Hundreds of tourists have flocked to a mountainous northwestern Vietnamese region on the weekend to see a paragliding festival held at a spot 1.3 kilometers above sea level overlooking an awe-inspiring landscape.

The two-day event opened on Saturday along the 30-kilometer-long Khau Pha Mountain Pass, one of the steepest and most tortuous mountainside roads in Yen Bai Province.

It has been jointly organized for the sixth time by local authorities and the Vietwings Hanoi Paragliding Club, which offers paragliding courses in northern Vietnam.

The Khau Pha (‘Sky Horn’) Pass, about five hours’ drive from Hanoi, partly stretches along the mist-shrouded mountain of the same name, which towers over terraced rice paddies.

The paddy fields typically glisten wet in the rainy season, giving an inspiration for the organizers to name the festival ‘Fly over the season of pouring water.’

Many visitors were seen to join paragliding while accompanied by Le Hoang Bach, an architect with a great decade-long interest in the adventure sport still uncommon in Vietnam.

He talked with paragliding novices during tandem flights as a way to ease their fear of vertiginous heights.

A crew of experienced pilots readily taught would-be paragliders necessary techniques in cooperating with them to guarantee complete safety in real flight.

Having a festival along the Khau Pha Pass was to help draw more tourists to the local scenic beauty, said Hoang Mong Long, director of the Vietwings Hanoi Paragliding Club.

Long recalled that two years ago a bride and groom who were both enthusiasts of paragliding flew above the local fields here together before landing and exchanging wedding rings.

Below are some pictures of the event:

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