PICTURE-PERFECT: Hoai Khao Village is nestled among mountains and valleys. VNA/VNS Photos Chu Hieu

In Quang Thanh Commune, Nguyen Binh District, the village has become one of the most attractive destinations in the local area for visitors seeking community tourism in Vietnam’s northeast region.

Tourists will be struck by the unique cultural values and traditional customs of the Dao Tien ethnic minority, through their “páo dung” folk songs and costumes embroidered with sophisticated patterns illustrating local nature and landscapes.

Villager Ban Thi Lien, 36, was born and raised in a wooden house typical of her grandparent’s generation, which gave her and her friends in Hoai Khao a host of unforgettable childhood memories.

LOCAL QUALITY: Brocade embroidery is among the cultural identities the ethnic Dao Tien villagers in Hoai Khao are trying to preserve.

When a wooden house is built, she explained, a separate storehouse for paddy rice is also built, which is a unique cultural feature of the Dao Tien.

“Both the house and the storehouse are precious assets of the family,” she said.

All Dao Tien women, meanwhile, have special skills in weaving brocade and making other products.

“They are skilled in printing patterns on fabric using beeswax to make elaborate Dao Tien outfits,” she said. “Girls from 10 to 12 years old are taught by their mothers and grandmothers to embroider patterns and gradually learn all the different techniques.”

Another special feature making community tourism viable in Hoai Khao is the bee hives found in two caves near the village.

As people are not allowed to take any honey, which protects the hives, both caves have become home to millions of bees.

They return to the hives in the spring and then fly away once autumn arrives, leaving behind a large number of wax shells that are used by local women as raw materials to make beeswax for printing on fabric -- one of the main steps in the process of creating unique patterns on traditional costumes.

Different activities and practices during the four seasons mean visitors can take in ever-changing natural beauty while experiencing unforgettable traditional and cultural experiences.

In summer, they can feel the fresh air of the mountains and admire the green rice fields under their feet. In autumn, the village looks like it’s “wearing” a brilliant dress, with yellow rice fields blanketing the valley. Visitors can also attend a worshipping ceremony held by villagers to thank the bees and to welcome their return.

There’s also fragrant local rice wine to try, and dishes containing both nutrition and culture.

They can also experience the hospitality of people in these mountainous areas, especially when they gather together by the fire and listen to stories about their lives and customs bearing the cultural identity of the Dao Tien.

Hoang Quoc Chan, chairman of the People’s Committee of Quang Thanh Commune, said community tourism in Hoai Khao is a key development target this year, so authorities are mobilising all local people to work together on preserving the village’s cultural values, including the protection of their wooden houses, relocating barns away from residential areas to ensure environmental sanitation, and donating part of their land so public facilities for the development of community tourism can be built.

Nong Quoc Hung, chairman of the People’s Committee of Nguyen Binh District, said district authorities have invested over VND18 billion (US$775,000) on various works to assist the community tourism programme in Hoai Khao, including upgrading roads, building new models for agricultural development, improving and creating new forms of communal cultural activities, protecting the environment, and creating new information services for tourists.

Nguyen Binh District is focusing on a programme promoting the preservation and development of folk music performances, embroidery, and knitting, and the production of handicraft souvenirs.

Hung said the district will hold an announcement ceremony in October for Hoai Khao officially becoming a community tourism village.

The district is especially focusing on preserving the natural environment and views this as a foundation for sustainable tourism development, so has created the conditions necessary for people in Hoai Khao to protect their surroundings.

The different ethnic groups in the village recently received a Certificate of the Vietnam Heritage Tree, for an ancient tree called Cây phát tài (Fortune Tree).

More than 200 years old, the tree has been determined by experts from the Vietnam Association for the Conservation of Nature and Environment to be a bischofia (scientifically named Bischofia javanica).

Nguyen Binh’s remote location in mountainous Cao Bang Province allows it to offer a wide range of fantastic off-the-beaten-track tours, such as road trips, mountain hikes, jungle treks, homestays, and community tours.

The mountainous expanse is home to many ethnic minorities and so has become a popular attraction. The local landscapes are typified by jagged mountains carpeted in thick vegetation, sporadic rice paddies, and narrow winding roads. VNS

Hoai Khao village in Cao Bang province

Visitors coming to Hoai Khao village, northern province of Cao Bang will be amazed by unique cultural values of local Dao Tien ethnic people.

Phia Thap incense village in Cao Bang

The incense craft of the Nung ethnic minority people in Phia Thap Village, Quoc Dan Commune, Quang Uyen District, Cao Bang Province is contributing to the preservation of a traditional spiritual culture.