Coc Pai market

Coc Pai is a small town in a green valley in the Xin Man district, in the far west of the old Ha Giang province. It sits well off the main Loop road, and because of that, its Sunday market has remained largely untouched by the tourism that has changed markets closer to the main route. If you want to see a highland market where almost no one is there as a visitor, this is one.

The market meets every Sunday morning. People come in from the surrounding communes — Hmong, Nung, Tay, Phu La, and others — some walking for hours along mountain trails, some riding motorbikes loaded with sacks of rice or bundles of vegetables. The trading is practical: livestock at one end (pigs, chickens, sometimes a buffalo), vegetables and herbs on the ground on plastic sheets, silver jewellery and embroidered fabric in the covered stalls, household goods and cheap tools along the main road. At the food stalls, there is pho, xoi, and usually a pot of thang co.

What makes Coc Pai different from Dong Van or Meo Vac markets is the absence of tourists. On a typical Sunday, you might see one or two other visitors, or none at all. The market carries on exactly as it would if you were not there, and that changes the feeling of the place entirely. There are no souvenir stalls, no one posing for photos, no tour-group loudspeakers. It is just a market.

The town itself is small and does not have much to see beyond the market, but the ride to get there — through the terraced hills of Hoang Su Phi and then westward along narrow roads through valleys and over ridges — is some of the best riding in the province. Most people combine Coc Pai with a trip to the Hoang Su Phi terraces, staying in the area on Saturday night and riding to the market early Sunday morning.

As at any highland market, go early — by 6:30 or 7 the trading is already underway, and by late morning it is winding down. Buy something before you photograph anyone. A bowl of noodles, a bag of mandarins, a small piece of fabric. It is not a transaction, it is a way of being present in the place rather than just looking at it.

Getting to Coc Pai takes time. From Ha Giang town the drive is roughly four hours, and from Hoang Su Phi about two. The roads are mostly good but narrow and winding. Allow plenty of time, and do not plan to arrive in the dark.