The Most Beautiful Community House in Central Highlands

Community House

 When travelling in a place, you want to know something must-see? Kon Tum is a province of Central Highlands, home to ethnic minority people. Their accommodation is a stilt house, particularly a community house is a place for communal activities.

Kon Jo Dri is one of the most famous and poetic communal houses in the Central Highlands associated with the childhood of children in the village.

Kon Jo Dri is a Ba Na village located on the Dak Bla River, in the Dak Ro Wa Commune, Kon Tum City. The village built a community house in 1977, seen as the most impressive in the region with a height of 16 meters and a width of 12 meters. This is a place villagers organise lunar new year festivals, gathering, exchange of gong (a kind of drum). Seen from a far distance, the house looks like an axe rising into the sky.

In addition to its position and magnificent appearance, the community house's scenery is poetic because it sits in the middle of hundred-year-old tamarind trees. Any village of this area has its communal house, the symbol and pride of residents.

Homestay at the community house gives you an opportunity to learn about ethnic minority people's culture, customs, and style of living. Children here are friendly, different from the usual shyness of other children. During the day, the adults go to work or on the field, the yard, the communal houses. Especially, you find the feelings of walking across a suspension bridge

When is the good time to travel Ha Giang?

 

River Nho Que

 Ha Giang is a province in the North of Vietnam. Travelling here, in the spring, you would "absorb" all the beauty of the northernmost land of the country. to fly your soul with the immense mountains and forests and keep an eye on flower blooming.

This season, in Ha Giang, along the way, peach blossoms and plum blossoms are blooming in the sky. Besides, on the flower fields along the roadside, the children followed their parents up and down on the shoulders of firewood. All create a beautiful picture of nature and rural country.

After the roadmap to discover Pho Cao, Sa Phin and Sung La communes, you return to Dong Van to continue the journey to discover the spectacular Ma Pi Leng pass.

With a height of 2,000 m above sea level, the pass meanders between the towering mountains and one side is a steep abyss. From the pass, it appears a view of the Nho Que river flowing through the alley of Tu San, Ma Pi Leng mountain range and Sam Pun mountain on one side.

If you come here early in the morning, you will find a pass hidden in white clouds, at eye level. At noon, the pass appears again with green colour, surrounding the green Nho Que river in the middle of the majestic stone plateau.

On the route from Dong Van to Meo Vac, you will come across a road named "Happiness", a road that was built by young volunteers in the early 1960s. To explore this road, you must a motorbike because the roads are winding between one side of the mountains, and one side of the abyss. That will give you a bit of feeling of risk. Along the way, it's easy to come across houses built on the mountainside, or deep in the abyss of the majestic misty mountains.

Inside of a homestay is full of garbage

Some types of homestay use recycle items to decorate the interior that has drawn the support of environmental tourists.

About 2 km from the city centre, homestay Hue Eco is different from many accommodation addresses in Hue because items are recycled from plastic waste and discarded items. The homestay owner wants to inspire the environment, limiting the use of plastic waste to the guests here. Plastic waste thrown away are designed by the homestay owner, Quoc Hoc High School student, to create a green space.

 With around $8, you can rent a homestay per night in Thua Thien - Hue Province. The inside decoration displays plastic waste such as plastic bottles of mineral water. An owner uses them as flower vases as seen in the above photo.   

The homestay owner also arranged a row of chairs on the second floor for guests to read, listen to the rain falling through the roof of the skylight or watch the sun creep through indoor plant pots. Homestay has 5 rooms, including 4 double rooms, each room priced around $10. Dorm rooms for 6 people, a bed from $7 per night. From stone slabs in the kitchen to plastic cans, discarded boxes... are used, turning into fancy tables and chairs in the guest room.

The washbasin is made of rubber tires and aluminium brass, and the fuel pump nozzle turns into a faucet.

Miss Tieu Vy Clad in a Spring Flower Dress

Designer Lien Huong has recently launched a collection of ao dai, introduced by Miss Tieu Vy, through a series of photos, imbued with traditional taste.

Not too picky or destructive in style and materials, but the collection of spring dress is still eye-catching thanks to the mixture of fresh, youthful and vibrant colours in accordance with Tet theme.

With pink and red tones as the main theme, the collection is decorated with flowers on the soft silk fabric background.

In addition to "the very Vietnamese" spring flowers such as peaches, apricots, and yellow daisies, the spring collection brings a fresh touch when adding some western flowers like tulips. Designer Lien Huong has also chosen silk to bring coolness to the wearer. "And the collar is only about two or three inches in order to bring a sense of "breathing easily" to wear this dress to go to temples, churches, pagodas, or ceremonies during these Tet days. 

Southern Fairy Village

If you go to Can Tho City on the weekend, Southern fairy village or Cantho Resort Ecolodge is a must-have visit. This is an eco-tourism area with architectural style like the ancient Nam Bo village, built with traditional materials.

You can choose one of the separate bungalows, with many large rooms. The construction, based on the natural factors, brings an enjoyable experience to the resort.

"Blue Eyes" Film Effect Makes Hue as an Interesting Film Studio.

The tourist industry in Thua Thien - Hue has taken advantage of the film effect "Blue Eyes" to develop Hue as a film studio to attract tourists, in addition to cultural heritage and gastronomy.

Regarding the movie "Blue Eyes" the film crew initially hesitated to select Hue as film backgrounds. After extended visits, they recognized Hue has many romantic, traditional, and rustic places suitable for the scenario of the film. 

Take an example, Vong Dong tree in the movie "Blue Eyes" has become such an attractive location for photographers that many film crews have chosen Hue as a backdrop.

Currently, many local companies organize tours to visit locations in this movie to promote more cultural tourist destinations. Around the school Do Do, retaining the front of the warehouse of a cooperative, keeping the name of a school for tourists to take photos are the main activities of the local authorities.

Designer Lien Huong's Ao Dai Collection

Grass, flowers, swallows' wings and spring butterflies are designed harmoniously on dozens of bright pink and red dresses in Spring collection of designer Lien Huong, newly introduced by Miss Tieu Vy through an album of photos full of traditional touch.

Not too picky or disruptive in style and materials, but the collection of spring dresses is still eye-catching thanks to the mixture of fresh, youthful and vibrant colours in accordance with the theme with Tet. 

With pink and red tones as the main theme, the collection is decorated with flowers bearing strong artistic paintings on the soft silk fabric background.

In addition to "the very Vietnamese" spring flowers such as peaches, apricot, and yellow daisies, the spring collection also brings a fresh touch when adding spring flowers in Western countries such as tulips. Highlights on the spring flowers are butterflies, swallows or nightingales.

"I almost keep the classic form of the ao dai in this collection to respect the traditional value of Vietnam in the traditional new year." said designer Lien Huong.

Hoi An amid COVID-19 Scare

You might be curious about how Hoi An Ancient Town is in terms of tourism. In recent weeks, many tours from Asian countries have cancelled, that causes Hoi An to lose a great number of visitors from China, Korea and Japan. Coming to Hoi An at present mainly are tourists from European nations.

For many years, the centre of the ancient town has always been a hot spot for a number of tourists pouring into in the peak season. But what is happening in Hoi An right now shows an image of very different Hoi An.

Many dwellers exclaimed that it was as quiet and calm as 10 or 20 years ago. European Tourists occupy for a majority.   

Ao Dai Collection "Far-Eastern Pearl"

Designer Duc Vincie has just launched a collection of ao dai (long dress) for Tet (the Lunar New Year of 2020). On the above photo, models posed inside the zoo and Botanical Gardens.

The collection is inspired by the 70's ao dai with spring flower motifs and traditional form. The designer researched data and movies to create this collection.  "I imagine Saigon in the 1970s, in the year-end days, were full of young women in ao dai, cycling or walking leisurely," he said. 

Cherry Flowers Bloom Pink in Mang Den Forest

Dressed in Hanbok clothing, under the cherry blossom canopy, visitors transform into Korean teenagers

In the cold weather at the end of the year, cherry blooms, creating striking pink among the greenery of Mang Den Forest.  

As a small town in Kon Plong District, Kon Tum Province, Mang Den has mild weather all year round. the average temperature from 16-22 degrees. Peach blossom has been a charm in Mang Den for years. Coming to Mang Den, you will enjoy delicious dishes such as grilled chickens with rice, chilly hot pot to dispel the cold. At night, you will watch starry sky hanging on shimmering, fanciful pine.

Not only that, these days all over the town roads, the villages and tourist areas such as Dakke Lake, Pa Sy Waterfall, E Ban Farm, cherry blossoms are showing off to captivate visitors.

The Countryside Painting Ta Pa Seen From Above

By the end of November, green and yellow fields appear like a painting in the early shining Ta Pa. This tourist destination attracts visitors all year round, especially the ripe rice season in August and November every year. The main roads which split the Ta Pa fields look like a long silk thread when viewed from above, running to the end of Soai Check Lake.

Ta Pa is in the best season when the rice fields are ripe. You take a leisurely drive in the early morning on the small road, through the fields to take photos or fly the drone, you will capture the beautiful scenery like the above photo.  

Ma Pi Leng

Ma Pi Leng Pass is about 20km long with the height of about 1,400m, located in the Dong Van Rocky Plateau and seen as a period legend. It has been hailed at the first Vietnamese hill pass. The high mountains and rocks create a unique system of canyons beside blue rivers that are creeping through. Floating clouds make the scenery more real or false. 

The Vietnam Heritage 2019 award winning photo

The Vietnam Heritage Photo Contest 2019 includes topics of nature, tangible and intangible culture, environment, tourism ...

The main message of Vietnam Heritage Photo Awards 2019 aims to continue to call for the attention of the domestic and foreign communities to discover and share the value of Vietnam's natural and cultural heritage. It includes searching for artworks - stories of heritage with images which propagate and introduce nature, history and culture on Vietnam Heritage, organizing exhibitions of the best works from the contests at the centres of tourism, museums, schools, serving tourist communities and young people.

After a period of launching, the Vietnam Heritage Photo Contest received 3075 photo works among the submission of over 5000 pieces, including single and set photos of 413 authors from 54 cities and provinces across Vietnam. 

Sapa in Cherry Blossom

In the cold weather at the end of year, cherry blossom creates a striking pink among the green of tea hill, mountains and upland forests.

Around December to January, cherry and apricot trees in O Long Tea Hill, near Sapa, blossom, signaling the coming of spring. Cherry trees are planted alternatively, along a path leading to tea hills. This is also the characteristic of Sapa compared to cherry seasons in other localities such as Dalat. The pink of cherry and apricot is a highlight on the green picture of mountains and forests.

O Long Tea Hill has been known for more than one year, thanks to photos of flowering seasons shared by photographers

Green "Queen" Flower Field

About 150,000 green "Queen" Flower fields in suburban gardens in a blooming season create a landscape like the European one. In the last days of a year, these fields become a "virtual living" place where thousands of visitors come to take selfies. Flowers usually bloom in green int the morning and turn purple in the afternoon. Thus, many confuse this flower with Lavander in Europe. It takes about three months from planting to blooming. Flowering remains for two months.

The owner of the garden has set up miniatures for visitors to take photos including a house set in the middle of a purple garden and a brown wooden house, reminiscent of English or French countrysides.  

Photo of family love

 

This is one of the family love photos at the Vietnam Women's Museum. It conveys private messages about happiness, love and family sharing. Making and covering sticky rice cakes on days prior to the Lunar Year is a memory that remains in any Vietnamese, though living in or out of the country. 

The photo captures vivid, idyllic moments of warm, everyday life, moments of reunion, clearly reflecting kindness. touching love of family members. 

Hue known for a poetic place

Hue is famous as a poetic area, however, so far visitors have come to enjoy the ancient capital, music, painting, architecture and gastronomy. Where is Hue's literature located in the system of tourist products?

This place still has the footprint of Vietnam's great poets. This place, a poetic museum, showcases a gallery of works and documents of poetry in Hue. Also, this is for poets to interact with readers, performing art installation, performing poems, and organize extra-curriculum lessons for students.

Nowadays, some companies have designed 5-day tours with all kind of things: visiting mausoleum, temples, gardens and lagoons. 

Isle Nhat Tu Son

There is a special place in Phu Yen Province, named "the yellow flowers on the green grass" where you can make a way through turquoise waves to walk from the mainland to the isle, experiencing the "ocean walking" path to isle Nhat Tu Son.

This interesting floating isle in the middle of the sea is a magnificent island of Phu Yen Province, providing the pristine experiences associated with relaxation. It has a special name Nhat Tu Son as bearing the appearance of the character "first" in Chinese. It looks like handwriting drawn by nature in the middle of the blue sea.

There are 2 ways to experience the island: going around the island or to the top of it. If travelling around, you take about one hour to explore, or climb to its top takes about 45 minutes to walk all four main directions of the isle, admiring the beauty of thousands of lobster cages and fishing village.

In addition to experiencing the walking path through the sea, you also explore the island by canoe, visit the Island's Zoo and Botanical Garden, learn about the people's livelihood activities through the profession of raking and farming lobsters, prying live oysters at low tide.

Houses in clouds

 

If you visit Y Ty, a highland commune in Lao Cai Province, between September and April, especially in the early morning or late evening, Y Ty allows you touch and walk in the cloud. In these days, the temperatures drop to below 5 degrees of Celcius as clouds swoop down over valleys and villages. 

The area is known for its winding roads, tranquil valleys, magnificent terraces and small and simple stilt houses of the ethnic people. Choan Then is an old village founded over 300 years ago. Now it accommodates around 50 households of Ha Nhi ethnic minority group. 

You won't find any deluxe hotels, resorts in this region. Instead, you check out some homestays at the cost of $3, including electricity, tap water, and wifi. If homestays are run out, you may stay at the border station in Y Ty.   

My homeland Ben Tre

"My homeland Ben Tre" is one of the winning photo collection paints the panorama socio-cultural life, economic strength of Ben Tre Province, especially products from trees and coconuts, the main speciality of Ben Tre Province. The photos show the beauty of the traditional professions, festival activities as well as daily life in this land. Also, the fact is that Ben Tre people are gentle and hospitable.

Coming to this land, you may participate in a coconut festival, a cultural event honouring coconut trees, products made from this tree, and workers in coconut-related industries.