Over 100 pilots join paragliding festival in Yen Bai

At the festival (Photo: VNA)

A paragliding festival kicked off at Mu Cang Chai district’s Khau Pha mountain pass of the northwestern province of Yen Bai on September 23, drawing the participation of 111 domestic and foreign pilots.

The festival, themed “flying over ripening rice fields”, was part of the Muong Lo Culture Tourism Week, which was underway in Nghia Lo town of Yen Bai province until September 29.

The two-day festival aimed to honour the beauty of local terraced fields as well as encourage the protection of natural landscape and highlight the hard work of local people over the centuries to create the fields.

It is the biggest annual paragliding event of Vietnam, attracting thousands of people to Khau Pha pass, one of the longest mountain passes in Vietnam at more than 1,200 metres above sea level.

Vu Tien Duc, Chairman of Mu Cang Chai district People’s Committee, said the festival contributes greatly to promoting images of Vietnam’s terraced fields and specialties of the district.

Mu Cang Chai served an average of about 30,000 visitors each year before and the figure was 45,000 in 2016.

In May, a paragliding festival was also held in Khau Pha, with 100 paragliders participating in the event as part of the Yen Bai Tourism Year in response to the 2017 National Tourism Year.

VNA