"Shorts and slippers director" turns wild hills in Mai Chau into dream resort

(Dan Tri) - After 3 years of "leaving the city for the forest", Mr. Man has turned two hills that used to only grow corn and rice in Nam hamlet (Mai Chau) into a resort in harmony with nature, attracting tourists.

On the road from the center of Mai Chau district (Hoa Binh) to the community tourism village - Ban Buoc (Xam Khoe commune), when passing through the Nam hamlet area, visitors can see the palm-roofed stilt houses arranged in a circle, clustered like a small village, interspersed with terraced fields, corn fields, squash fields, vegetable gardens, and fish ponds. The surrounding area is filled with green trees and colorful flowers.

This place used to be two adjacent hills, about 15km from the district center, about 16ha wide, part of which was divided for people in Nam hamlet to grow rice and corn by season, the rest was mostly abandoned. Four years ago, introduced by a friend, Mr. Trinh Phuc Man (54 years old, from Hanoi) traveled here to see the land.

Seeing two hills separated from the village by a clear mineral spring, like a green oasis, Mr. Man felt "happy": "I have always dreamed of building a resort on the hill, blending in with nature and carrying local identity. This place has a beautiful location, natural hot mineral water, long terraced fields, and gentle, friendly people - very ideal to realize that dream", Mr. Man said.

Mr. Man and his wife have been in the real estate and tourism business for a long time. In the 1990s and 2000s, they had a travel company with nearly 40 cars specializing in Hanoi - Hue - Da Nang tours and a system of famous hotels throughout Hanoi's Old Quarter. Later, Mr. Man became famous in the tourism industry when he transformed a deserted island full of trash into a popular tourist destination in Hai Phong.

However, Mr. Man admitted that when he started to build the resort in Nam hamlet, Xam Khoe commune, he faced many difficulties. Having just gone through the Covid-19 pandemic, combined with fluctuations in business in Hai Phong, the company's investment capital was limited. Mr. Man himself had just undergone kidney transplant surgery in 2020, so his wife and children were very worried that he was overworking. "People often call me "crazy" Man. I'm crazy and crazy, if I want to do something, I will do it," said Mr. Man. Leaving Hanoi, he went to the mountainous district to work directly with the local government, and went to Nam hamlet, Xam Khoe commune to mobilize the people.

Xam Khoe commune is a mountainous commune of Hoa Binh province, 19km from Mai Chau district center, bordering Thanh Son commune to the west.   Quan Hoa district,   Thanh Hoa province. The commune has 7 hamlets with three ethnic groups living together: Thai, Kinh and Mong. People's income mainly depends on agricultural production. "In 2020, Thai people in Nam hamlet still rely on growing two rice crops on this hill, earning about more than 1 million VND/household/year, life is difficult. Young men who want to earn an income have to go to work very far away. I came to talk to the people about tourism in the village, promised to create jobs during the construction of the resort, committed to hiring one official employee per household, directly training and paying a minimum salary of 4 million VND/month", Mr. Man recounted.

Knowing that the villagers only trust those who "can do what they say", Mr. Man brought equipment and human resources to dig ditches, pull the power grid, open roads, and invited representatives to visit the tourism model he built in Hai Phong. He opened an English class in the village, invited people to teach children and young people, and then took the young people to the tourist area on the island to get acquainted, guide and train them in driving, housekeeping, cooking, etc.

"Mr. Man is a businessman but very close to the people, dares to promise and dares to do, so the people quickly support him," said Mr. Luong Van Nhieu, Secretary of the Party Committee of Xam Khoe commune. At the end of 2020, Mr. Man started planning a resort on the hill. The hill is like an oasis separated from the residential area by Xia stream. To get to the hill, you can only move across a suspension bridge about 2m wide or a small winding dirt road. Therefore, transporting materials is extremely difficult, many jobs can only be done by human power instead of machinery. "My goal is to preserve the natural landscape, minimize the impact on the environment, so the main construction materials are bamboo, reed, wood... These materials are laborious and more expensive than conventional concrete and brick construction," said Mr. Man.

"During the construction period, I almost never returned to Hanoi. I worked here with engineers, construction workers, and locals from 6am to 6-7pm. At night, I was restless calculating materials, implementation plans, and capital sources... Every day, I slept only 3-4 hours, my skin was dark, and I lost a few kilos," Man recalled. Although he was the resort director, Man was still used to wearing shorts and slippers, eating simple meals right at the construction site with the locals. He was willing to carry bamboo, hoe the land, shovel sand... People here jokingly called him "Mr. Man in shorts and slippers" or "director in shorts and slippers".

"Maybe because I'm a simple person, people love me. When they found out I was having financial difficulties, dozens of people still wholeheartedly supported me without asking for a salary. I was touched and extremely grateful," Mr. Man recalled. Mr. Man and his family maintained many accommodation businesses in other destinations to have capital to invest in the resort on the hill. Friends everywhere also supported the "crazy friend with a passion for travel" a little bit. After 3 years, the resort gradually took shape. Crossing the suspension bridge across the stream, visitors will enter a green, peaceful "oasis", seemingly separated from the outside world . The rooms are arranged in a circle, clustered like a small village interspersed with terraced fields, vegetable gardens, and fish ponds.

Mr. Man built 26 rooms in the architectural style of the Thai ethnic stilt houses, with roofs thatched with palm leaves. The walls, in addition to the bamboo and reed frames, will be plastered with earth like a rammed earth house, to increase sustainability, soundproofing, and to be cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Each room is simply decorated but has a warm, Northwest character, with large windows and balconies overlooking nature. Notably, the water source used here is all natural mineral water. Mr. Man also invested hundreds of millions of dong in a high-tech wastewater treatment system to protect the ecological environment.

Mr. Man invited local people to be chefs in the resort's bamboo restaurant, which specializes in serving typical dishes such as bamboo rice, grilled chicken, sour ant salad, fish steamed in papaya leaves, snail cake, gai cake... The kitchen uses mostly ingredients available in the village such as pork, chicken, duck, fish, green vegetables, tubers... Young people in the village are trained and guided to become local guides, taking tourists to visit mineral springs, rafting, mountain climbing, visiting waterfalls, exploring Buoc village... Xia stream flows through the resort with open-air hot mineral springs, cool in the summer and warm in the winter, making tourists especially excited.

In the evening, after a day of experience, visitors can return to the restaurant, join the chef in making traditional cakes such as snail cakes, gai cakes, watch Thai ethnic performances, light a campfire... Although newly opened, this resort has attracted a stable number of guests, reaching 100% room occupancy on weekends.

Ms. Amy (Australian nationality) who is living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, came to the resort during her visit to Hanoi and the northern provinces. Ms. Amy was attracted by the image of palm-roofed houses, winding terraced fields, and clear streams at the foot of the hills. "The atmosphere here is extremely pleasant, feeling like being separated from the noise and pressure. I can cycle, walk, swim,... The food is delicious and the people are friendly," Ms. Amy shared.

Currently, Mr. Man's resort is creating stable jobs for 20 people in the village, with salaries ranging from 4-6 million VND/person/month. In addition, nearly 40 other people are still participating in the construction and expansion of the resort. "Investors like Mr. Man have brought stable jobs to local people, creating dynamism and development for this land," said Mr. Luong Van Nhieu, Secretary of the Party Committee of Xam Khoe commune.

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