Not by electric lights, but by youthful faces and smiles. The wooden gate with the words “A Sap” and the simple stilt houses on the green lawn are the highlights that invite groups of young people to check in and record wonderful moments together during a weekend picnic in the forest.
Visitors here can choose the service of renting traditional costumes of local people to take pictures; renting camping tents, carpets, stilt camps, etc., lighting the campfire by the water's edge; or choosing to enjoy traditional dishes of the locals such as cassava sticky rice, cassava soup, grilled stream fish, etc.
Capturing wonderful moments together
Ho Ba Thuat, Secretary of Hong Thuong Commune Union, said that with the support of the local government, they opened this service with the desire to introduce a tourist destination close to nature to tourists.
When it first started (from March 2021), guests came to the mudflat during the holidays. But now, for a full week, A Sap mudflat welcomes visitors every night. More gladly, the number of visitors from Hue city is very large. There are also tourists from other provinces coming to explore and experience wild streams and waterfalls in the middle of the A Luoi mountains and forests.
Perhaps because of the severe noonday sun, the roads became quiet. When being asked for directions, the school-age girl was going the other way, willing to turn around the electric bicycle and lead us a long way through a few turns. Arriving at A Sap mudflat, she greeted us with smiling eyes. Is it the cool wind from the A Sap stream or from the pure kindness of the mountain girl that the space is gentle and wavering?
It is not night, so the mudflats do not shimmer with electricity, but are peaceful when you look up at the white clouded sky. In the distance, cows gently graze. Far, far away, in the mountain range of thousands of years, is where the wind wakes up after slumbering, bringing with it the cold season in winter or warmth in spring. There, ethnic minorities like Pa Co, Ta Oi, Ka Tu, etc., put on a traditional shirt with colorful patterns and colors, sewn from Zèng fabric by hardworking women weaving by the loom, on their front porch.
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Sparkling night on the mudflat
At the foot of a mountain range, in the village of A Deeng Parlieng 1, Trung Son commune, there is a man of the Pa Co ethnic group, full of love and pride for traditional dishes. In the affection of many local people, Mr. Le Van Hao is a culinary artist, contributing to preserving and continuing the traditional dishes of his nation.
At the cultural, sports, and tourism festival of the mountainous ethnic groups in Thua Thien Hue recently held in Nam Dong district, the culinary team of A Luoi delegation led by Mr. Le Van Hao won the first prize in the culinary competition.
I once heard the Pa Co man passionately talk about how to prepare căn chichr, pâr rục and many special dishes, the ingredients of which are fish living in clean streams, cassava roots, sticky rice planted on the fields; Spices are wild pepper, wild ginger and many kinds of forest leaves, which are processed very elaborately, creating a sweet and intense flavor of the mountains.
The A Sap river in this season is calm, but it seems that the sound of waves is heard from the deep river bed, slapping the souls of travelers. Coming here and coming back here, perhaps, because one can let go of all worries and sorrows, wander in the vast space of emotions. Maybe travelers also come here because of the smiling eyes, because of the pure kindness of the mountain girl, or the mountain range of thousands of years, across the A Sap river - where the winds wake up.
Story: Quynh Anh
Photos: A Luoi District Department of Culture and Information