Head of Lo Lo Chai village (Lung Cu commune, Dong Van district, Ha Giang), Mr. Sinh Di Gai, the pioneer in bringing tourism to the village, said: Every month, Lo Lo Chai welcomes about 1,000 tourists. Since 2011, Lo Lo Chai has earned over 5 billion VND in revenue from tourism services.
"Pure gold" exposed on gray rock area
If anyone had visited Lo Lo Chai before 2011, they would not be able to recognize the poor village that used to grow corn all year round. Because now Lo Lo Chai has become a famous community tourism destination, not only attractive to Vietnamese people but also attracting a large number of international tourists.
Taking us on a tour of the village, village chief Sinh Di Gai said: The terrain in Lo Lo Chai is very rugged, the roads are full of sharp rocks, the people only know how to rely on growing corn and raising pigs, often lacking food. In addition, the Lo Lo people are an ethnic minority, accustomed to living in seclusion, with little contact with the outside world, so they do not know any other livelihood.
Mr. Gai came to the tourism profession by chance. 12 years ago, an official from the Luxembourg Embassy in Vietnam visited Lo Lo Chai. The official was impressed by the natural beauty and cultural identity of the Lo Lo people and believed that Lo Lo Chai had great potential for tourism development. Mr. Gai smiled simply: "I have lived here since I was a child and have not seen anything beautiful, but he kept praising the beauty and advising me to do tourism, it was a golden ticket."
The traditional costumes of the Lo Lo people are very unique.
After that, Luxembourg worked with Ha Giang province and sponsored the first three families to provide homestay services, including the family of village chief Gai. Seizing the opportunity, Gai and his family renovated their house and garden, displaying cultural products of the Lo Lo people such as: costumes, agricultural tools, musical instruments... to attract tourists.
However, in the early days of tourism, the other two families quickly failed due to lack of experience and perseverance. Although Gai's homestay had more guests, it only brought in a "steady" income and could not become the family's main source of income.
It was not until 2014 that Gai boldly built a traditional rammed earth house homestay. Sinh Di Gai Homestay began to have a brand, was crowded with guests and maintained a regular customer base. Up to now, with 3 homestays, Gai's family's income is about 20 million VND/month, creating jobs for 2 workers. Gai said that last year, an investor in Hanoi came to buy his homestay for 8 billion VND, but he refused, not because of the price but because he wanted to preserve the cultural identity of the Lo Lo people for future generations.
Mr. Sinh Di Gai's family in front of the traditional house of the Lo Lo people.
"Children and the elderly can also speak English"
Seeing that the family of the village chief Sinh Di Gai started to have a good life in tourism, some households in the village also learned to follow suit. Village chief Gai enthusiastically shared his experiences, guided the villagers to build homestays, widen village roads, plant flowers in public places, and build clean toilets to welcome tourists.
In 2021, the head of Sinh Di Gai village mobilized farmers to establish the Lo Lo Chai Homestay Professional Farmers Association to unite and help each other in tourism. 30 members joined and he was elected as the Association President. Gai also guided members to install support software, communicate and connect tours with tourists.
To solve the problem of employment for women, the head of Gai village coordinated with the Women's Union of Dong Van district to establish a brocade weaving cooperative in Lo Lo Chai with 30 members. The brocade products sold not only promote the cultural identity of the Lo Lo people through costumes but also bring in an income of over 200 million VND/year for the group.
Village chief Sinh Di Gai (left) introduces the village's location to tourists.
Gai's family also took the lead in donating land to open roads and mobilized villagers to donate to create wide, concreted village roads that cars could easily access. In particular, Gai village chief organized and mobilized villagers to learn English to communicate with foreign tourists. Up to now, about 50% of the villagers can communicate fluently with foreign visitors, many children and the elderly can also speak common English.
Lo Lo Chai is no longer a purely corn-growing village but has almost become a "purely tourist" village. The services here are professional and modern, not inferior to famous tourist areas such as electric car services, costume rental, photography, tour guides... In particular, the homestays also serve local specialties such as black pork, royal beans, thang co, men men... which make tourists very impressed and "round trip" to Lo Lo Chai continuously. In addition, there are 5 restaurants serving food, 1 ancient house selling coffee and drinks to meet the essential needs of tourists.
After 12 years of "turning around" economic restructuring, Lo Lo Chai has now changed visibly. Almost every household has a motorbike, television, refrigerator and of course, no longer suffers from food shortages during lean days. Lo Lo people love tourism because they realize that tourism not only brings economic value but is also a way for them to preserve and promote their cultural identity.
Maintain security, protect national sovereignty
Born in the land of the Fatherland's border (Lo Lo Chai is only more than 1 km from Lung Cu Flagpole), Sinh Di Gai was aware from a young age that national sovereignty is sacred, and protecting national sovereignty is the duty of citizens. At the age of 25, he volunteered to join the commune militia and then became a team leader. Since then, Gai has regularly patrolled the border with the border guards, propagating to the people not to plant corn on the land of neighboring countries and vice versa. In 2008, Gai was elected by the people as village chief, and was promoted to the ranks of the Party.
Sharing about the security and order situation in Lo Lo Chai, Mr. Gai said: "Aware of its position as a border village of the Fatherland, over the past 14 years, I have coordinated with various departments and organizations to widely propagate to the people about the awareness of maintaining security and order, and national sovereignty in many different forms. Over the past many years, Lo Lo Chai has had no serious crimes, no serious social evils, no petitions to higher levels, I have also proactively advised, reformed, and educated dozens of young people who are too busy playing and not good."
Lung Cu Commune Party Secretary, Mr. Chu Van Huong commented: "Comrade Sinh Di Gai has promoted the pioneering role, daring to think and dare to do of a party member in developing the new economy. When there was a policy of the district and commune on tourism development, Comrade Gai directly helped many households convert their barns into homestay models, and at the same time had good ways to increasingly attract tourists to Lo Lo Chai as well as preserve the traditional cultural values of the Lo Lo people".
Some achievements Sinh Di Gai received
One of 100 Outstanding Vietnamese Farmers awarded by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union; Certificate of Merit from the People's Committee of Ha Giang province in 2022; Certificate of Merit from the Tourism Association of Ha Giang province in 2022; Lo Lo Chai community tourism achieved 3-star OCOP certification from Ha Giang province...
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