An aerial view of Hoai Khao village (Photo: Ngoc Anh)

Nestled in a small valley, the wooden houses roofed with yin-yang tiles are a distinctive feature and home to 30 families of the Dao Tien ethnic community. The Hoai Khao community tourism village project, piloted in 2018, became official two years later.

To Thi Trang, Deputy Director of the provincial Culture, Sports and Tourism Department, said that the locals have been trained to welcome and serve visitors and develop unique tourism products, such as an experience tour of Dao Tien traditional culture and shopping for local specialties.

“As a result, the number of tourists coming to Hoai Khao is increasing and the quality of tourism services is improving. Cao Bang has seven community tourism villages, for which Hoai Khao is a role model,” said Trang.

Since the project was launched, villagers have learned from and shared experience with each other. Chu Minh Duc, the owner of a homestay in Hoai Khao, told that this family began to do tourism in 2021. Since then, they have continuously renovated their facility to make it more attractive to tourists.

“Villagers help each other do tourism. Families who don’t open a homestay service can offer a beeswax pattern printing and embroidery service. Other families offer traditional medicine and herbal bath services,” said Duc, adding, “We promote our homestay through Facebook and the tourism websites of Nguyen Binh district and Cao Bang province. Most of the tourists are Vietnamese and they come mainly at holidays and weekends.”

Hoai Khao villagers use beeswax to print patterns on brocade clothes. (Photo: Ngoc Anh)

Nguyen Binh district has upgraded its cultural house, built a reception area, a parking area, restored several cultural establishments, and displayed tools, costumes, and household items of the Dao ethnic group.

Hoang Quoc Chan, Chairman of the Quang Thanh communal People's Committee, said that seven households in Hoai Khao village operate homestays for tourists. Each homestay can accommodate 10 people. 400 to 600 tourists, including some foreign visitors, visit Hoai Khao each year.

“We’ve encouraged the locals to make souvenir products such as towels and pillows to serve tourists,” said Chan.

The tourism potential and advantage lies in the culture of the Dao Tien ethnic group who have preserved their traditional houses, medicine, and crafts like silver carving, weaving, and beeswax pattern printing. Each family has a wooden granary separate from their house, a distinctive feature found only in Hoai Khao.

There is an ancient Nhoi tree (Bischofia javanica Blume), which is protected and worshipped by the locals.  Since it was recognized as a Vietnamese Heritage Tree in September 2020, many tourists have come to Hoai Khao to see it. The beeswax pattern printing and embroidery craft  of Dao Tien people has impressed tourists the most.

A tourist tries beeswax pattern printing. (Photo: Ngoc Anh)

Cong Hoai Anh, a visitor from Ha Noi, told the reason why she came to this village, “I knew it was famous for beeswax printing. I wanted to gain some practical experience in the craft. I found it difficult at first, but with the help of local artisans, I improved. The important thing is to be meticulous and careful. If I have the chance, I’ll come back and explore more places in Cao Bang province.”

Ngoc Anh