Located 130 kilometers from downtown Hanoi, Mai Chau Valley in Mai Chau district, Hoa Binh Province, has been attracting a large number of visitors for quite some time.

A path leads past village houses in Mai Chau Valley.

The white Thai people that live there are very friendly and welcome visitors to their homes. In the Pom Coong and Lat villages there are large houses on stilts that can fit 100 people under its roof.

The floor of stilt houses is about 1.5 meters off the ground and the whole house is supported by large diameter round wooden pillars. The house’s floor is made of bamboo. The roof is covered in palm or may thatch and the walls can be opened up in good weather to create large windows for excellent air circulation. From horizontal beams one might see a bird cage hanging, or a pot of orchids.

In Pom Coong village there are more than 60 stilt homes that one can visit, for a fee of VND50,000. If a large number of visitors arrive at any one house, it’s agreed that neighbors will come by to help receive the visitors. Young Thai ladies sit at looms making fabric which is used to make souvenir Pieu scarfs, dresses, bags and shirts.

Ruou can (strong alcohol that is sucked out of a large jar through a long stem) is made from sticky rice, hinh ho leaves and ginger. To eat there’s com lam or bamboo-tube rice (mountain tribes cook rice inside sections of bamboo, sealed at the end). These are special things of Mai Chau. Com lam cooked with coconut milk tastes great.

When night falls villagers do a song and dance routine while tourists can lounge about and eat grilled bamboo shoots, grilled pork, chicken meat wrapped in phrynium leaves, steamed fish, and drink ruou can. A night spent in Mai Chau is an unforgettable experience. This manner of tourism at Mai Chau is called community tourism development and it is thought to be a successful way of both encouraging tourism and raising the incomes of rural people.

VietNamNet/VEN