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Lào Cai Province

Lào Cai Province
Tỉnh Lào Cai
Province
Phan Xi Păng peak
Location of Lào Cai within Vietnam
Location of Lào Cai within Vietnam
Coordinates: 22°20′N 104°0′E / 22.333°N 104.000°E / 22.333; 104.000Coordinates: 22°20′N 104°0′E / 22.333°N 104.000°E / 22.333; 104.000
Country  Vietnam
Region Northwest
Capital Lào Cai
Area
 • Total 6,383.9 km2 (2,464.8 sq mi)
Population (2008)
 • Total 602,300
 • Density 94/km2 (240/sq mi)
Demographics
 • Ethnicities Vietnamese, H'Mông, Tày, Dao, Thai
Time zone ICT (UTC+7)
Area codes 214
ISO 3166 code VN-02
Website www.laocai.gov.vn

Lào Cai (About this sound listen), is a province of the mountainous Northwest region of Vietnam bordering the province of Yunnan in China. The province covers an area of 6383.9 square kilometres and as of 2008 it had a population of 602,300 people.

Lào Cai and Sa Pa are two important cities within the province at the border with China; the former is well known as key trading post and the latter is hill station famous for tourism, in the Northwest region of Vietnam. Lào Cai is also the capital of Lào Cai Province and shares border with the city of Hekou, in the Yunnan province of Southwest China. This border town was closed after the 1979 war with China, since reopened in 1993, has become a major tourist centre between Hanoi, Sapa and Kunming (China). Sapa (or Sa Pa) is notable as a hill resort and market centre for the local ethnic Hmong, including the Red, Black, Green and Flower Hmong. Located across the Muong Hoa Valley from Vietnam's highest mountain, Fansipan, the city is sometimes referred to as the "queen of mountains"

Lào Cai has many historical sites, natural caves and produces agricultural specialties such as Bắc Hà plums.

In a 1929 survey conducted in the area, the vegetation (flora) and fauna (mammals) recorded by the French biologist Delacour who accompanied Theodore Roosevelt were unique to the region in northern Vietnam.


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