Rural tourism: Having a sip of 'Prime Minister tea' at the happy village

Mr. Dang Ngoc Pho is a Dao ethnic resident who has fled his hometown in search of a job as a contractor. He eventually returned home after going bankrupt. His home is located at a height of 1,200 meters in Hong Thai commune, Na Hang district, and is referred to be the "mini Sapa" in Tuyen Quang province. The location is well-known for its 64-hectare Shan Tuyet tea plantation, of which one-third is ancient and perennial.

However, regardless of the kind of old shan Tuyet tea or shan tea planted in accordance with Program 327, 661..., the branches are chopped for firewood and the leaves are used to treat itching; it was seldom used to produce tea for drinking. Mr. Pho came up with an idea one night while staring at the wild tea hills and contacted the province and municipal officials. He received VND 320 million in funding for the establishment of a tea firing plant with two wood-fired kilns. Son Tra Cooperative was founded with him as director and seven members, but after a few years, only two remained owing to poor tea quality, substandard brewing water, and tasteless output.

Mr. Pho traveled around the tea areas of Tuyen Quang, Thai Nguyen, and Ha Giang to gather expertise, but the more he worked, the more he lost, almost bankrupting him and forcing him to sell his 32-meter square land and motorcycle in order to continue his idea.

He was reawakened when he realized that it was difficult to succeed only with wood-fired kilns. He then invested in four gas and electric furnaces that assist in adjusting the temperature, engine rpm, and time to assure the production, as well as the tea's quality. The products were first offered to various commune, district, and provincial agencies; they were sufficiently excellent to entice customers to return. Mr. Pho then presented the products to the Provincial Secretary, who delivered the tea to the Government Office.  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, had a try of the tea and then presented the product as a gift to Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad.

Since then, other customers have requested Mr. Pho's "Prime Minister tea." He said that "Prime Minister tea" is made from one bud and one first leaf that retails for VND 1.2 million per kilogram. The top tea generates around 50-70kg per year and is sold at a price of VND 5 million per kg; the premium 1 bud and 2 leaves tea is sold at a price of VND 700,000 per kg, and the regular tea is sold at a price of VND 250,000 per kg.

Residents of the Hong Thai communes pledged to prohibit the use of herbicides and pesticides on any plants, including tea, vegetables, maize, and rice. Whoever is found to have violated the covenant will be penalized, while those who report the breaches will be rewarded. 

The cloud-hanging vegetable garden, pear garden, and pigsty

I met Mr. Dang Duc Hau on my trip, who founded Tan Hop Agriculture Cooperative in 2018 with 11 members, but almost half of them went for labor exports. The cooperative grew 2-3 hectares of vegetables on its own and collaborated with 20-30 agricultural families to underwrite the harvest.

He intends to establish a homestay in a wooden house with yin-yang tiles in Khuoi Phay hamlet and provide tourists with experiences ranging from chicken hunting and vegetable harvesting to the making of dried pigs and buffaloes.

I also spoke with a Dao youth who owns the most stunning pear orchards in Hong Thai, where each bloom harvest brings hundreds of millions of dongs in revenue from photography services. I was invited to see his garden by Nguyen Thi Cam Ly, director of Cam Sanh Son Nu Cooperative.

"Because ripe pears only last a limited period of time before becoming dark, wormed, or damaged after harvesting, buyers often return the fruits. The farmers requested that Cam Sanh Son Nu Cooperative assist them in resolving that issue by offering expertise in product collection, preliminary processing, and also sales.

Along with selling fresh pears, the cooperative is experimenting with freeze-drying to preserve pears for six to twelve months, preserving nutrients and making them easy for rapid consumption or cooking breakfast in five minutes. Perhaps during next year's pear season, travelers will depart carrying bags of dried pears as souvenirs. We will also experiment with mixing pears and ginseng in the near future, similar to the Korean cough remedy made from pear juice.

Along with pears, we work with individuals to cultivate and market medicinal plants. Son Nu's strength is in agricultural product development for internal consumption and export, including farmland (farm combined with research), farm shop (farm coupled with stores), and farm tours (farm-related tours).

Following my visit to the pear orchard, I visited Ban Xuan Thuy's more than 1-hectare pig farm, owned by a Dao man who just graduated from the Vietnam Agricultural Academy.

"We've been raising pigs for a long time and used to keep them in a pigsty, which makes feeding quite difficult. However, when they are allowed to roam free here, they are fed twice daily, in the morning and afternoon. If it does not rain, the pigs may spend the night beneath a tree or in a patch of grass; only the sow will be housed in the barn. Currently, the herd consists of roughly 100 pigs, including two indigenous black pig breeds and a hybrid wild boar. Thanks to the new farming methods,  the pork is very excellent, and the family sells it for VND 120-150,000 per kg to nearby homestays and supplies it to the family's Mac Cop homestay.

Lemongrass grass, maize, and bananas are grown in the region around my farm as pig feed, as well as other herbs such as nees, ming aralia, and big tea. I also want to build a farm stay in the near future to allow visitors to experience life as farmers."

This is joy

Mr. Dang Trung Dung, Chairman of Hong Thai commune, informed me of the district's approval of the Khau Trang smart village project. Where the 4G network is free, all activities are managed and operated using advanced technology, and each pear tree is encrypted so that all information about the fruit is displayed, including its age, how to fertilize it, and whose garden it belongs to.

For the One Health One Member Co., Ltd.'s happy village, the investor picked two sites to inspect and suggest combining health tourism and agriculture tourism. However, Mr. Dung maintains that regardless of the type of village development, it must be founded on cultural identity. Around 70% of households in Hong Thai live in historic Dao houses with yin-yang tile roofs. The province's program encourages homestay operators to reintroduce millions of tourists to the province's historic architecture. Those having a confused and disorganized design are categorically suspended.

Mr. To Viet Hiep, Chairman of the Na Hang district People's Committee: "The Happy Village project in Hong Thai is a novel proposal for the province and district, but it is necessary for people and managers to grasp the meaning of specific happiness and define it as a criterion for the new countryside.".