5 red dragon fruits neatly placed in a bamboo tray, Ms. Thao brought them to the table and introduced: "Here, dragon fruit is considered a normal fruit, but in France, they value it very much, because dragon fruit has a lot of nutrients, sometimes each fruit like this costs about 7 Euros".
Strange imported cactus species grown in Thien Nghiep
Then Ms. Thao personally prepared a special dragon fruit juice for guests to try. In addition to the squeezed dragon fruit, she added a little pure honey and squeezed fresh kumquat. All guests who tried it nodded and praised the fragrance and deliciousness.
From the story of the red dragon fruit juice, Ms. Thao shared her thoughts and passion for the cactus family - many sharp thorns but beautiful flowers, sweet fruit and nutritious for human health. Currently, in Ms. Thao's ecological garden, there are more than 700 different species of cactus. Many types of cactus with strange shapes are not available in Vietnam, she has to import them from abroad to plant on the sandy soil of Thien Nghiep. Now Ms. Thao's ecological garden is like a "Cactus Museum" that cannot be found anywhere else.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, originally from the West, settled in France since childhood. More than ten years ago, she and her husband returned to Ho Chi Minh City to do business. In 2021, the Covid-19 epidemic broke out, and Ms. Thao and her husband were "stuck" in Mui Ne tourist area. The time to avoid the epidemic was also an opportunity for her to learn about the sunny and windy land of Mui Ne, Ham Tien, Thien Nghiep (Phan Thiet City). Ms. Thao loves cacti, including dragon fruit, a cactus family native to the deserts of Mexico and Colombia. Dragon fruit was introduced to Vietnam by the French over 100 years ago. That's why she stopped in Binh Thuan to build a garden to grow cacti from all over the world. Ms. Phuong Thao shared: “At the end of 2021, I bought more than 1,300 square meters of land in Thien Trung village, Thien Nghiep commune, with a 20-meter frontage on Tran Binh Trong street to develop an ecological garden, bringing in cactus varieties from around the world for trial planting and naming the garden “Gai garden”. Besides collecting cactus, I invested tens of billions of dong to expand the development of a green vegetable garden, dig a pond to grow lotus, raise fish, and grow fruit trees. In early 2023, I designed and built more free “virtual living” areas for tourists to visit, have fun, and enjoy the cuisine of Thien Nghiep countryside...”.
Tourists visit and take photos in the garden
Tourists take a boat to see lotus flowers
Tourists see strange cactus garden
Lotus garden, fish farming
On the weekend of August, sudden showers made the ecological garden greener. The road leading to the gate of “Gai garden” was bustling with people, not only locals but also many tourists from other places came to relax and visit, admiring hundreds of species of cacti with strange shapes. Especially young people in groups took hundreds of photos with the beautiful scenery in Thien Nghiep ecological cactus garden.
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