(HBO) – With many communes surrounding the Da river’s lake, Da Bac, a mountainous locality of Hoa Binh province, has an advantage of transport by road and waterway. The district boasts natural landscapes with pristine beauty and friendly local residents having daily activities imbued with rich cultural identity. It is an interesting attraction for those who love adventure and discovery.

In recent years, community-based tourism has been established and lured more domestic and international visitors, gradually turning an unheard location into a familiar destination for tourists.

People of the Dao ethnic group in Sung hamlet of Cao Son commune (Da Bac district) with traditional brocade embroidering – a cultural trait that fascinates tourists.

Nguyen Van Hien, head of the Culture and Information Office of Da Bac district, said that after a trip to the district, an Australian tourist who fell in love with the natural landscapes and people of Da Bac contacted the Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and the Pacific (AFAP) to bring the community-based tourism model to the mountainous locality.

Since 2014, the organisation has given funding to four households in Ke hamlet in Hien Luong commune and Da Bia hamlet of Tien Phong commune to help them build and fix their houses and buy necessaries such as blankets, bed sheets, pillows and mattresses, in order to provide lodging and dining services for tourists. The organisation also provided training courses on community-based tourism and organised trips for local people and arrange field trips to Mai Chau district (Hoa Binh) and Sa Padistrict of Lao Cai province.

Besides, it set up teams and groups to serve tourism like food, guest-receiving and service groups. Though they are unfamiliar with tourism at first, local people got accustomed to and became skilful in serving guests. To date, the AFAP project has helped eight families in Hien Luong, Cao Son and Tien Phong communes operate community-based tourism while providing counselling for two households in Tien Phong commune. Along with AFAP project, the province has paid attention to and supported households operating tourism with amplifiers, loudspeakers, gongs, traditional music instruments, blankets, bed sheets, pillows and mattresses.

The homestay facility of Dang Van Xuan’s family is located among simple leaf roofed houses local people and surrounded by the lush green of the forest. The house still keeps its wooden walls and cottage roof while being renovated with tiled floor and wooden furniture that creates a sense of closeness to the nature but modernity.

Leaving Sung hamlet, we were back to the lake to come to Ke hamlet in Hien Luong commune and Da Bia hamlet in Tien Phong commune. In Da Bia hamlet, we met a group of guests who were architects living in Hanoiand another group that stayed in Quang Tho and Dinh Thu homestays.

Dinh Tuan, a tourist, said: "We are excited to come here and experience the life of the locals who live next to the Da river’s lake. Though we are on a trip, we feel like being home, as we are like members of a family. Everyone here is friendly and hospitably. The air is fresh while landscapes are wonderful. We can contemplate the overview of the lake from the stilt wooden house. In addition, we are able to enjoy traditional dishes like grilled fish, chicken cooked with bamboo shoots, steamed fish wrapped in banana leaves and five-coloured steam glutinous rice, which are delicious. We really enjoy our time here and will come again”.

Not only that, tourists can participate in many other interesting activities such as trekking, cycling, visiting hamlets and villages and kayaking or paddling raft on the lake to take pleasure in the gigantic and mystical "in-land” Ha Long Bay and explore the life of local residents living around the lake. When the night falls, tourists can join the bamboo pole dance and xoe dancing with the locals by the bonfire, while enjoying art performances of young people from the Muong ethnic group./.

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