Enjoy Fresh Life in Ba Be National Park

By just staying a few days in Pac Ngoi or any village in Ba Be national park, travelers can come back bustling urban life with a pleasant mood and fresh mind.

Life in Ba Be is so easy-going, where travelers can soak in nature and enjoy an authentic life. With presence of really few modern objects, Be Be is a wonderful place to escape from crowded city and busy life. Wi-fi is erratic, mobile wave and 3G wave are also weak. However, it’s ok. Look at another aspect, everything is still fine. No one and nothing can bother you in this out-of-the-way area. Let try a life without technology and conveniences.

So as to enjoy this fresh life, you can select a homestay of a Tay family, where you will experience a life at a traditional stilt house. My stilt house overlooks gentle Len stream, a great location to relax in every afternoon.

In this national park, Ba Be lake is the most striking. Boating around the lake, traveler will be contemplated a charming, breathtaking scene. The scenery changes as moving from south to north. 

The southern part focuses several docks. Here, water has a dark green and sometimes green of jade. Short and rank mountains embrace the lake, and trees are luxuriant. Some islets appear among the lake, in which the most well-known one is “Ba Goa” islet (The Widower islet). With tranquil atmosphere, you will just hear the rumble of boat machines. Ba Be is truly like Halong in land. 

Up to the north, the landscape become different. Water has a light brown, yellow brown or yellow green. Perhaps this is because of alluvium. The two sides are covered with corn fields. Some herds of buffaloes slowly gaze. Some flocks of ducks and chickens forage. A few houses of thatched roofs are scattered, appear intermittently behind rows of bamboo trees. A number of dugout boats go up and down in the still and secluded space.  

If you want to have adventurous feeling, you can kayak around Ba Be lake and discover it in your own way, or trekking over the hamlets to reveal the indigenous culture and life. 

In the afternoon, travelers can play at the stream in front of the homestay, wading and splashing on cool water, or just sitting on the lovely small bamboo bridge to silently read book and unwind. Every homestay also has some bikes, so you can ask the owner to borrow one and cycle around villages and visit corn, rice fields. 

Fresh food in Ba Be is fish, shrimps and vegetables. Fish and shrimps are caught directly from the lake. Locals said that they put lift-nets down to the stream at 4-5 p.m. And at 2-3 a.m, they would pull lift-nets up to gather aquatic products. Most typical vegetable of this area is “bo khoi”, which has a fairly wild taste. A part from “bo khoi”, you can enjoy many other lush vegetables.

Here, there is no place for entertainment. When night falls, the entire space is sunk in darkness, unexpectedly quiet. Then, it is time for a comfortable sleep. Sleep early and wake up early, you will have a good health and cheery mind for activities tomorrow. Get up early, you can also contemplate rustic villages and beautiful fields in sunrise, incredible things that you may rarely see in your life. 

 By Xuan Tran (Kimina) - ActiveTravel Asia