VietNamNet Bridge - If you want to escape the hustle and bustle of city life with a bit of tranquility, try taking some time off exploring one of these rustic villages.
Cua Van Floating Village
Cua Van floating village is situated in Hung Thang Commune, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh Province, 20km away from the tourist boat wharf. The fishing village is near a calm bay surrounded by mountains.
Travel Website Journeyetc.com recently named Cua Van fishing village on a list of 16 most beautiful ancient villages in the world. The villages all have a quaint, charming beauty, and have preserved traditional culture.
The landscape here is extremely romantic and leaves a distinct impression on visitors of boats on a shimmering sea floating on Ha Long.
The lives of the people here have not been disturbed by modern life. The village has more than 200 households living mainly by fishing.
Cua Van fishing village is appealing not only for its beautiful natural scenery and bustling life activities but also for its people who are environmentally conscious and make efforts to preserve the natural areas.
Cua Van fishing village was also listed among the top 10 most beautiful coastlines in the world by Travel & Leisure Magazine.
The US online newspaper, Huffington Post, cited Cua Van fishing village one of the top 11 beautiful towns in the world.
Tra Que village
Located just a few kilometers Northeast of Hoi An, the village is named after the sweet scented vegetables that spice up the everyday meals of the Hoi An people.
Tra Que is a small village located 3km north of Hoi An ancient town, between De Vong River and Tra Que alga pond. Thanks to the special condition of rich soil and water, the village has long been known for growing many kinds of vegetables: lettuce, salad, houttuynia, flagrant knotweed, basil and coriander, which help give the traditional specialties of Hoi An their fame.
Tourists visiting Tra Que Village are often fascinated watching the farming procedures of local farmers, including: raking the ground, sowing, watering, pickling vegetables and many other activities which are rarely seen in modern daily life.
Moreover, tourists can listen to people talking about organic farming techniques and try their hand at actual farming. The farmers don’t use chemicals or fertilizers but a kind of algae found only in a lagoon in Tra Que. Thanks to this technique, Tra Que herbs and vegetables are widely recognized for their quality, safety and outstanding taste and flavor.
The beautifully laid out gardens with mixed beds of vegetables and tiny flowers are also attractive enough for a bicycle tour prior to lunch at local friendly families with wonderful dishes of Hoi An such as: cao lau, Quang noodles, banh xeo (pancakes), and drinks extracted from local herbs.
Cooking lessons provided by tourism companies are also provided. You can cook Vietnamese food by yourself and learn how food is grown in Vietnam at the same time.
Recently, the French newspaper Le Figaro listed Tra Que village in its ten destinations tourists mustn’t miss when visiting Vietnam.
Cu Lan Village
Cu Lan Village, a tourism area, about 20km away from Da Lat in Lat Commune, Lac Duong District in Central Highlands Lam Dong Province, is located in a valley of 30ha amid the vast greenness of pine trees. The local cool air plus its beautiful scenery has attracted many visitors from near and far.
Cu Lan Village is named after the sloth, a species of animal which used to live in the area. With investment from the tourist area’s manager, the site has become an interesting tourist destination for sightseeing and discovery of nature.
Visitors can ride a horse along the valley’s path, or experience thrilling moments by taking some off-road vehicles to cross over streams and through forests. We preferred to walk so as to enjoy fully the local wild, natural beauty.
Standing on top of green stone steps on the path that winds its way up the hillside, we looked down and saw a small, peaceful commune of the ethnic K’ho people with a stream nearby amid a forest of blooming flowers. Located in a flat area, covered with green grass, it is seen as the “heart” of Cu Lan Village. Rows of stilt houses stand next to each other where the local ethnic people are living.
A local villager told us that the commune has been a residence of the K’ho people for centuries. It is now divided into small parts, each providing some kind of service to the tourists.
Visitors to Cu Lan Village would hardly forget valuable moments after enjoying the local scenery - cool and wholesome, natural, magnificent and romantic. The cultural identities of the ethnic Central Highlanders, which have been well preserved, fascinate all visitors and have become a treasure of the site.
Duong Lam ancient village
Located in Son Tay Town, 50 km from Hanoi, Duong Lam village still retain the basic characteristics of a Vietnamese village with banyan trees, wells, the communal house and laterite houses of hundreds of years old. It was the first ancient village in Vietnam recognized as a national relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information.
Two of Vietnam’s kings, Phung Hung (761-802) and Ngo Quyen (896-944), were born in Duong Lam, giving the village its prestige. Both men led resistance wars against the northern invasion and after winning national independence, were crowned kings. After their deaths, the local people built temples in their honor.
The ancient village has a history of about 1,200 years with many houses dating back to 400 years. One special thing about the village is that most of the buildings here are made of laterite and mud, two materials that are abundant in the area. Laterite is used on house walls, gates, wells, temple walls, and so forth. The mud is taken from ponds.
Apart from its historical and tourism value, Duong Lam ancient village is an important place for scientists to study resident communities in ancient agriculture. The village gate, banyan, well, and communal house are important factors in classifying the Duong Lam ancient village.
The common well was built in every hamlet in Duong Lam village. The well indicates the name of the hamlet it is located in. At present, each family has its own well, but the common well has been protected because it maintains many imprints of the villagers.
The communal house is a worshipping place of the god – founder of the village. The ancient village consists of five villages so it has five communal houses.
For tangible culture relics, Duong Lam has 21 relic sites, consisting of temples, pagodas and tombs and 10 of which have been classified as national and provincial relics.
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Mong Phu communal house was built in 1684.
Duong Lam has 956 traditional houses. The oldest house is over 400 years old.
All traditional houses are built by laterite.
Making soya-bean sauce is a traditional trade in Duong Lam.
Ancient wells are an integral part of the cultural heritage of the village of Duong Lam.
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Ham Ninh fishing village
Located 20km northeast of Duong Dong town, Phu Quoc district, Ham Ninh village is renowned for its breathtaking natural scenery and peaceful daily life of local fishermen.
The residents in Ham Ninh used to solely rely on fishing to make a living, but in recent years, tourism is a major source of income as they sell seafood and handmade souvenirs to tourists.
In hot summer days, traveling to Ham Ninh, visitors are likely to leave their bustling life behind, and be lost in the picturesque scenery here. Stunned by the turquoise sea, tourists are certainly tempted to immerse themselves in the cool water and contemplate small fish swimming beside them, and seaweed floating in the blue water.
Visiting Ham Ninh, travelers have a golden chance to taste mouth-watering and healthful drinks and seafood like ginseng- seaweed water, “Tram” mushroom (a special kind of mushroom on the island), sea-horse soaked in liquor and others. Visitors can lie on the sand, enjoy boiled flower crab meat and watch the stunning sunset on the beach. Before returning home, they can buy some flower crabs, a bottle of sea-horse in liquor or souvenirs made of shells as gifts for friends and family.
Compiled by Pha Le
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Mong Phu communal house was built in 1684.
Duong Lam has 956 traditional houses. The oldest house is over 400 years old.
All traditional houses are built by laterite.
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Mong Phu communal house was built in 1684.
Duong Lam has 956 traditional houses. The oldest house is over 400 years old.
All traditional houses are built by laterite.
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