Around 12km away from Sapa town, to the North-East is Ta Phin mountain village residing by the Dao and H’mong ethnic minorities. About 1km away from the People’s Committee of the commune to the North located a range of limestone which is a branch of Hoang Lien Son mountain range. There’s a small mountain in the range, the foot of which has been cracked and created an entrance with the height of about 5m and the width of 3m or so. The entrance is open to a way to go deeper into the ground. Passing about 30m rough way in darkness, visitor will face a cave with a number of directions bending deeper down to the ground. Each direction is only one person-sized, and sometime visitors have to hang on the rock edges to go up and down. More and more ways are open when following the cliff walk and even some lead people to go round and round the tortuous and zigzag path but finally back to the starting point.
Beautiful scenery of Ta Phin
Following the trail of the large cliff, it feels like crossing the cliffs with winding road, some go up some go down, some excessively large, some like a woman caring a baby, some like naked fairies taking a bath, some like a giant tray of sticky rice with patches of light white rough lava similar coral reefs edging around, some like smooth white house columns let themselves from the top down weaved into the “lace” that is winding, tortuous and sparkling of sapphire. Water from the surface of the mountain absorbs and stagnates on top of stalactites, drop by drop gently as marking the rhythm among misty space.
Going deeper inside visitors will observe a large stone inclining on the cliff base and printed by the chicken feet, right on the cliff top to the right traced by the concave marks looked the same as hooves of horse. On the surface of the opposite cliff existed some French words, engraved by some kind of solid object, covered by years’ dust so far could be able to read.
Ta Phin Cave, where it is concealed a number of mysteries, is the site with good value for research, archaeology and tour operation … that requires preservation and protection.
Red Dao people in Ta Phin with colorful traditional costume
TA PHIN BROCADE VILLAGE
Apart from beautiful nature landscapes, culture deeply imbued with national cachets presented through festivals such as the dancing ceremony of the Red Dao, oath-taking ceremony, new house feast of ethnic minorities, Ta Phin has been well-known by both domestic and foreign tourists as being a famous brocade village.
Because of the development in Sa Pa tourism in recent years, there creates a new brocade market but increasing demand from tourists. Understanding that demand and being supported from the local government, the brocade has been founded and operated since 1998.
Ta Phin brocade village famous for its colorful, high-quality products
Tourists can buy many things here like backpacks, skirts, scarves....
Products of Ta Phin brocade village are designed in different styles and colors and very eye-catching. A number of principal products need to be mentioned are: the backpacks, travel bags, the scarves, handbags, purses, brocade robes and so on with various colors. These products are completed by talented skillful hands of the Mong and Dao females who patterned the delicate embroideries of flowers and greenery, birds and animals causing a curiosity and particularly appeal to tourists visiting Sa Pa. The products made here are "spot export" by selling directly to foreign customers or to sell to visitors indirectly through distributing these items to the market stalls at the Brocade ethnic markets or souvenirs shops of Sapa town.
Brocade is an indispensable gift for whoever arrives Sa Pa to buy. For highland ethnic people, the significance of brocade is not only for decoration, embellishment but also the remembrance of love or of the wedding day. The patterns shown on brocades are the quintessence of culture deeply imbued with national cachets distinguishes Brocade Sa Pa with any other brocade product.