HBO - This season, when travelling to Sung village, Cao Son commune, Da Bac district you can enjoy not only the flavor of Camellia Sinensis (Shan Tuyet tea), but you also can see warm smiles in the small village under the forest canopy. The ancient Camellia Sinensis is becoming a specialty - a gift that anyone coming to Sung village also wants to bring home.
Women in Sung village, Cao Son commune, Da Bac district pick Shan Tuyet tea.
In the 60s and 70s of the last century, when not damming the river to build Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant, Sung village used to be the highest point of Da Bac district with people living there. Mr. Khuong Manh Thu, the secretary of the commune’s Party Committee says that Sung village still preserves the intact traditional cultural identity of Dao ethnic people for hundreds of years.
This cultural identity is not only preserved, but it is also being promoted in a positive and effective way in building a new cultural life. To promote this advantage, the commune has also developed and issued the Resolution No. 02/NQ-DU on "The development of the community tourism in Sung village". Up till now, it has been considered as a breakthrough step, contributing to improving people's lives there.
Currently, there are 75 houses with 364 people in the whole village. In particular, some households do "homestay" travel services such as the families of Ly Van Thu, Dang Van Xuan, Dang Van Nhat and so on. However, you can come and stay at anyone's house. You are also welcomed with sincerity and openness anywhere. As we are in the forest so it is very happy to welcome the guest.
Returning to Sung village, tourists can enjoy ancient Camellia Sinensis, the traditional dishes such as sour meat, hilly chicken, Hoang wine, upland rice and so on. These products are made by the people themselves, so they always keep the purity and the sweet. Tourists can also visit and admire the beauty of a picture of a wild mountain forest with the green rice in the terraced fields. After the harvest, these fields are brightly yellow with beautiful flowers of Brassica napus.
Here, the tradition of maintaining forests around the villages and communes has been maintained from the time of the ancestors. As a result of this, there have been hundreds of year-old precious timber trees such as Parashorea chinensis with the diameter of more than 2 meters in the head of the commune or Syzygium aromaticum and Cassia alata trees, which is as big as 1 - 2 hugs of adults ... The whole forest around the village has never been abused for hundreds of years.
Thanks to the forests, Sung village has become an attractive destination and community tourism on the tourist map of the province. That is evidenced by hundreds of turns of domestic and foreign visitors every month. In particular, they are mainly foreign guests.
Hoa Binh province’s rich natural and cultural resources position it as a prime location for developing community-based tourism (CBT). In recent years, support from central and provincial policies, as well as assistance from non-governmental organisations, have encouraged local ethnic minority and mountainous communities to actively engage in the sector.
Van Son Commune, Tan Lạc district, Hoa Binh province also known as "Cloud Valley," boasts a cool climate, stunning natural landscapes, and majestic scenery. Visitors who have been to this place should make a stop at Chien Hamlet to experience a lot of fascinating things and feel the friendly, warmth of the Muong ethnic people.
Thanks to the effective exploitation of natural landscape and the cultural diversity of ethnic minorities, Hoa Binh province has become an attractive destination for tourists seeking experiences and exploration.
The Department of Cultural Heritage has just coordinated with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Hoa Binh province to organize a training on implementing the model of the cultural heritage connected in the cultural tourism journey in Cao Phong and Lac Son districts.
The Sung village in Cao Son commune, Da Bac district, is endowed with pristine natural landscape, and Dao Tien ethnic minority community in the village preserves rich cultural heritage, including traditional housing, clothing, language, scripts, customs, and daily life practices. Since the community-based tourism model was introduced in the locality, these traditional cultural values have been further preserved and promoted.
