The stilt house of Mr. Hoa Van Ba. Photo: Dao Thanh.
9 stairs attract visitors
Thuong Lam commune, Lam Binh district is famous for its beautiful beauty in Tuyen because of the ancient stilt houses of the Tay people. The stilt houses saw off the old people lying down and welcomed the cries of young children. For the Tay people, a familiar stilt house is like kitchen smoke, like an evening meal filled with longing and nostalgia.
For several generations, the reflection of Hoa Van Ba's stilt house has shined, and the 9 stairs leading up to the stilt house have welcomed many footsteps. Dad is the boss of Homestay 99 mountains. Dad has the largest and most beautiful ancient stilt house in Na Tong village. That house was left by his father.
To have stilt house pillars so large that one person cannot hold them all, Ba's father and grandfather spent many days pulling the ax out of the bamboo wall next to the charcoal stove; Many bags of cassava and root vegetables were lost thanks to men as strong as buffaloes bringing them back from the jungle. Each generation of Ba's family builds the house to make it more solid.
Many tourists enjoy participating in the tourist experience at Tay village in Thuong Lam. Photo: Dao Thanh.
During Ba's father's lifetime, the gaps in the temporary walls no longer allowed wild winds to enter. But in order to turn into a stilt house that could welcome guests to stay overnight and "take money out of the wallet and put it in the homeowner's hand", Ba had to temporarily put aside his work in the fields and fields for many days to work with a painter to repair the dry, worn spots of the pillars. , pieces of floorboards, redoing the campus...
Around 2014, the government of Lam Binh district, Tuyen Quang province chosen Thuong Lam commune to build a cultural tourism village, Hoa Van Ba was a pioneer in tourism. He started working in tourism with rough, rough hands that only knew how to hold the plow and hoe, the mud, hoping to have enough food to feed the whole family. And from tourism, that hand has been holding the coins of each group of strangers. Dad is very happy.
Every day, more and more visitors come to the village. Only Ba's family doing tourism is like a stove without firewood, like a stilt house without 9 stairs. Dad went to ask someone in the village to discuss the matter.
But it's not as easy as he thought. Many families, especially the elderly, were happily chatting and laughing. When they heard him mention doing tourism and letting strangers come and stay with them, they suddenly got mad. They told him to bring strangers home to live with him. Forest ghosts and mountain ghosts punished him for sickness and crop failure, leaving him alone in his house. Don't involve the villagers. Old people say it hurts!
Women and children in Tay village excitedly make traditional dishes to welcome guests. Photo: Dao Thanh.
After that time, he did not dare to go to anyone's house in the village to campaign anymore. Dad doesn't blame the elderly. Because they will not be able to do something that they have never thought of in their mind. The concept of rural tourism and making money from tourism is so strange to the villagers.
But every day the worries of the elderly in the village become less and less like the bag of rice in the corner of the stilt house on the day of harvest. Especially when there is the cooperation of district and commune authorities. Officials went to each house to spread propaganda and then held hands to give instructions... Just like that, more and more visitors came to the village every day like buds on forest trees encountering spring rain. The village did not see any punishment from the gods, but only saw the pockets of many villagers thickening because they welcomed guests home to stay overnight. Selling a lot of wine and agricultural products, families have more money to buy more buffaloes and pigs to increase production.
The old people saw that Hoa Van Ba's belly was good for the village. They didn't apologize, but when it was a happy day for the village, when they met him, they all came in and invited him a full cup of corn wine.
Brilliant brocade of Tay village
Brocade products are developing brilliantly in Tay village. Photo: Dao Thanh.
Amidst the morning mist, Ms. Ngo Thi Phin, Ban Cho village, Thuong Lam commune, went to the homes of women's union members in her village and neighboring villages to urge them to make brocade, so that they could sell it in time for the spring festival; promptly sell it to ladies and mothers in the village and even to customers from far away who order.
Ms. Phin was originally a kindergarten teacher, but due to a long illness, her hands could not control the bicycle to go to the village to teach literacy to the children. She had to abandon her teaching career and embark on a journey to restore the traditional brocade weaving profession of her homeland.
But from thinking to doing in practice is more difficult and strenuous than the way she knows how to make a brocade with delicate patterns. Because in most villages, for a long time, the loom has been lying in the corner of the house, making friends with spider webs and termites. For many Tay women, the way of weaving brocade remains only in their thoughts.
We cannot let brocade remain only scattered in the minds of the elderly in the village, only alive in the hands of grandmothers and mothers. We must let brocade weaving get into the minds of children, as part of the culture and soul of the village. Therefore, after recovering from the disaster, the restoration and development of her hometown's traditional brocade weaving profession were like mountain winds billowing in Ms. Phin's mind. In 2011, the brocade weaving group was founded by Ms. Phin.
Ms. Ngo Thi Phin (far right) instructs members of the group to weave intricate brocade patterns. Photo: Dao Thanh.
To know how to make products according to market demand and connect with consumption, Ms. Phin went on a trip to see how brocade weaving places are associated with the tourist villages they sell. Many people see the enthusiasm of highland ethnic minority women who have passed on their experience in providing tourism services, especially knowing how to breathe the soul of their homeland into households in the villages. Because if we want to maintain our identity and spread, people from our hometown must first learn to love their culture.
After that trip, she returned to tell the villagers that, for many generations, brocade has remained familiar to the Tay people in Thuong Lam. But because of modern life, many families have let it be carried away in shipments from the lowlands, forgetting its old features and soul. The patterns of our homeland's mountains and forests were made by the very talented hands of our creative ancestors, so why do we let them disappear? Like the flowers of the Phay tree growing in the forest, they exist on the patterns of all brocade products. The milling plant is attached to the village, from the time each child is born, to the time they return to the land and are used to make coffins... never leaving the villagers, the villagers cannot let their weaving profession be lost. one.
Let's think together for our homeland
Ms. Trieu Thi Xuong's family's debt has reached 700 million VND, because she bought 3 tourist boats and repaired the stilt house grounds. Unlike before, when she worked hard all year round in the fields, the State told her to lend her millions of dollars and she felt dizzy and her hands trembled because even if she worked until her back was tired and her knees were weak, she couldn't pay it off. Now, she is no longer worried but feels happy.
But nurturing that determination is not easy. Remembering the early days, listening to the officials, she enthusiastically did homestay tourism. Also repaired the stilt house and redid the campus. However, after borrowing a large sum of money without seeing customers bring back small coins, she felt like she was sitting on a fire. In addition, many villagers did not agree to support it. When visitors come, they don't chase them away, but they keep letting their dogs roam free, making them not dare to walk to see the village...
Tourists take souvenir photos at Na Tong village, Thuong Lam commune, Lam Binh district, Tuyen Quang province.
These difficulties grow higher every day like a mountain, blocking her hope. She went to district officials to explain the difficulties. The officer looked at her and smiled and said, for generations, Tay people have still had that way of thinking, day one or day two, how can they change it? The only way to change their thinking is to connect so that there is a group that knows how to think for each other and progress together. She found people like Mr. Hoa Van Ba, Ms. Ngo Thi Phin... to form cooperative groups to do tourism together, and everyone happily agreed.
In recent years, every spring festival or weekend, guests have packed Xuong's house and neighboring houses in the village. Her house has a place to eat and stay, while Mr. Hoa Van Phu's house has a place to bathe with wild tobacco from the Tay and Dao people; Mr. Hoa Van Ba's house has a green vegetable garden, an organic orange garden, and a bamboo and bamboo tree; Mr. Nguyen Viet Hoa's house has sturgeon, blue beam fish, etc.
Because they are quite well-trained in tourism and welcoming guests, every time the village has guests, the households know how to connect with each other, some take care of the table, some take care of the blankets and pillows, and continue to share for each other. attentive guests. They no longer hire outsiders like before. By hiring workers, Ms. Xuong and her relatives are afraid that the reception of guests will not be attentive and friendly. If the guests are not satisfied, the village will be very sad. Vegetable gardens grown in the garden, pigs roaming on the hill... no one will eat with the neighbors.
Experience the beautiful hydroelectric lake bed - an indispensable activity when coming to Thuong Lam. Photo: Dao Thanh.
In that way, from one or two tourism houses, up to now, the Tay village in Thuong Lam has several villages doing homestay tourism. Last spring continues to this spring, every year tourists flock to and stay in the stilt houses of the Tay people.
There were guests who visited the village last summer and promised to return to Tay village to welcome spring. Attending the survival sewing festival with relatives, eating five-colored sticky rice, watching the Long Tong festival, taking a boat trip on the vast lake... People still look forward to that promise, to welcome familiar guests like welcoming relatives and friends. A precious friend of the village, on a bright spring day.
Currently, Lam Binh district has 45 homestay tourism service establishments, concentrated in Thuong Lam commune and Lang Can town. The district has 4 bus trips from Tuyen Quang city to the district center, and 1 wharf in Thuong Lam commune. The waste and wastewater treatment system is still simple, mainly by manual methods and concentrated mainly in the central area, without rescue centers or museums...
Therefore, in the coming time, Lam Binh district will continue to focus on investing in infrastructure development to match its potential and meet the needs of local tourism development.
According to Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper
