Delicious barbecue dishes
Last chance, getting the invitation from my fellow journalists from Hue, Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, I had the opportunity to visit Bach Ma. I have been to Sa Pa as well as Ba Na; guests are countless, but that is not the case with Bach Ma. Although the hotel system is glorious (they were refurbished on the old foundation of French villas), hiding among the primitive forest of the mountain; yet there weren’t that many guests there, mostly from our group.
It was getting coldish amidst the tranquil and somber mountainous space; our footsteps became light because of the very high altitude. It was ideal for a comfortable night at the end of a hard-working day in the heat of the city. The journalists from other provinces all had the same feelings at that time: Bach Ma was magnificent.
It’s really magnificent. Bach Ma is beautiful, with a wild and untamed seduction. The road from the foot of the mountain is winding through the ancient trees, while the babbling streams welcomes the faraway guests … Many in our group have been to various ecotourism places in the country, and they told me that it turned out to be actually great that Bach Ma was slowly developing and thus the scenery was still preserved. If it is later developed to a standard plan Bach Ma will not only retain the quiet and its ecosystem, but also “handpick” its guests. Otherwise, so many places nowadays have been rapidly spoiled for the sake of tourism, leading to the destruction of their ecosystems.
No lack of common dishes either
At night, I was invited to a party. I expected it to be indoors at a restaurant, but it turned out to be an outdoors buffet with on-the-spot barbecue dishes such as hill chickens, stream fish and mountain frogs… Sitting by the fire, everyone was excited, as it was their first time to have such a luxury buffet outdoors on top a mountain.
The cold temperature, combined with good food and fine local wine made the party even more fascinating. I was overjoyed at the homemade music performances with a portable loudspeaker and effervescent dances from the local journalists in the group that made the night so much more intimate and cozy.
A buffet on top of Bach Ma - what a brilliant, unique, exciting and luxurious idea. That was the feelings of everyone who joined the party. Mr Thang, from the Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper, shared: “It was my first time to join a buffet at a place like this, and it was fabulous. Hopefully, there will be more tourists to this place to share the fun that we’ve had.”
Awakening the potential of Bach Ma is the desire of many people. However, how to attract more tourists while still maintaining its value is a crucial point that all managers and tour policy makers must consider. To be successful in doing tourism consists in having ideas and carrying them out perfectly. It is not necessary to build things that can be costly yet ineffective.
The idea of doing outdoors buffet parties on top of Bach Ma that journalists from Hue came up with was clear and convincing evidence. It did not cost much, just moving food from one place to another; the main selling point was the layout, preparation and organization that brought efficiency, especially to tourists from faraway. After the party, many people said to me: “I thought it would be boring up here as there was not much entertainment at night, but this turned out to be so fun, so impressive!”
Hue has many interesting destinations, but there weren’t any new, unique ideas on how to organize them to be impressive and attractive to tourists. “Buffets on top of Bach Ma” is a fine example of a fresh idea for Hue tourism.
By Gia Han