Changes in Sin Suoi Ho

Once a hot spot for opium, Sin Suoi Ho village has now become a tourist destination, and people are more aware of protecting their villages and borders.

Sin Suoi Ho Village belongs to Sin Suoi Ho Commune, Phong Tho District, Lai Chau Province, located on the slopes of Son Bac May Mountain, at an altitude of more than 1,500 m above sea level, about 30 km from Lai Chau City. 100% of the households living here are Mong ethnic people.

Change skin, change flesh every day

Mr. Vang A Chinh, Head of Sin Suoi Ho village, said that Sin Suoi Ho used to be a den of opium, poverty and backwardness. In the past, the whole village had only over 120 households and 700 people, but 80% of the people were opium addicts and 100% of the households were poor. Around the year 2000, officers and soldiers of Lai Chau Provincial Border Guard, together with Party committees and authorities at all levels, were determined to eliminate opium poppies.

"At that time, I was a police officer in Sin Suoi Ho commune, so I also participated in mobilizing people to give up opium. After many years of fierce struggle, in 2014, Sin Suoi Ho no longer had anyone addicted to opium or growing opium, instead there were lush corn and rice fields," said Mr. Vang A Chinh.

To develop the local economy, Mr. Vang A Chinh voluntarily donated nearly 1,000 square meters of land to build a market and encouraged people to bring everything of value to the market to exchange goods, promoting trade. He also mobilized people to donate land to open roads, contribute money and labor to concrete village roads and roads leading to the village to make travel easier, and people's lives improved visibly.

Not only that, seeing the beautiful landscape of Sin Suoi Ho, village chief Vang A Chinh came up with the idea of doing community tourism. He discussed with Mr. Hang A Xa, a prestigious person in the village, then both of them went to mobilize the villagers to do community tourism together. Mr. Hang A Xa was also the one who established the Sin Suoi Ho Tourism Cooperative, mobilizing members to participate.

"Sin Suoi Ho is considered a paradise of clouds because in the morning the village is immersed in a sea of clouds, the scenery is extremely magical. In addition, Sin Suoi Ho also has Trai Tim waterfall, Tinh Yeu waterfall, Bach Moc Luong Tu peak, Son Bac May peak and pear and plum gardens blooming beautifully and fragrantly, golden terraced fields attracting tourists. Because the villagers enjoy the benefits right on their own land, our mobilization work is very convenient. Now we no longer have to worry about hunger and poverty" - village chief Vang A Chinh shared.

In recent years, the number of tourists coming to Sin Suoi Ho has increased, and the reception and service of the local people has become more and more professional. From accommodation, food and beverage, entertainment to cultural experiences, the people of Sin Suoi Ho have all been trained and gradually become disciplined. Mr. Vang A Chinh boasted: "In June 2015, Sin Suoi Ho was recognized as a provincial-level community tourism destination. Since then, tourism services have been upgraded; there are art troupes, motorbike taxi teams, and English-speaking tour guides."

Bài dự thi cuộc thi viết — Mr. Vang A Chinh (sitting) takes foreign tourists to visit Sin Suoi Ho village.

Attractive destination

Sin Suoi Ho village currently has 20 households running homestays, 6 households providing food services, and 1 tourism cooperative with the capacity to accommodate more than 300 tourists. Tourists can stay for a whole week or a month, harvesting rice, picking cardamom, weaving, and performing arts with farmers. Every year, Sin Suoi Ho village welcomes over 20,000 domestic visitors and several thousand foreign visitors. Mr. Vang A Chinh said: "To become a community tourism village, the people in the village are actively supported by the army, local authorities, and organizations. We ourselves must also take the lead in setting an example for everyone to follow, encouraging the young generation to study tourism, creating solidarity in the whole village."

Mr. Vang A Chu, a homestay worker in Sin Suoi Ho village, said that village chief Vang A Chinh is the one who has made great contributions in changing the lives of the people here. Initially, only 2 households started doing tourism, but now every household in the village is doing tourism.

Sin Suoi Ho has been gradually changing its appearance; from a hot spot for opium, it has now become a community tourism destination that attracts a large number of domestic and foreign tourists. In 2019, Sin Suoi Ho village was recognized as a typical community tourism destination in Vietnam; in 2023, it was honored as the most attractive community tourism destination in ASEAN 2022 at the International Tourism Fair forum held in Yogyakarta City - Indonesia.

Tourism development also helps the agricultural sector develop, creating more livelihoods for the people of Sin Suoi Ho village and the whole Sin Suoi Ho commune. In 2018, the Vietnam Women's Union supported Sin Suoi Ho commune with 240 million VND to implement a livelihood model, selected 20 poor women to grow orchids, and supported 12 million VND/member in rotation. Each orchid growing household brings in more than 3 billion VND in revenue for Sin Suoi Ho commune; members' income ranges from 20-100 million VND/year, 100% of members are supported to escape poverty.

Mr. Sung A Lung, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Sin Suoi Ho commune, affirmed that economic development programs and policies have changed the face of the border area, helping to improve people's lives, especially developing community tourism, thereby helping to stabilize security and order in the border area.

According to Mr. Sung A Lung, Sin Suoi Ho's success today is also thanks to pioneers like village chief Vang A Chinh. The former police officer of Sin Suoi Ho commune and Mr. Hang A Xa have both received certificates of merit from the Prime Minister in the emulation movement of the whole country joining hands to build new rural areas.

Awareness of protecting sovereignty

Village chief Vang A Chinh said that along with developing community tourism, the people of Sin Suoi Ho village pledged not to smoke opium, not to drink alcohol, not to gamble and especially not to litter, keeping the village green - clean - beautiful. "Changing people's awareness is very important, from there people love their homeland more, be more aware of protecting sovereignty, maintaining security and order at the border" - Mr. Vang A Chinh shared.