Hanoi (VNA) – The annualparagliding festival themed “Flying in the yellow season” will return to thenorthern mountainous province of Yen Bai from September 21 to 23.

Hoang Mong Long, head of the Vietwings HanoiParagliding Club, said the festival is held in Mu Cang Chai district during theripe rice season every year. 

He noted that the event will be organised on a largerscale this year so that it can become a national event in the near future. Itexpects to attract 200 Vietnamese and foreign pilots, along with 150 touristsjoining the paragliders in flight.

Visitors to the festival can join pilots andlocal residents in making creative costumes and accessories. The six ones withthe most unique costumes will win the chance to paraglide and enjoy the localterraced rice fields – the most beautiful of its kind in Vietnam, according tothe organisers.

The “Flying in the yellow season” festival ispart of a series of activities taking place in the Mu Cang Chai terraced ricefields.

It was first held in Mu Cang Chai district in2013 with the participation of over 30 paragliders. Notably, the number ofvisitors soared from about 1,000 in 2013 to over 14,000 in 2017.

Luong Thi Xuyen, Vice Chairwoman of the Mu CangChai People’s Committee, said that since realising the festival’s potential forpromoting culture and developing sustainable tourism, the district has organisedanother paragliding festival themed “Flying over rising water on terracedpaddies” in May since 2017.

Mu Cang Chai has 500ha of rice terracescultivated for centuries by the Mong ethnic minority people in La Pan Tan, CheCu Nha, and De Xu Phinh communes. Local terraces are among the 2,500ha recognisedas a national heritage site in 2007 by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, andTourism. 

The locality is about 1,000m above sea level,making it impossible to adopt rice farming methods from delta regions. Localresidents grow rice in terraced fields to prevent water flowing downhill. 

Terraced fields in Mu Cang Chai are beautifulall year round. Visitors in March can see glittering ponds before locals plantrice seedlings from April to May. After May, the hills are covered in greenuntil the fields start to turn yellow with ripe rice in early September. Duringthe harvest in October, the golden rice fields stand out amidst green forests.–VNA