What to do
The tinh lute, field festivals, handcrafts and dishes found only in the Cao Bang highlands.
Cao Bang is home to many ethnic groups: Tay, Nung, Hmong, Dao, San Chay, Lo Lo, Kinh and more. The Tay and Nung are the majority, shaping the region’s stilt houses, Then songs, markets and cuisine.
Then is a ritual and folk art of the Tay, Nung and Thai peoples. In 2019, “Practices of Then by Tay, Nung and Thai ethnic groups in Viet Nam” was inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The gourd-bodied tinh lute is the sound of every Cao Bang village.
The Tay and Nung “going to the fields” festival in the first lunar month: prayers for a good harvest, with con-ball throwing, tug of war, lion dances and Then, Sli and Luon songs.
Handmade incense in Phia Thap, forged tools in Phuc Sen, Dao Tien paper, brocade weaving and indigo dyeing, kept alive over generations.
People, crafts and landscapes of Cao Bang.
Photos: courtesy of the project author. Please do not reuse without permission.
The Tay and Nung make up about 70% of the province’s population; each people has its own colours.
Women wear long indigo tunics slit to the calf, head wraps, “crow’s beak” scarves and silver jewellery – simple and elegant.
Dark indigo with few patterns; Nung An women’s tunics have five panels and men wear a “vi cun” shoulder pad for carrying loads. Home-dyed indigo is seen as the colour of peace.
Indigo and black decorated with silver coins; women wear white headscarves, and jackets carry a stylised dog motif from the Ban Vuong legend. Known for beeswax-resist printing and silverwork.
Black with bright red, knee-length jackets with two strings of red pompoms and eight-span head wraps.
Full skirts of brightly coloured, hand-woven hemp.
Women wear short indigo jackets with sleeves of many coloured bands and embroidered, beaded headdresses.
Knee-length indigo tunics edged in red, with red belts hung with coins and eight-petal silver flowers.
Photo: Bùi Tuấn Hùng
Photo: Bùi Tuấn HùngCustoms
Markets meet on fixed lunar dates, about six times a month on days ending in the same digit (a “1, 6” market meets on the 1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st and 26th of the lunar month), from dawn until late morning. Dates can change, so check with your host before you go.
| Area | Market (lunar dates) | What’s special |
|---|---|---|
| North | Nuoc Hai (3, 8) · Cao Binh (5, 0) · Na Ri (4, 9) · Na Giang (1, 6) · Ban Gioi (5, 0) · Soc Ha (2, 7) · Tong Cot (2, 7) | Nuoc Hai is the largest, trading in the Tay language; Na Giang draws many Hmong |
| West | Nguyen Binh (3, 8) · Tinh Tuc (5, 0) · Na Bao (4, 9) · Phai Khat (2, 7) · Phia Den (1, 6) | Many Red Dao and Dao Tien; silverwork, brocade, beeswax prints, shiitake, honey, arrowroot noodles |
| East | Quang Uyen (1, 6) · Hang Chau (3, 8) · Trung Khanh (5, 0) · Po Tau (1, 6) · Po Peo (4, 9) · Thong Hue (2, 7) | Handmade paper, incense, indigo cloth, blacksmith goods, basketry, banh khao cakes, fermented soy sauce and tofu |
Photo: Bùi Tuấn HùngBy mid-2024 Cao Bang had 21 traditional craft villages. These welcome visitors to watch and have a go.
Quang Uyen commune · over 50 Nung An households hand-making incense for more than 100 years, with yards of incense fanned out like flowers; try rolling sticks.
Quang Uyen commune · Nung An blacksmithing of Phuc Sen is National Intangible Heritage (2019); watch the forges and try the hammer.
Quang Uyen commune · about 65 Nung An households making paper from may sla bark; lift a sheet yourself.
Hanh Phuc commune · handmade fired-clay tiles laid alternately up and down; try shaping a tile.
Ha Quang commune · National Intangible Heritage (2023) with over 20 motifs; try spinning and weaving.
Tam Kim commune, former Hoa Tham · wax drawn on cloth and dyed in indigo many times; try drawing with wax and a few stitches.
Nguyen Binh area · silver jewellery engraved by hand with dozens of punches; a full bridal set takes about a month.
Phuc Hoa commune · 95 households boiling cane juice into slab sugar, busiest before Tet.
Visit the central market in the morning for rice rolls, and pick up chestnuts and smoked sausage to take home.
Duck stuffed with mac mat leaves and spices, roasted over embers until the skin crackles.
Silky rice rolls served with a hot bone broth instead of dipping sauce: the local breakfast.
A cool mixed noodle dish with roast pork, liver, peanuts, fried taro and a sweet-sour dressing.
Pork belly steamed for hours with taro until meltingly soft: a festive favourite.
An autumn speciality: large, sweet, nutty chestnuts, roasted, boiled or braised with chicken.
Glutinous rice balls in hot ginger syrup: a warming sweet for chilly days.
Roasted sticky-rice flour pressed in wooden moulds with peanut, sugar and pork-fat filling; a classic Tet gift from Trung Khanh.
Young sticky-rice flakes packed in palm-leaf moulds by the Tay of Ngoc Con, boiled 2 – 3 hours, made only for festivals and weddings in late autumn and early winter.
Coloured only with natural ingredients: red brown rice, magenta leaf, butterfly pea, purple sweet potato and pandan.
Home-steamed rice sheets dried and cut, served in pork-bone broth with roast pork.
With a geographical indication, ripe around September – November; roasted, boiled or made into rice flakes and sticky rice.
Mac khuoi berries in March – April, bamboo shoots in July – August, vegetable fern and rock snails in the rainy season.
Festivals and seasons
Rafting, trekking, markets
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Five places to stay
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