Horse racing in the White Highlands

Exhausted means very tired.

In the mountains of Bắc Hà, where rough roads make travel difficult for the local Mông people, who make up 47 per cent of the district’s population, using horses to ferry goods has been common for centuries.

To ferry goods means to carry them from one place to another place.

Centuries are periods of a hundred years.

Bắc Hà, the district, has been dubbed “The White Highlands” due to the massive white plum flowers that blossom during spring.

Dubbed means “called”.

The mountainous district is home to more than 60,000 people of the Mông, Tày, Black Dao, and other groups inhabiting 683sq.km.

Inhabiting means “living in a place”.

Located on an elevated plain between 1,000 and 1,500m above sea level, the slopes of lime-karst mountains in the district angle up at between 24 and 28 degrees.

A plain is a piece of flat countryside.

An elevated plain is one high up on a mountain.

Slopes are hillsides.

Lime karst is a landscape formed by lime and with many different shapes.

It has become a much-anticipated event, with tourists coming from as far away as Hà Nội and other cities on the plains.

Much-anticipated means much-expected.

“If we can provide an interesting attraction with good quality services, then we hope they will come to a local destination like Bắc Hà.

A local destination is a place to travel to in Việt Nam.

“Việt Nam has a population of nearly 100 million, and if we can tap into that market it would be a major driving force for tourism.”

To tap into a market means to take business opportunities from that market.

He added that under the existing circumstances it’s possible that borders won’t reopen until the end of the year.

Circumstances are conditions you have around you and must live with.

Reopen means “open again”.

“In our agenda proposal for the upcoming district Party Committee Congress, which was scheduled to take place on June 10 and 11, we noted that during the future committee’s term of 2020-2025 we would mobilise everyone to empower community-based tourism,” Khoa said.

To mobilise people means to get them ready for action.

To empower people means to make them in control of their own lives.

“We had a few meetings in our village, where officials from the Centre for Rural Economy Development came to talk to us about it,” she said, her tanned face smiling.

Tanned means coloured dark from exposure, especially to the sun.

“I’m fortunate to have kind-hearted parents-in-law.”

Your parents-in-law are your spouse’s parents.

During our meeting in his office, Deputy Chairman Khoa said he hopes that when visitors arrive it will encourage local people to preserve their local traditions.

To preserve means to keep.

While he has visited many places in the northern mountains, he still sees that Bắc Hà Market is the focal point for tourists.

A focal point is a point of focus.

Perhaps in a few years a new homestay called “Mẩy coóng” will be added to the list of accommodation options amid the beautiful terraced fields of Bắc Hà, with its deep red foliage providing a stunning backdrop for those who visit.

Foliage means leaves and bush.