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Description
Coc Ly, North Vietnam...

Coc Ly Market in Lao Cai Province always turns colorful and festive on Tuesdays, when ethnic people gather there to buy and sell goods, dine and drink, or just wander to enjoy the ambience of the montagnard market.

Many ethnic traders from Bac Ha and other parts of Lao Cai Province dress up in colorful costumes and bring horses, chickens, buffaloes, vegetables or whatever they can sell to the festive market in the wee hours, and will not return home until 1pm. Therefore, it is common to find yourself face to face with a buffaloe while strolling in the crowded main street of the bazaar.

Certainly, what catches the eyes of visitors most are the different colors of the costumes worn by ethnic people and the handicrafts they sell at the market, about 95 kilometers from Sapa in the northern province.

You can see young and old Hmong women, wearing skirts and hats with different types of embroidered flowers, crowding the market during the opening hours of Coc Ly. Scarves, clothes, decorations and other items made of tho cam (ethnic fabric) on sale also add color to the bazaar by the Chay River.

When we visited Coc Ly in 2007, road construction was under way, which, when finished, will not only shorten the trip between Sapa & Coc Ly, but most probably also hurt the authenticity of the market.

Description
Coc Ly, North Vietnam...

Coc Ly Market in Lao Cai Province always turns colorful and festive on Tuesdays, when ethnic people gather there to buy and sell goods, dine and drink, or just wander to enjoy the ambience of the montagnard market.

Many ethnic traders from Bac Ha and other parts of Lao Cai Province dress up in colorful costumes and bring horses, chickens, buffaloes, vegetables or whatever they can sell to the festive market in the wee hours, and will not return home until 1pm. Therefore, it is common to find yourself face to face with a buffaloe while strolling in the crowded main street of the bazaar.

Certainly, what catches the eyes of visitors most are the different colors of the costumes worn by ethnic people and the handicrafts they sell at the market, about 95 kilometers from Sapa in the northern province.

You can see young and old Hmong women, wearing skirts and hats with different types of embroidered flowers, crowding the market during the opening hours of Coc Ly. Scarves, clothes, decorations and other items made of tho cam (ethnic fabric) on sale also add color to the bazaar by the Chay River.

When we visited Coc Ly in 2007, road construction was under way, which, when finished, will not only shorten the trip between Sapa & Coc Ly, but most probably also hurt the authenticity of the market.