Text : Stéphanie Thullen, Photos : Nguyen Duc Hoa Cuong
At the bottom of the romantic Muong Hoa valley, the village of Ban Ho has been long famous for its marvellous landscapes, diverse ethnic minority cultures, and warm hospitality ... After trekking to Ban Ho visitors will be rewarded by the relaxing feeling at a peaceful village with simple and hospitable people. Sitting in a Tay traditional house-on-stilts to admire romantic scenery of terraced rice fields, Muong Hoa Stream, waterfalls, primitive forests and taste local foods will make your trek even more worthwhile. While at the village, there are plenty of opportunities to learn local weaving techniques and enjoying traditional music, dance and folk games, and other activities that will provide other unforgettable memories.
Generation after generation, elders have passed on their traditional knowledge of weaving, dyeing, and collecting material plants. As one elder said, “Nowadays the young do not have enough time for making their own clothes. Although most are wearing modern clothes, indeed they like wearing the traditional ones, particularly at wedding ceremony or festivals…” Visitors at Ban Ho can enjoy learning these traditional weaving and dying techniques. In additional to fabrics, visitors may have opportunities to learn other traditional handicrafts such as knitting or carpentry, or weaving rattan products like baskets or wine vases.
The trek to Nam Toong Village offers tourists fantastic views overlooking the entire valley, featuring villages surrounded by terraced rice fields created by the local people through generations of hard work. Following the trail up the mountain towards Ta Trung Ho Village offers wonderful opportunities to appreciate the beauty of Hoang Lien National Park. These magnificent landscapes in the primitive forests and spectacular mountains, as well as many rare flora and fauna found along the way, are a worthy reward for these challenging, but memorable treks. The local ethnic minority tour guides are indispensable, leading you through these mountainous trails while imparting indigenous knowledge and local insights as you explore the natural environment and encounter the local people who are lucky to call this place home.
Once you have visited the Tay people you will come to know their famous foods, such as heated fish, heated sticky rice, 5 coloured sticky rice, smoked pork and “Khau nhuc.” Khau Nhuc is made of pork mixed with a complicated recipe of forest ingredients including leaves, grains and roots. Village elders will tell you, “In the past, villagers went into forests without cooking pot. They had to use a piece of bamboo to cook rice, fish, or meat and found it most delicious. Going home, they taught the others about this way of cooking.”
A visit to Sa Pa will not be completed if you do not experience a home-stay in a Tay’s traditional houses-on-stilts. Visitors to Ban Ho can stay in a local house with the host family and experience daily life of the Tay people.
Location
The village is located in the lowland area in the district, just 25 km south of Sa Pa Town. However, the road is under construction, possibly until the end of 2006, hence travelling conditions are difficult. There are different ways to get there :
By 4WD jeep : 2 hours (in 2005) – 30 minutes (2007)
By motorbike : 1.5 hours (in 2005) – 30 minutes (2007)
By bicycle : 3 hours (in 2005) – 1 hour (2007)
In addition, tourists often prefer to do an easy 2-day trekking tour to visit this village. Starting from Sa Pa town, they trek down to Lao Chai (a H’mong ethnic minority village), then Ta Van (a Giay ethnic minority village) and stay overnight there. During the second day tourists continue trekking and arrive at Ban Ho in the afternoon.
Contact
Mr. Nguyen Van Manh
Vice Director of Sa Pa Tourism Information
and Promotion Center.
Cau May street, Sa Pa Town, Sa Pa district,
Lao Cai Province, Vietnam
Tel : (84) 20 871975
Fax : (84) 20 871976
Email : sapatipc@yahoo.com
Internet : www.sapatourismonline.com
Language : English and French
Other contacts
Topas Adventure Vietnam – Sa Pa office
Mr. Hans Christian Neilsen
Email : info@topas-adventure-vietnam.com
Internet : www.topas-adventure-vietnam.com/default.htm
SNV Viet Nam – SPPT Portfolio
Nguyen Duc Hoa Cuong
Sustainable Tourism Development Advisor
Email : cuong@snv.org.vn
Cultural Information
Ban Den is a Tay ethnic minority village of about 200 households, with 1200 inhabitants. The main source of employment and income is agriculture. The village is located in the lowland area, between 2 streams, in a valley surrounded by mountains and forests, rice fields and hills.
The Tay have a population of about 1.2 million, and are largest minority group in Vietnam. They live in the highlands of the northeast, where they settled over 2000 years ago. Due to close contact with the lowlanders through many centuries, Tay society has been strongly influenced by the Kinh majority culture, with many similar rituals and Confucian practices. Tay used to live in thatched houses on stilts, surrounded by a railed balcony. You can still find some traditional villages, however, most Tay have now adopted Kinh architecture. Most Tay women are still wearing their traditional dress, a long belted indigo dress, with a knotted headscarf pointed at the front, and silver jewellery.
Tays are farmers, cultivating paddy rice, tobacco, soy beans, fruit and spices. They also practice fish-farming and animal husbandry. They have developed highly advance irrigation systems, based on water wheels beside rivers. They practice Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, as well as worshipping genies and local spirits. The Tay have a written language, developed in the 16th century, and are renowned for their literature and art. Singing, theatre, kite flying and other games are also popular pastimes. In remoter areas, some Tay groups will erect a funeral house over a new grave, decorated with waving slips of white paper.
In order to maintain a healthy community environment and high quality tourism experience it is recommended that the following behaviours be observed :
Make reservations and register overnight stays with the Commune Tourism Management Board
Support community based tourism activities
Respect local culture and traditions
Keep the village clean
Say no to gambling and prostitution in the village.
Any behaviour violating community rules should be reported to the Commune Tourism Management Board
Range of activities and services offered
Target : families, groups, individuals, all types of tourists
Recommended seasons : September - April
Types of tours : full package, daily trips, events, cultural centres, accommodation trekking and ethnic minority interested tours
Short description of the services offered : See above
Recommended Tour
Sa Pa Classic Trek : Sa Pa Town – Lao Chai – Ta Van – Ban Ho
Length of the trip : 4 days – 3 nights
Departure dates : every day
Seasons or months to visit the place : September - April
Total cost : $60US - $75US/ person
Included : guide, meal (full board), home-stay accommodation, cultural show, sporting exchange activities, tree planting, car pick up.
Excluded : drinks and other personal expenses
Type of accommodation : local house-on-stilts
Group sizes allowed : max 10
Age, fitness requirements, physical conditions, special skills needed : Easy level of trekking, ability to walk about 15 km a day.
Type of weather : cool
About the project :
Tourism has been introduced to Ban Den village, Ban Ho Commune, since 1997 by the local tour operators in Sa Pa Town. At the beginning, this village was just a stop after a day-long trek. Local people just provided tourists with some drinks and cakes. In 2001, some local households were granted lodging business certificates, allowing them to provide home-stay services. Since 2003, the Sa Pa Sustainable Tourism Project, supported by SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, IUCN and the District People’s Committee (DPC), has supported the community to develop more activities such as trekking around the village and cultural activities.
Local tour operators in Sa Pa town are the main business partners of the local service providers in the village. The local government authorities give the local ethnic minority people support in terms of incentive policies on training, service standard and tax. IUCN and SNV have provided tremendous support to develop sustainable tourism in the commune through training and raising awareness, community organizing, institutional development, product development and marketing.
Tourism has become more organized in the village with more active and broader participation of the local villagers. The community has set up a Community Tourism Management Board and formulated an agreement for the management of tourism activities in their village. The local people expect that tourism will bring about an additional source of income and employment to those who are directly involved in tourism activities, and indirect benefits to the whole community ; they also hope tourism will promote cultural exchange between the host and the guests and contribute to keep their village clean and green.