Briu Pram, a Cotu ethnic minority elder, plays a drum in front of his house in Bo Hon Village, a new tourist area near Hoi An Town.

A Cotu ethnic village offers multiple sensations.

Za Za and Dink-tuk dances by a fire under the moonlight in the forest. Ta Vat wine and Ba Kich ginseng wine.

Rice cooked in bamboo sections.

Honey.

Hot spring baths.

All these combine to make a trip to Bo Hon Village in the central province of Quang Nam worth its while.

Bo Hon is a village with 60 Cotu ethnic households in the mountainous area of Dong Giang District’s Song Kon Commune that has become a popular tourist destination over the last year or so.

Briu Pram, the 78-year-old village chief, has been instrumental in attracting a Hoi An Town-based travel company’s attention to Bo Hon. A former deputy of the National Assembly from 1976-1981, Pram returned to live in the village after retirement.

He called on more than 60 households to rebuild the Guol House for community activities, restore traditional crafts, and collect traditional musical instruments, songs and dances to teach the young.

Since May last year, the Le Nguyen Travel Company in Hoi An has organized tours to Bo Hon. The tour includes visits to the village and the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the historic route on the Truong Son Range where cooking, weapons and soldiers were transported to the southern battlefield during the Vietnam War.

Tourists taking a one-day, one-night tour will stop at the Kien Slope on their way from Da Nang City and Hoi An Town to Bo Hon. Here, they can visit a village, try the flavor of Quyet Thang tea, take pictures of verdant tea fields, suspension bridges and large numbers of mountain butterflies flitting above grassy yards along the Kon River.

Many groups of local and foreign tourists have visited Bo Hon so far. Most visitors from France and Northern Europe take a tour to the village while visiting Hoi An.

Le Nguyen Travel Company director Le Ho Phuoc Vinh says Bo Hon is an exclusive destination and is becoming a popular choice for many Vietnamese families and groups of friends traveling during holidays.

A tour for a group of seven to 10 people costs

VND500,000 (US$28.70) per person. Tourists can contact Le Nguyen Travel at 32 Tran Hung Dao Street or at 32 Le Loi Street in Hoi An Town for more information.

Reported by Nguyen Hoang Sa