lines as the road to conquer the roof of Indochina, which could depart near the Sapa tourist town.
Based on experience from the those have gone to Tay Con Linh, the journey can start from Thanh Thuy border gate in Vi Xuyen district, 20 km far from Ha Giang city to the northwest, to Xin Chai junction and ask local people for directions to Tay Con Linh. In addition, adventurers can also depart from Hoang Su Phi district with the road through Tung San – Trung Phung as well.
On the way to Tay Con Linh, there are three local unique features that should not be ignored: Tea tree field, Nghĩa Địa Tây, and Salmon.
Tea tree field. Tay Con Linh is famous for its ancient snow ‘shan’ tea. After crossing the sky gate of Hoang Su Phi, you will see many high tea trees overhead and stop in the ancient tea forests of Ho Thau commune, located at an altitude of 1,500 m, to admire immense tea towering, spicy leaves.
Nghĩa địa Tây or the “Western Cemetery”, is located in Tru Phung Village, about 7 km from the center of Tung San Commune, Hoang Su Phi. This is where the 24 Western soldiers were buried in the 1947 military plane crash on the West Con Linh Range, at an altitude of 2,000 meters. It has been more than half a century, but when you come here you do not see the emptiness and desolation of a strange land among highland life, but instead, a clean cemetery with 24 tombs, divided into two streams. The graveyard is a spacious, rare land on the top of the mountain, but local people do not make use of the land to cultivate. They set aside the land so that the bad-luck soldiers would rest in peace, as the way that they respect the afterlife of their loved ones. Located at an altitude quite close to Tay Con Linh, you will imagine some of the harshnesses at the top of 400m more when standing here.
Salmon. If going from Vi Xuyen district, cold salmon raising area on Xa Phin mountain, Phuong Tien commune is very good point to stop after many steep slopes and the death twists. At over 2,000 meters above sea level, this is where the cold water flows through the streams, through the villages and is ideal habitat for Northern European salmon living. The fish pond is located at the right side of the road, between the side of the vertical mountain wall an one side of the waterfall falling into the deep abyss. You will be surprised to see thousands of salmon swimming on top of Xa Phin.