Paving the way to the future
Ngoc Chien Commune has more than 2,300 households of Thai, Mong, Kinh ethnic groups living in 15 villages. To get to Ngoc Chien, you can go from Mu Cang Chai (Yen Bai, the foot of Khau Pha Pass) or follow Provincial Road 106, from Son La City to Muong La and then to Ngoc Chien.
Just over a decade ago, when mentioning Ngoc Chien, many people immediately thought of a wild, poor land with difficult travel. However, now, this place has "changed its skin" and no one knows when it was associated with the name "fairyland".
Arriving in Ngoc Chien, we were captivated by the “symphony” of wind, streams and water wheels in Khua Vai, Muong Chien, Luot and Phay villages. Walking over long stacked rocks and bamboo bridges across Chien stream, sitting next to a small hut, watching the water wheels turn steadily, the sound of flowing stream water, the scent of fragrant rice wafting in the wind… and feeling strangely peaceful.
Mr. Bui Tien Sy, Secretary of the Party Committee of Ngoc Chien Commune, said that he had been working in the commune since 2019; at that time, he realized that this land had many advantages for economic and tourism development. However, to develop, the road must be paved first.
When the road opening policy was proposed, there were also many disagreements, Mr. Sy spent time visiting each house in the village to persuade and mobilize. The commune also established 15 working groups in charge of 15 villages, each group had 3-5 people, directly solving the problems of the people. In a short time, most of them agreed, donated land, and contributed to the road construction. Up to now, the whole commune has hardened 100% of the commune roads, village roads, and inter-village roads, ensuring smooth traffic, 100% of the alleys and hamlets are clean and ensuring convenient travel all year round.
Mr. Luong Van Huong, Phay village, shared: After the commune officials directly came down to propagate and mobilize about the road construction policy, the people all agreed and highly agreed. Thanks to that, not only the people in Phay village, but also the people in Ngoc Chien commune all unanimously donated land and contributed working days to build the road.
“The road has now been widened from 6 to 8 meters. The commune also has a cultural house and a school. Now in my Phay village, there are no more poor households. People can work with peace of mind and improve their lives,” Mr. Huong said excitedly.
Potential is being awakened
Taking us to visit Dong Xuong village, the Party Secretary of the commune, Bui Tien Sy, shared that Ngoc Chien commune has a unique architectural culture with hundreds of years old stilt houses, made entirely of po mu wood by the Thai people, from the pillars to the roofs. Each village in the commune has about 70-100 houses built in a checkerboard style, very different from other Thai villages elsewhere.
In particular, the po mu wooden roof is made very elaborately, not using a saw to cut but split into panels along the wood grain to limit warping. Although the po mu roof is rough, not as flat as a tiled roof, it is very windproof. In the summer, the house is very cool. "This is also the potential and strength of cultural identity for Ngoc Chien to exploit in tourism development," said Mr. Sy.
In Dong Xuong village, the people themselves beautify the village landscape, take care of and decorate their houses for tourism. On the spacious and clean roads leading to the villages, people plant many flower beds and cobblestone fences.
According to Mr. Sy, the ethnic people of Ngoc Chien today all believe in the commune's policy of developing tourism associated with preserving and promoting traditional cultural beauty; at the same time, creating special and different tourism products.
Ngoc Chien people have developed many homestays to serve tourists who come to visit and experience. The motels and homestays here are designed and built from available materials, all blending in and being close to nature. The whole commune currently has 23 homestays and motels to meet the needs of tourists to relax and bathe in natural hot mineral water.
Thanks to the effective implementation of policies and guidelines, the people's lives have been increasingly improved. By the end of 2023, the average income of people in the commune had reached 41.9 million VND/person/year; the multidimensional poverty rate was only 11.26%. Ngoc Chien was also recognized as a commune meeting new rural standards by the end of 2023.
On the way leading us to the area of the over 1,000-year-old sa mu tree, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ngoc Chien Commune Lo Van Thoa said: "Here, the sa mu tree church has been built, meeting the religious needs of the local people. Under the sa mu tree, the surrounding land is divided into 36 squares and all are arranged with stream stones. Visitors who have come here all express their delight."
Mr. Lo Van Thoa informed that with its existing potential, Ngoc Chien will build and develop 4 types of tourism, including: community tourism; hot mineral bath tourism combined with resort; eco-tourism, experience; cultural and spiritual tourism. At the same time, deploy tourism connections along the routes "Yen Bai - Mu Cang Chai - Ngoc Chien"; "Son La - Muong La - Ngoc Chien" and "Ngoc Chien - Mu Cang Chai - Lai Chau - Sa Pa - Lao Cai - Hanoi".
Although we have studied the lives of the people of Ngoc Chien in depth, there are still many difficulties; in particular, the agricultural products that the people produce are still being used in a self-sufficient way; many students who finish junior high school drop out because the road to high school is still far away..., but the highland land of Ngoc Chien today compared to before has been and is "changing". The cadres and ethnic people here are still making efforts and persevering with many solutions to build Ngoc Chien into a livable and attractive countryside, making every visitor want to come back many more times...
To contribute to helping the people of Ngoc Chien commune, on July 9, the Ethnic and Development Newspaper, along with the Volunteer Group of DJs and music listeners, coordinated with the People's Committee of Ngoc Chien commune to organize the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of Na Din bridge for the people of the extremely disadvantaged Muong Chien 2 village. It is expected that after 2 months of completion, the bridge will directly serve the travel of more than 1,000 people. At the same time, it will open the way for Muong Chien 2 village to become a community tourism destination.
Changes in La Cha village
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