“Jagged limestone mountains enclose a fertile river valley,” says Vietnam Coracle, which is “dotted with small settlements of wooden houses on stilts.” Located in Thanh Hoa Province, about three hours southwest of Hanoi, Pu Luong Nature Reserve “would live up to most people’s image of an idyllic Vietnamese landscape and rural life ... luminous-green rice fields extend from the waters’ edge to the thickly-forested slopes, which are streaked with waterfalls … women in conical hats tend the fields, men herd buffalo and goats from one pasture to another, and children play with domestic animals in earthy courtyards, or take turns jumping from bamboo bridges into rivers.”
Pu Luong is “still largely untouched by tourism,” says Hanoi For 91 Days -- “we spent two days exploring the region, and never once saw another foreigner.” It’s over 40,000 acres in area “comprised of a long valley squished between a twin set of mountains” where a “huge variety of flora and fauna can be found,” including the Asian Black Bear, the sika deer and the serow (“a strange goat-antelope hybrid creature”). Pu Luong has probably managed to “stay totally off the tourist radar” because of its “geographic isolation,” but it’s worth the trek -- “the beauty of Pù Luông almost defies description.”