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| The hallway on the ground floor in the Cong Tu Bac Lieu Hotel in Bac Lieu City - Photo: Tran Phong Dieu |
Located at 13 Dien Bien Phu Street, Bac Lieu City, the hotel was originally a wealthy family mansion built in 1919 by Tran Trinh Trach. The hotel is named after Trach’s son, Tranh Trinh Huy, who was known as Cong Tu Bac Lieu or the playboy of Bac Lieu (cong tu actually means the son of a wealthy family).
The house that in its day was the most magnificent house in the Delta has two floors, four halls, five bedrooms. It was built and designed by a French architect and all the materials were imported from France.
In front of the house is a stone path near the Bac Lieu River. The interior and antique furniture and ceramics haven’t changed over the years and you could be mistaken to think the Tran family still lives there.
Cong Tu Bac Lieu was known by everyone in the province for the way he squandered money on gambling, women and all the fineries he could get his hands on. There’s a story about the young playboy burning money to boil an egg in a competition with another wealthy man for the attention of beautiful local lady.
As the Vietnamese saying goes, “No family is rich for three generations” so when Cong Tu Bac Lieu died in 1973, he left nothing but debts behind. The family had to sell their house and assets to pay the banks. One of his children is now 62 years old and works as a motorbike taxi driver in Saigon, a very low income job. That is how their house in Bac Lieu became the Cong Tu Bac Lieu Hotel.
Cong Tu Bac Lieu was very tall and suntanned so he was also given the nickname Hac (black) Cong Tu to distinguish him from Le Cong Phuoc or George Phuoc, the son of the extemely rich, Le Cong Sung. Le Cong Phuoc was called Bach (white) Cong Tu because he was also notorious for wasting money in self indulgent pursuits.
During your stay at Cong Tu Bac Lieu Hotel, you can visit the stone clock at 84 Hai Ba Trung Street in Bac Lieu City or Vinh Hung Ancient Temple, Xiem Can Pagoda and Quan De Pagoda.
