The home of Uncle Ho’s father

Life size models of carpenters in Hoa An ancient village at the new Nguyen Sinh Sac Tourist Area

To mark 81 years since the death of Nguyen Sinh Sac (1862-1929), the father of the late Vietnamese President, Ho chi Minh, the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap has inaugurated the Nguyen Sinh Sac Tourist Area in Cao Lanh City.

The area, which was expanded to 9.3 hectares from 3.6 hectares at a cost of VND5 billion, has Vietnamese culture and history displays and an ancient village.

When completed the replica village will comprise nine wooden houses built in traditional southern style. Displays will include palm leaf weaving, metal forge and carpentry, all jobs that Nguyen Sinh Sac did in Dong Thap.

The village will also feature canals, rows of coconut trees, vegetable farms, cornfield and sugarcane.

Dang Van Hoang, director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Dong Thap Province, said the village will open for tourists in mid-2011 adding that visitors would be able to participate in traditional farming and learn about southern culture.

In 1917, Nguyen Sinh Sac came to Hoa An Village to teach and give medical treatment to local residents. He joined the revolutionary activities till he died in 1929.

A canal along wooden houses in the tourist area - Photos: Uyen Vien

A corner of the Hoa An ancient village

Young men join a chicken fight

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The home of Uncle Ho’s father

Life size models of carpenters in Hoa An ancient village at the new Nguyen Sinh Sac Tourist Area

To mark 81 years since the death of Nguyen Sinh Sac (1862-1929), the father of the late Vietnamese President, Ho chi Minh, the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap has inaugurated the Nguyen Sinh Sac Tourist Area in Cao Lanh City.

The area, which was expanded to 9.3 hectares from 3.6 hectares at a cost of VND5 billion, has Vietnamese culture and history displays and an ancient village.

When completed the replica village will comprise nine wooden houses built in traditional southern style. Displays will include palm leaf weaving, metal forge and carpentry, all jobs that Nguyen Sinh Sac did in Dong Thap.

The village will also feature canals, rows of coconut trees, vegetable farms, cornfield and sugarcane.

Dang Van Hoang, director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Dong Thap Province, said the village will open for tourists in mid-2011 adding that visitors would be able to participate in traditional farming and learn about southern culture.

In 1917, Nguyen Sinh Sac came to Hoa An Village to teach and give medical treatment to local residents. He joined the revolutionary activities till he died in 1929.

A canal along wooden houses in the tourist area - Photos: Uyen Vien

A corner of the Hoa An ancient village

Young men join a chicken fight

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Duong Lam Ancient Village

A tractor crosses the temple square where farmers have stacked their rice straw

Duong Lam Ancient Village is only 50 kilometers from Hanoi. From the city take Duong Lang- Hoa Lac highway past the Hoa Lac – Son Tay crossroad heading to Bat Bat and turn left to Duong Lam Ancient Village. It is typical of an old rice farming village in northern Vietnam with 200 year old houses made from laterite. The village still relies mainly on rice cultivation.

The owner of this house, Ms Hong, renovated it using traditional materials such as laterit - Photos: Thai Hang

About 50 meters from the main road, the Mong Phu ancient gate, under shadow of 300 year-old tree, welcomes tourists to Duong Lam. The dirt road leads to the village, passing a lotus lake. Some houses on the edge of the village used to be built with laterite that was quarried at the site or brought from neighboring Thach That Commune; but they have been repaired or rebuilt with modern building materials.

Also rebuilt only thee years ago, the house of Ms. Hong caught our eye from a distance thanks to its new renovations. The red-brown dirt house is built from laterite and wood that cost the owner about US$100,000. Hong said she was willing to pay that money as the old house was passed down through the generations to her and it was badly damaged was got it. She wanted to restore it to to its original condition.

One of the old lanes in Duong Lam village

Hong told stories while she gave tourists traditional candy made from peanuts and served tea made from the flowers and leaves of Voi, a tree only found in the north.

We then continued up the dirt road to an old temple in the center of the village, where villagers gather on special occasions. In front of the temple was a small square that was covered with of stacks of harvested rice stalks. It was noon and we sat at a street side stall run by an old woman who told us some of the village history and about some of the national heroes who came from Duong Lam such as Ngo Quyen and Phung Hung. The deeper into the quiet village we walked, the lanes got narrower and the houses seemed to be older.

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New ideas in traditional craft village tourism

Traditional craft village development potential, solutions to developing
tours to craft villages and bringing into play cultural heritage values
of handicraft villages were presented at an international seminar in
Hanoi on Oct. 4.

At the seminar, Head of the
National Administration of Tourism (NAT) Travel Department Vu The Binh
said that each heritage and traditional craft village contained
attractive and new interests for tourists.

Tourists can understand Vietnam ’s culture, beliefs and history through tours to heritages and villages, he said.

Many traditional crafts have been restored thanks to the development of traditional craft villages for tourism.

Representatives of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
in Vietnam said that JICA would assist the development of
sustainable self-reliant communities through heritage tourism.

The project which will be carried out for four years until 2014 is
intended to improve the living conditions of people in Duong Lam ancient
village in Hanoi , Phuoc Tich ancient village in the central province
of Thua Thien-Hue and Dong Hoa Hiep in the Mekong delta province of
Tien Giang .

The seminar was jointly held by
NAT and the Hanoi People’s Committee on the occasion of the Thang
Long-Hanoi International Tourism Festival, to mark the capital city’s
millennium./.

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