Visiting tea plantations in Moc Chau

Hills of tea in Moc Chau - Photo: Quoc Anh.

Moc Chau, less than 200 kilometers from Hanoi and more than 1,000 meters above sea level, is now an increasingly popular destination for travelers thanks to the stunning scenery of the northern upland. Moc Chau is also well known for its picturesque fields of flowers of different species that can be found between November and February.

I and my friend arrived in Moc Chau in a summer afternoon after around five hours on a packed bus and the plateau welcomed us with light rain and mild climate. Hearing some locals on the bus telling their stories and suggesting places of interest like what the driver assistant told us such as Dai Yem Waterfall, Doi (Bat) Cave and, of course, tea plantations helped us forget the stuffy atmosphere inside the cramped bus.

Moc Chau has many large tea farms such as those in Nong Truong Moc Chau Town and Tan Lap Commune. Vast green tea plantations seem to have their own attractiveness. Despite having visited a couple of tea plantations in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong before, I was still impressed by the rolling hills of tea in Moc Chau.

It was also interesting to hear a female farmer I met on the plantation in Nong Truong Moc Chau Town talking about how amazed she was when seeing tea fields in Moc Chau when she moved there more than 10 years ago. “When I first came to Moc Chau, these hills of tea captivated me and I wished to settle down here,” she said.

She also told us to climb up to the highest hill on the plantation with an abandoned water tank on top to have a panoramic view of the entire area and watch vehicles running on the curvy National Highway 6 from afar.