Chieu Lau Thi - an attractive destination for tourists

Dawn breaks over Chieu Lau Thi peak. Photo courtesy of Contributor

The Vietnamese name of this mountain means “Nine-storey ladder”, in Chinese “Chieu Lau” means nine steps, “Thi” is a large and tall rock. The name “Nine-storey ladder” means the path to the top of the mountain, the ancients created it into stone steps climbing up and down from a height of more than 2,300 m to the peak of 2,400 m.

Legend has it that when the French invaded Vietnam, they intended to use this mountain as an observation point for a large area. So they hired our people to break rocks to open a path to the top of the mountain, and hired Chinese workers to chisel rocks from the foot to the top of the mountain with 9 stone steps.

According to those who have lived here for a long time, Chieu Lau Thi was devastated in the 1970s and 1980s due to food shortages, lax forest management, and people on both sides of the mountain's foot clearing the forest to grow corn to relieve hunger, leading to a forest fire that lasted for dozens of days, leaving the primeval forest on the mountain bare.

Landmark on top of Chieu Lau Thi. Photo by Contributor

Thanks to the implementation of the Party and State's policies, over the past 40 years, the ethnic people here have not cultivated fields or destroyed forests. Grass and trees have gradually recovered, returned to green and there are many primeval forests creating extremely rich vegetation.

The total area of Chieu Lau Thi is about 36,000 hectares, with a population of over 40,000 people, including the Dao, Tay, Nung, and Mong ethnic groups. These ethnic groups all grow rice on terraced fields; the Dao people grow tea, and households with forest land on high mountains all grow cardamom and harvest it in areas covered by forests.

The clear Chieu Lau Thi mountain peak, seen from afar, often has white clouds floating at an altitude of over 2,000m and this place is chosen by tourists as a place to visit, travel , and enjoy the beautiful scenery of poetic nature. Each season, Chieu Lau Thi has a different beauty. However, the best time to hunt for clouds here is from September of the previous year to February of the following year, at the same time as the terraced rice season is ripe or when spring flowers are blooming, including peach blossoms.

Floating, romantic sea of clouds on top of Chieu Lau Thi. Photo by Contributor

To watch the sunset from the top of the mountain, March and April are the ideal time to watch the sunset and it will last until 6:30 pm in weather around 15-18 degrees Celsius. In addition, coming to Chieu Lau Thi, you will have the opportunity to admire many rare species of animals and plants and many types of old primeval wood covered with green moss. On clear days, when the dawn light appears, the scene of the floating sea of clouds becomes even more romantic.

Hieu Anh

Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/van-hoa/du-lich/202507/chieu-lau-thi-diem-den-hap-dan-du-khach-69f25cf/