The season of chi pau flowers is coming on Ta Chi Nhu peak.

Not only is Ta Chi Nhu (Yen Bai) a place to watch the beautiful sunset, it is also home to the most brilliant carpet of chi pau flowers in the Northwest. This September, the flowers with the curious name are racing to dye Ta Chi Nhu purple.

With an altitude of 2,979m, Ta Chi Nhu (Tram Tau district, Yen Bai) is one of the 10 highest mountains in Vietnam. In September, carpets of chi pau flowers, also known as gentian flowers, bloom again, making this place an interesting trekking and flower hunting spot. Chi pau flowers are a type of herbaceous flower that usually grows at an altitude of over 2,000m and only blooms once a year. The blooming time is very short, about a week, so many people regret missing the flower season.

Every September, chi pau flowers cover the mountain slopes of Ta Chi Nhu with purple. This flower has tiny buds with a purple-white color. Although the flowers are small, they bloom in clusters, the stems and leaves are purple, so you can recognize them from afar. According to Mr. Nguyen Trong Cung - a person who has conquered Ta Chi Nhu and successfully hunted for chi pau flowers - the road to Ta Chi Nhu is not too difficult. The total distance for a two-day, one-night journey here is about 24km round trip. The Ta Chi Nhu trekking route has very beautiful scenery and gradually changes with altitude. Sometimes you go through primeval forests, sometimes you go across streams, through low-canopy forests, grasslands and finally bare hills near the top.

On the top of Ta Chi Nhu, visitors can hunt for clouds and sunsets with a 360-degree view. To get here, visitors can choose to climb from Yen Bai or Son La. If conquering Ta Chi Nhu from Yen Bai, visitors travel by sleeper bus from Hanoi to Tram Tau. Then continue traveling about 15km to Mo Chi. To reach the top of the mountain, visitors usually take about 8 hours, if the road is favorable. When climbing the mountain, you should hire a local porter to lead the way to avoid getting lost and have the best experience for the trip. To successfully hunt for chi pau flowers, visitors should ask the tour guide for the specific blooming time and weather conditions to have a detailed trekking plan. The price for a Ta Chi Nhu trekking tour ranges from 2 to 4 million VND.