Before dawn, as mist still blankets the hills, visitors make their way by motorbike to Doi Bong, one of Long Coc's popular sunrise viewpoints.
Located more than 100 km from central Hanoi, Long Coc is known for hundreds of rounded tea hills stretching across the northern midlands, earning it comparisons with 'Halong Bay on land'.
Local Muong people walk along hillside paths early in the morning as they prepare for a new day's work.
Visitors set up cameras and phones at vantage points to capture the sunrise. Once little known to tourists, Long Coc has gained attention as images of its rolling tea hills spread on social media.
A turning point came when local authorities and residents stepped up digital promotion, with Commune Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Hoang Trung appearing in videos to introduce Long Coc's tea hills to a wider audience.
The first rays of sunlight break through the mist, casting a golden glow over the rolling tea hills.
The scenery offers international visitors an unexpected glimpse of Vietnam's landscape.
Long Coc is increasingly drawing international visitors, including travellers from France and the United States, who come to photograph the tea hills, pick young tea leaves and meet local residents.
International visitors join the early-morning scene, picking tea, taking photographs and watching the sunrise. A French visitor said the mist-covered tea hills offered a striking contrast to the terraced fields and rice paddies he had previously associated with Vietnam.
The Muong community accounts for about 83 per cent of Long Coc's local population. Residents head to the tea hills early in the morning, carrying baskets and picking young tea leaves through the mist.
Muong women in traditional dress carry baskets through the green tea fields, adding to Long Coc's distinctive scenery.
As tourism grows, Long Coc farmers are shifting towards greener practices, reducing chemical fertilisers and pesticides and adopting organic cultivation of Bat Tien and other high-quality tea varieties.
