Hani villages and Dan Sang and Y Ty cardamom protected forest. Over a century ago, the French military keeping watch on the Chinese border praised the beauty of the Y Ty plateau, 2000m-high and therefore 400m higher than Sa Pa.

They enjoyed its cool climate and the charming Hani women who, they said, looked like gypsy women. There are only a few thousand Hani left, less than 10 villages, the majority of whom live in China. Hani houses are made of thick adobe walls with small openings and thatched roofs. A few kilometres before the village of Y Ty, the road goes through a big forest producing cardamom. This spice, is highly prized by the Chinese, and has become over the last ten years the mountain minoritie's most important source of income.