Quintessentially Muong

      Visiting Giang Mo Village in Hoa Binh Province, tourists will experience the architecture, unique festivals, culture and customs of the Muong ethnic people.
Peer into a town where residents still use a handmade water transporting system, bows and arrows for hunting and tools and furniture made of bamboo.
Situated in Binh Thanh Commune, at the foot of the Mo Mountain 12 km away from Hoa Binh Town, Giang Mo Village in Cao Phong District – a three-hour motorbike ride from Hanoi – has more than 100 stilt-houses built on the slopes of mountains looking down onto the terraced fields of the villagers.
The village is populated by Muong people, the third largest ethnic group in Vietnam with an estimated population of 1.2 million, the bulk of whom dwell in the mountainous regions of Hoa Binh or Thanh Hoa provinces.
Thirty-five-year-old Quynh has four children. Sitting by a cooking fire, she invited us to tea and to sample bananas grown in her garden. Quynh has a knack for making tea from the roots of a peach tree, which tasted a little strange, but that she insisted was good for digestion.
She remains busy all day to support her large family. She tills the fields and plants banana trees, sugarcane and corn, as well as raises pigs and chickens.
She pays her children’s school fees and household expenses through selling souvenirs to tourists.
“More and more tourists visit the Giang Mo Village,” she said. “When the family receives guests, we want to please the visitors. We like to offer them tea to drink and things to eat from our gardens.”
At present, the village has 105 households with some 400 people.
Each year, Giang Mo receives tens of thousands of visitors coming from many countries, including France, Germany, Japan, America, Britain and Spain.
Tourism development is credited for creating jobs, increasing income and improving the quality of life for Giang Mo villagers.
It also helps preserve the traditional culture in Muong people and enhances cultural awareness in younger generations.
Giang Mo Village offers a breath of fresh air along with lush greenery and tranquility. Families often welcome visitors, who can inquire about daily life in the town. There one can experience the dreamlike state of listening to traditional flute music while sitting next to a fragrant jar of ruou can (rice wine drunk out of a jar through pipes).
The stilt-houses, made with large wooden pillars, bamboo walls and floorboards, and with roofs thatched with palm leaves, is quite long and high. There are no private rooms in the houses. The cooking fire is placed in the middle, where a pot is always boiling. Dried corn hangs from the smoking-shelves above the fire.
“Most of the households in our village still preserve the typical culture and lifestyle of the ancient Muong people because the authorities wants us to turn our village into a tourist spot,” said Quynh’s father-in-law, Dinh Van Nhi. “If you stay overnight, you can enjoy traditional dances, folksongs and performances with drums, gongs, clarinets and the monochord. Our village has a special team of girls and boys performing traditional music for guests.”
The 77-year-old villager makes handicrafts, including flower vases, ashtrays, crossbows and musical instruments, to sell to visitors.
After an hour of chatting with Nhi, our lunch is ready. Quynh serves up a large, hearty meal. She is wearing a long black velvet skirt, a light-colored brassiere embroidered with colorful patterns, a sky-blue blouse, and a white brocade headscarf.
“For generations, Muong women have had to learn to weave and dye cloth, make brocades and sew clothes for their families,” said Quynh. “Muong women are very good at cooking also.”
Many households still retain looms for women to weave unique and colorful cloths who then pass on the weaving technique to the younger generations.
Glutinous rice with boiled pork in banana leaves and ruou can is a typical Muong dish.
“Our daily diet is very simple, but for festivals our feasts are more elaborate,” she said. In front of us there’s a feast with sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves, boiled wild vegetables, river fish cooked with wild herbs and wrapped in lotus leaves, steamed chicken and stir-fried water buffalo.
Visitors to the village are often surprised by many aspects of the traditional and rural way of life.
“I have learned the methods of how the Muong ethnic people make their traditional furniture, looms and farm tools made of wood, bamboo and rattan,” said Sarah Laurent, an Australian visitor.
“All the families here are requested to keep their houses and environment clean, and build more comfortable toilets and bathrooms for tourists,” said Dinh Van Trieu, Head of Giang Mo Village, said. “Moreover, the villagers are advised not to raise cattle in their rooms.”
To get to Giang Mo Village from Hanoi, you can drive through Ha Dong Town on National Road No. 6 toward Hoa Binh Town. Keep going straight and after 10 km, Giang Mo will be on your left hand side.