No electricity, no water or mobile phone network, Sao Ha village is located in the middle of the wild and remote Van Chai jungle, Dong Van district, Ha Giang province.

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Sao Ha village in Van Chai commune is inhabited by H'Mong people, located in the middle of Van Chai forest. To reach Sao Ha village deep in the forest, visitors can travel by motorbike over a distance of about two kilometers, with many dangerous steep turns. If you walk, it will take about 30 minutes to an hour depending on your walking speed. "The road to Sao Ha is a dirt road with jagged rocks and many uphill sections, requiring steady driving skills. The road goes through a forest and a temple worshiping the forest god. The village elders told not to call each other' names in the forest to avoid bad things following you.


In the H'Mong language, Sao Ha means "high valley", located at an altitude of about 1,500 m above sea level. The road to the village is often covered in fog, especially in winter. A characteristic of Sao Ha village is the stone fences about 1.5 m high. The stones are tightly packed together, although they have no adhesive material, they are solid, have not fallen over for decades, and are covered with green moss.

In the village, there are 22 H'Mong households, all with the surname Vang, living in one area. The Trinh Tuong houses (walls made of soil), covered with Yin and Yang tiles are located in clusters, surrounded by a primeval ancient forest of about 500 hectares.

Due to the rugged terrain, people in the village live on a self-sufficient basis. Around the village, people grow flax as raw material for handloom weaving.

Growing corn is a traditional job of residents living in the Dong Van karst plateau in general and the people of Sao Ha village in particular. Their main dish is Men Men (corn rice).


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Adults go to work far away from home in the morning and return in the evening. During the day, the village is quite deserted, only a few children can be seen playing or grazing on the road.

Coming to Kho Cho village, visitors will hear about an old story related to Hang Phi (Bandit cave). Around 1957 - 1958, Vang Van Ly was the leader of a famous bandit group who opposed the government. When he failed, Vang Van Ly and his children escaped to a mountain cave in Van Chai commune.

After Vang Van Ly was pursuade to surrender, the lives of the people here returned to peace. The current Hang Phi is said to be where Vang Van Ly hid.

Besides the primeval ancient forest and Phi Cave, Sao Ha also has a bamboo forest, ancient houses, and Sao Ha temple for tourists to visit. Currently, there are no tourism services in the village, some tourists choose to camp in the bamboo forest, enjoying the fresh air and quiet in the middle of nature.


Sao Ha is most beautiful in the spring when the peach blossom trees bloom, dispelling the cold and quiet look of the village.

Some travel companies have conducted survey trips and plan to build experiential tours connecting Van Chai with neighboring communes. However, the road from the commune center to the village is only about one meter wide, just enough for two motorbikes to avoid each other, which is the biggest difficulty. Due to its high altitude, the lack of water is also a limitation for tourism.

Along with development, some traditional cultural features such as clay walled houses, yin-yang tiled roofs, and stone fences tend to be lost and replaced by concrete. Therefore, the Dong Van district government intends to put Kho Cho and specifically the Sao Ha household group on the list of villages that need to preserve traditional values ​​and exploit and properly use tourism resources.


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