Dances and wine on the plateau

Pom Coong Village in early morning

The winter cold is starting to ease so spring will soon be coming in the highland village of Pom Coong on Mai Chau Plateau in the northern province of Hoa Binh.

Early in the morning, when the mist is lifting, the Thai ethnic people of the village send their kids off to school and the women in colorful brocade dresses walk to the farm with wooden papooses on their backs. When the night falls, the stilt houses are warmed by the sounds of pan-pipes, drumming by the tribal boys, girls’ singing and laughter and stories around the fire.

The simple things link people together, making them love their village and make it more beautiful. Pom Coong has become a famous cultural and tourism village on the plateau.

A Thai woman and girl on their way to the paddy field - Photos: Mong Binh

The village has nearly 70 households with more than 300 people. Traditionally, at sunset, people sit in stilt houses, which are just a bean row apart, to talk together. Stilt houses of the Thai people are higher than other ethnic group houses. The bamboo floor is about two meters above the ground, held up by wooden pillars. The roofs are often made of leaves and windows are large for more air and for bird cages to hang.

In front of the stilt houses, Thai ladies  weave on looms to make brocade products to sell to tourists. The village is full of colorful products and colorful ladies.

Visitors to Pom Coong won’t forget the bamboo dances or Thai traditional dances by Thai boys and girls in the chill of the northern highlands. Enjoying specialties of Mai Chau Plateau and ruou can (wine drunk though a bamboo pipe from a jar) while joining in the dancing with Thai people by the fire, will be an experience that you will tell your friends about back home.

Have you made a plan for Tet holidays? If not, make a plan and pack a bag for Pom Coong.

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Thai tops foreign visitors to Hue

The number of Thai visitors to the ancient capital city of Hue has
increased from 4.7 percent in 2005 to 24 percent in 2010, ranking first
in the list of foreign arrivals to the city.

As many as 6,000 Thai tourists arrived in Hue in a single day this year.

This is the result of the close cooperation between Vietnam , Laos
and Thailand in improving transport infrastructure, expanding trade
exchanges across the borders and reforming migration procedures to
facilitate tourism services.

Especially, the East-West
Economic Corridor stretching through Myanmar , Thailand and Laos
to Vietnam has opened up a lot of economic cooperation opportunities
for member countries and the East sea bordered region, particularly in
the tourism sector.

As of early December this year,
the central province of Thua Thien-Hue had received 1.36 million
visitors, a year-on-year increase of 11.7 percent, of which the number
of foreign visitors to Hue city increased by 7.9 percent. The
province’s tourism industry earned 774 billion VND, up 20.4 percent as
compared to the same period last year./.

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Thailand promotes tourism in Vietnam

Thailand will continue its focus on developing strategic tourism areas,
especially in labouring countries like Vietnam, a Thai official
said.

Thai Deputy Minister of Sports and Tourism
Vichai Srikwan made the remark at a press briefing in Ho Chi Minh City
on September 30.

As many as 16 tourism agencies
from Thailand are taking part in the International Travel Expo (ITE
HCMC 2010) in HCM City , Vichai Srikwan said, expressing his hope
that the Thai participants would be satisfied when meeting with partners
from different tourism markets across the world, including Vietnam .
He considered the expo as an opportunity to expand tourism cooperation
between Thailand and other nations.

Vichai also
took the occasion to report on his country’s tourism development as
well as marketing strategies carried out by the Thai Tourism
Administration (TTA).

Thailand plans to welcome 15.5 million foreign arrivals next year, reaping about 18.5 billion USD.

The number of Vietnamese tourists to Thailand each year stands at
370,000 while the number of Thai arrivals to Vietnam is 100,000.

In the first seven months of this year, Thailand welcomed 240,000 Vietnamese arrivals.-/.

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