Contemplation of village scenery, wet rice transplantation, etc. are new tourism services in Ngoc Hoa hamlet (Ninh Giang, Hai Duong).
Foreign tourists act as farmers with many activities, such as plowing, transplanting rice, etc.
Contemplation of village scenery, experience of wet rice transplantation, etc. are services freshly introduced to domestic and international friends by Nguyen Van Hung in Ngoc Hoa hamlet, Vinh Hoa commune (Ninh Giang, Hai Duong).
Enjoyable experiences
Introduced Hung’s services, we went in person on an early spring day to see them with our own eyes. We were very lucky to come just at the moment when he was leading a group of five foreign tourists to the fields.
I was quite surprised at the fact that Hung is not only a professional tour guide but also a real farmer. Imprinted on my mind are the images of Hung meticulously guiding each rice transplantation movement and female Western backpackers splitting and clumsily planting each clump of rice seedlings into the ground in drizzly weather.
Hung reserves more than one sao (360m2) of fields and raises two buffalos for tourists to experience the reality of agricultural production activities. He has built three more spacious accommodations in his house for tourists to live and eat with his family.
With good English proficiency and professional skills of a tour guide, Hung directly operates and works as the guide cum driver of his tours.
There are usually 4 to 10 tourists in each tour which includes many interesting activities. Starting from Ha Noi, tourists can contemplate beautiful village scenery when arriving in Ngoc Hoa. On the way, Hung will introduce the village and stop at a market for tourists to see see a rural market and buy some food to cook the lunch. Reaching the destination, tourists themselves cycle on the village roads, contact locals, learn how to cook, and have lunch with Hung’s family.
In particular, tourists can contemplate and experience all production and daily activities of farmers. They
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can see with their own eyes, hear with their own ears, and do with their own hands such work as hoeing up ground, transplanting, plowing, bailing water, watering vegetables, drawing nets to catch fish, etc. with farmers, and listen to explanations of the growing process of wet rice and how to plant and look after rice.
Additionally, tourists can also visit temples and pagodas in the village and historical relics like Khuc Thua Du temple, watch water puppet shows in Hong Phong, tour Stork island, etc.
Native land’s beauty promoted
Thoroughly knowing his native land’s culture and tradition, so Hung always explains clearly anywhere they go and anything they do to tourists so that they will understand the traditional culture and feel the peaceful beauty of Vietnamese villages, and experience difficulties of Vietnamese farmers with rice agriculture.
“My wife and I have just returned from Ngoc Hoa village tour with Vietfarmtrip. That was what we wanted, a beautiful rural area. I love biking around the rice field and meeting very friendly local people. I was a bit nervous about riding on a buffalo but Hung made sure I always felt safe,” Ldolan, a visitor from Germany, shared on the company’s website vietfarmtrip.com after the trip, adding: “I was amazed to see Stork island. This is the first time I have seen so many storks. I had a specially delicious lunch shared with the local family. Do definitely recommend the tour to anyone.”
At first, the number of visitors was insignificant. Therefore, every time there were foreign visitors to the village, the locals would feel strange and interested, and curiously come to see “foreign farmers” plow and transplant.
After more than two years, the number of visitors has been increasingly growing with around 10 – 15 groups every month on average. In the months just before last At Mui Tet (Lunar New Year of the Goat), Hung brought one group of foreign tourists there for sightseeing almost every day. Now, foreign tourists are no longer unfamiliar to Ngoc Hoa residents.
“I am very excited and support Hung’s travel model which has helped introduce our native land’s beauty to international friends and contributed to enriching our native land,” said Ha Van Coi (area 4, Ngoc Hoa hamlet).
With the initial efficiency achieved, Hung intends to continue investing in scale expansion to turn the area into an eco-tourism destination. There, the preservation of traditional culture and living space of agricultural residents will be closely linked to the preservation and development of local products or specific cultivation and breeding goods to bring the soul of Vietnamese countryside closer to international friends.
NGUYEN HOAT
Đăng ký: VietNam News