The winter cold is starting to ease so spring will
soon be coming in the highland village of Pom Coong on Mai Chau Plateau in the
northern province of Hoa Binh.

Pom Coong Village in early morning.

Early in the morning, when the mist
is lifting, the Thai ethnic people of the village send their kids off to school
and the women in colorful brocade dresses walk to the farm with wooden papooses
on their backs. When the night falls, the stilt houses are warmed by the sounds
of pan-pipes, drumming by the tribal boys, girls’ singing and laughter and
stories around the fire.

The simple things link people
together, making them love their village and make it more beautiful. Pom Coong
has become a famous cultural and tourism village on the plateau.

The village has nearly 70 households
with more than 300 people. Traditionally, at sunset, people sit in stilt houses,
which are just a bean row apart, to talk together. Stilt houses of the Thai
people are higher than other ethnic group houses. The bamboo floor is about two
meters above the ground, held up by wooden pillars. The roofs are often made of
leaves and windows are large for more air and for bird cages to hang.

A Thai woman and girl on their way to the paddy field. (Photos: SGT)

In front of the stilt houses, Thai
ladies weave on looms to make brocade products to sell to tourists. The village
is full of colorful products and colorful ladies.

Visitors to Pom Coong won’t forget
the bamboo dances or Thai traditional dances by Thai boys and girls in the chill
of the northern highlands. Enjoying specialties of Mai Chau Plateau and ruou can
(wine drunk though a bamboo pipe from a jar) while joining in the dancing with
Thai people by the fire, will be an experience that you will tell your friends
about back home.

Have you made a plan for Tet
holidays? If not, make a plan and pack a bag for Pom Coong.

VietNamNet/SGT