Passion for "lighting up" highland tourism

"Falling in love" with Nam Nghep

After many missed appointments, I finally had the opportunity to meet Mr. Nguyen Cao Cuong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nam Nghep Cooperative, Nam Nghep village, Ngoc Chien commune, Muong La district, right in the season of hawthorn flowers. The journey of more than 80 km from Son La city to Nam Nghep village this time was more convenient than before. The nearly 10 km section of Nam Pam commune and the road from Phay village to Nam Nghep village were concreted. Therefore, it only took us more than 2 hours to arrive at the village center.

A corner of Nam Nghep village in hawthorn flower season.

Mr. Cuong’s The Lover Cafe is located on a slope, airy. Here, visitors can enjoy a panoramic view of Nam Nghep village and the majesty of the mountains and forests. With a tall figure, Mr. Cuong skillfully guides the bartenders.

Mr. Cuong began telling us about his journey to Nam Nghep: My love affair with leaving the city for the forest began with trips to the mountainous regions of the Northwest since 2013. After building Lo Lo Chai village, Lung Cu commune, Dong Van district, Ha Giang province into a top community tourism village in the highlands, I wanted to try my hand at another land. In 2018, I accidentally came to the pristine Nam Nghep village. Here, I experienced bathing in Ngoc Chien hot mineral spring and conquering Ta Chi Nhu mountain at an altitude of 2,979 m.

Mr. Nguyen Cao Cuong is no longer a strange name in the Vietnamese press and media industry. He is known as the former production director of the foreign television channel VTC10; former Deputy Director of the VTVcab Program Production and Cooperation Center, and then former Director of CSM Global Company Limited.

Launching ceremony of Nam Nghep Cooperative.

As a communications expert, he has conducted in-depth research and implemented consulting and training activities on digital transformation in the field of journalism and communications, meeting the requirements of national digital transformation. He is also a pioneer in supporting press agencies in building digital management systems, exploiting and optimizing all editorial activities on multiple platforms through a management tool based on a convergence model.

Inviting guests to drink water, Mr. Cuong continued: Because of his passion for traveling to the highlands, he had to quit his current jobs to explore and experience. Currently, he is a guest lecturer at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, majoring in journalism; and a part-time lecturer at the Vietnam Journalists Association.

Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong (sitting in the middle) shares his experience in developing community tourism.

Then Mr. Cuong shared: At an altitude of more than 2,000 m above sea level, Nam Nghep is the highest village in Vietnam. The whole village has about 135 houses, the people's lives are difficult. The village has a lot of tourism potential, the highlight is the pristine hawthorn forests and majestic primeval forests. If we want to improve the lives of the people, we have to promote and build infrastructure to welcome tourists. To do that, we need someone to guide and show the people the way, so I decided to stay in the village to do tourism. A coffee shop was built, this is the place to discuss with the people of Nam Nghep village to build and launch many attractive tourism products.

Do community tourism

In this highland area, heaven and earth are in harmony, the simple people seem to give Nguyen Cao Cuong a lot of energy to build new ideas and bring the experience gained from the Homestay business in Lo Lo Chai to do community tourism in Nam Nghep.

Booth displaying products of Nam Nghep Cooperative at the Hawthorn Flower Festival.

Mr. Cuong confided that if we want to develop, we must go together, so I organized many meetings to discuss the establishment of cooperatives. Meeting with local authorities, receiving orientations. In October 2024, Nam Nghep Cooperative was established, with the goal of supporting Mong ethnic people in economic development. At the same time, preserving and promoting unique cultural values.

Up to now, the Cooperative has built and introduced 18 unique indigenous tourism products and services; designed leaflets to introduce the Cooperative, Nam Nghep discovery tours, such as: Mountain climbing, cloud hunting, hawthorn flower viewing... with full necessary information for tourists to learn, have choices suitable to their finances, health conditions and time.

Before the 2025 Hawthorn Flower Festival, Mr. Cuong advised and supported the cooperative in communications; established a motorbike taxi team, a poster team, a homestay team to support each other; brought some people to Hanoi for tour guide training; cooking training... He also mobilized and persuaded friends to support funding, support people to build roads in the village, repair suspension bridges across streams; guided families to participate in leveling the ground to make resting places, camping areas, providing basic services, meeting customer needs.

Mr. Thao A Vang, Director of Nam Nghep Cooperative, Owner of A Vang Homestay - one of the pioneering households in the village, said: My family has 2 homestays, with a scale of 30 guests/day. My family and I were consulted, guided and shared many experiences in developing community tourism by Mr. Cuong; he supported the introduction and promotion of tourism for the village very effectively.

Since the beginning of the hawthorn flower season, all homestays in the village have been fully booked, and my family alone has welcomed 20-30 guests per day. Households have collected money from tourists to experience the hawthorn flowers in the garden, and rented the garden for camping, bringing high income to households in the village. People are excited and grateful to the local Party Committee, government, and Mr. Cuong.

Motorbike taxi team of Nam Nghep Cooperative.

As for Khang A Lenh, a son of Nam Nghep village, he was quick and grasped the new things. Lenh said that thanks to Cuong's guidance, the villagers understood how to do community tourism. Lenh is currently the leader of the car team that takes tourists to visit the village and climb Ta Chi Nhu mountain. The car team has 30 people, all young men from the village, strong legs, good driving skills to overcome the bumpy, steep road to Nam Nghep. Lenh's family already has a homestay to welcome guests and is building more. The whole village, each family has a job, working together to build a community tourism village.

"The most beautiful Mong village in Vietnam"

Sharing his future direction, Mr. Cuong said: Nam Nghep Cooperative aims to expand its operations, cooperate with major brands and participate in trade promotion programs. At the same time, the Cooperative continues to train people in business and management skills to ensure comprehensive and sustainable development.

Nam Nghep Village has only been known to tourists for about 3 years, but the rate of returning visitors is very high. Mr. Cuong affirmed: After more than 10 years working in tourism, I have rarely seen a place with such a high rate of returning visitors. This means that the natural conditions, climate and cultural identity of the people here are always attractive and contain new values ​​of discovery.

Trial planting of Lai Chau ginseng in Nam Nghep.

Nam Nghep has the largest concentrated hawthorn area in the country. Mr. Cuong has experimented and cooperated with a number of cooperatives that have the capacity to produce hawthorn chili sauce, hawthorn vinegar, hawthorn flower tea... all of which are products that bring high income to the people. The cooperative is building a brand for these products.

Mr. Cuong talked about the idea that had been hatched: I will encourage people to organize a thanksgiving ceremony when the hawthorn flower season ends. During the thanksgiving ceremony, I will introduce 4 local products, including: hawthorn apple tea, Nam Nghiep forest honey, hawthorn apple wine, hawthorn apple flower wine; encourage people to join the Nam Nghep Cooperative, expand homestays and services for tourists.

The ideal natural conditions, at an altitude of over 2,000m, have great potential for growing, exploiting and processing medicinal herbs. Mr. Cuong has connected and received sponsorship from Fansipan Herbal Medicine Joint Stock Company, Hanoi City, to plant ten thousand Lai Chau ginseng seeds under the forest canopy. After 2 months of planting, the germination rate is very high, the ginseng plants are growing and developing well, opening up another prospect of a plant that brings high economic value.

In addition, Nam Nghep village owns hundreds of hectares of ancient tea forests, the most unique in Vietnam that has never been introduced; a very good ecosystem of medicinal resources, which is the raw material for high-class teas, such as: black tea, white tea, dragon claw tea... Especially, this place has very well-developed native ginseng lines such as: seven-leaf one-flower, codonopsis... all are purebred lines with great economic value.

Mr. Lo Van Thoa, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ngoc Chien Commune, shared: Mr. Cuong is an "expert on Nam Nghep", with a thorough understanding of this land, from its geographical location, climate, soil to the people here. He also constantly comes up with ideas to turn this land into an art destination, he plans to continue to mobilize sponsorship to maintain the annual Painting Creation Camp and the Summer Art Camp for students in Nam Nghep is also being planned by him.

Realizing the aspiration, with the plans and projects that have been planned by Nam Nghep Cooperative, with the joint efforts and consensus of the people. Mr. Nguyen Cao Cuong, with his passion, enthusiasm and experience, will continue to accompany, advise, guide, and work with the people of Nam Nghep to build and develop community tourism.

Feeling the new day of Nam Nghep full of energy, the creative ideas of expert Nguyen Cao Cuong have been contributing to "illuminating" Nam Nghep. From a little-known land, now, when mentioning Nam Nghiep, people remember the hawthorn flower season in March, the fruit season in September and the upcoming Rhododendron Flower Festival held in early April.

The constant efforts of the local Party Committee, government and people of Nam Nghep village and expert Nguyen Cao Cuong will turn Nam Nghep into the richest and most beautiful Mong ethnic community tourism village in Vietnam.

Source: https://baosonla.vn/guong-sang-ban-lang/dam-me-thap-sang-du-lich-vung-cao-HaNGcuhHR.html