Terraced field in Mu Cang Chai.

Deep in the valleys forged by the waters of Asia’s Red River, a series of colorful mountain villages are encircled by fields of towering rice terraces, the American pay television business news channel wrote, adding that the fields are agricultural feats of precision — rugged mountains blanketed with emerald stairways that, seemingly, ascend to the heavens above.

According to the CNBC website, centuries ago, the ancestors of Northern Vietnam’s local hill tribes created this place of  profound beauty for the most basic of reasons — to survive. It said to grow rice in vertical conditions, hill tribes created a terraced system to control the downward flow of water. Using ingenuity, resourcefulness and greater physical labor, fertile fields of sustenance and breathtaking beauty were born — and still flourish today.

Spring peach blossoms in Mu Cang Chai.

Trekking is popular, as is cycling and photography, and festivals attract record numbers of tourists every year, including an autumn paragliding festival that’s helping to establish Mu Cang Chai as a new destination for adventure travel, CNBC said, noting the slopes transform into seas of gold during the autumn harvest period.