Photo: Go to Heaven's Gate, visit the ancient village of the Xo Dang people, see wild flowers blooming all year round

Vi Ro Ngheo village, Dak Tang commune, Kon Plong district, Kon Tum still preserves the primitive and rustic ancient stilt houses. This land is also blessed by Mother Nature with wild flowers blooming in all four seasons.

Traveling more than 40km from Mang Den tourist area, Kon Plong district, Kon Tum, we followed Provincial Road 676 to Vi Ro Ngheo village. The village has only more than 60 houses with 300 people, all of whom are Xo Dang ethnic minority people. Surrounding the village are terraced fields and cool streams. The village is nestled in a basin, surrounded by Ngoc Ruong mountain range with many high mountains, associated with the legend from the time the village was founded. The Xo Dang people here still preserve many cultural features bearing national identity, community spirit, solidarity and connection in the village.

What makes this small village special is that it still preserves and conserves the ancient stilt houses intact, without the use of concrete or steel. In addition, people use driftwood and rotten wood floating from upstream to build simple, rustic gates. From the gate to the house, every household has a garden of fragrant wild orchids. These wild orchids are all picked from fallen trees. When the rainy season comes, people bring them to Ngoc Ruong Heaven Gate to plant and return them to the forest.

When we arrived here, we felt the hospitality of the Xơ Đăng people. The villagers are always aware of working together to maintain hygiene, planting flowers along the village roads and alleys. Buffaloes and cows are kept separately in the fields, not brought back to the village to maintain hygiene. Last May, the People's Committee of Kon Tum province issued a decision to recognize Vi Rô Ngheo village as a tourist destination with many specific types of tourism such as: indigenous cultural tourism, ecology, picnics, resorts, etc. When coming to the ancient village of Vi Rô Ngheo, visitors can immerse themselves in the daily life of the Xơ Đăng people. The People's Committee of Kon Plong district also selected nearly 20/60 spacious, solid houses to repair and upgrade into homestays to serve guests.

Surrounding Vi Ro Ngheo village is the Ngoc Ruong mountain range with 4 mountains: Ngoc Ruong, Nhong Nang, Ngoc Chang, Vang I No. Ngoc Ruong peak is considered the gate to heaven with an altitude of about 1,200m above sea level. Standing here, you can admire the entire mountain range, overlapping, winding like a dragon, surrounding Vi Ro Ngheo village. The humid, cool climate creates a rich and diverse vegetation. In particular, Ngoc Ruong mountain range also owns a treasure trove of wild flowers such as: cymbidium, rhododendron, sim flower, mua flower... blooming all year round. In addition, there are 5-leaf pine trees hundreds of years old, 2-3 people cannot hug around, standing tall on Ngoc Ruong peak.

A Kieu (born in 1993, Vi Ro Ngheo village) is from Xo Dang village but has had blond hair and red skin since birth. For more than 30 years, he and the villagers have joined hands to protect every tree and orchid on Ngoc Ruong Heaven Gate. "From December of the previous year to April of the following year, the entire mountain range is covered with all kinds of orchids. The villagers do not dare to pick orchids for fear of being punished by Yang. Many tourists love orchids and ask to pick them, but the villagers firmly refuse. Every rainy season, people bring orchids from their homes to the forest to plant in order to propagate orchid varieties," said A Kieu.

Standing on the top of Ngoc Ruong, we can admire the pristine primeval forests, sometimes hidden, sometimes visible behind the clouds. Below is Vi Ro Ngheo village, the sound of buffaloes calling, inviting each other down the mountain before the afternoon falls. At this time, the orchid petals have faded and given way to the purple sim flower forest blooming, dyeing the whole forest pink. On the top of Ngoc Ruong, the people have built a stilt house made of bamboo, precariously located on the edge of the mountain to serve important worshiping rituals and also as a resting place for the whole village after each day of working in the fields.

After more than 4 hours of walking in the forest, visiting the ancient village of the Xo Dang people here, when our feet were tired, we were rewarded by nature with a beautiful sunset across the Ngoc Ruong mountain range.

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