A place to find peace.

We had the opportunity to visit Hoa Ninh and stop by a tourism service business run by a couple of teachers, Luong and My, who aim to offer tourists natural products from their own farm and other farms in the area. The Luong family is one of 21 Chinese households who have been farming in the hilly areas of Trung Nghia village (Hoa Ninh commune, Hoa Vang district) for quite some time.

Visiting The Little Forest will certainly give tourists a new experience. Photo: Provided by the owner.

Established in 2023, The Little Forest, owned by Mr. Luong's family, is nestled in a valley filled with lush greenery of acacia and eucalyptus trees, with a crystal-clear stream flowing through it. The creation of a peaceful haven where people can escape the city on weekends, inspiring them to work hard and be creative, is a testament to this dedication.

Drawing on their experience and continuous learning, this teacher couple has created a rather decent place, with a central building, a small stage in the middle of a lush green lawn, a homemade swing, and a small forest covering about 2 hectares. The communal building has no doors, only two sets of tables and chairs where guests can sit, drink water, and rest.

On the wall was a charming bookshelf, where visitors could borrow books at will, enjoying a read amidst the trees or relaxing in the green grass. Following the host, we made our way along a small path through a forest of young myrtle bushes, with only a few rhododendron bushes blooming with purple flowers, attracting bees searching for nectar. Further on was a forest of acacia trees in harvest season, with glimpses of people sawing and cutting the trees; the acacia trunks were an ivory white, emitting a faint fragrance. Ms. My proudly told us that this place had once hosted 230 students from Da Nang University who rented land to set up camp and organize team-building activities.

It was a joyful and unforgettable memory for her family. Ms. My also recounted that during the recent sim fruit season, they harvested a considerable amount of sim fruit, which they used to make sim fruit wine to treat guests. Many foreign tourists came here to experience picking sim fruit with her family. Spending the night in the mountains, by the campfire, enjoying "homegrown" dishes with garden vegetables, wild boar meat, free-range chicken, grilled stream fish... and a glass of sweet sim fruit wine as an appetizer, would surely be a unique experience for visitors.

In front of the central house is a bamboo-framed gate with two stone pillars. The spacious courtyard is divided into several sections, with patches planted with lettuce, cabbage, and herbs; on the veranda are clumps of wild daisies with their deep purple color standing out against the green. Cultivating these vegetables on the hillside required a great deal of effort; Mr. Luong had to use a wheelbarrow to spread sand over the freshly tilled land, mix in fertilizer and ash, and then sow the seeds. When the seedlings were a few centimeters tall, the whole family would transplant them to the adjacent plot; on weekends, the children would come to weed and water the plants.

The rows of green cabbage and vegetable patches are the culmination of the family's hard work and care, and through them, the teachers want to teach the children to live in harmony with nature after a stressful week of studying. After strolling around The Little Forest grounds with the host family, we walked along a 3-meter-wide concrete path, past low-lying houses nestled on the hillside, hidden among the trees in a surprisingly peaceful setting. At the foot of the hill, lush green rice fields stretched out, water from a small stream bringing the golden harvest season to this hilly region. I wish I had the time to return, to admire the golden hues of the ripening rice fields, interspersed with the green carpet of the forest, to wade barefoot in the shallow stream, and to pick up colorful, clean, smooth pebbles, eroded and washed by the water.

It was only upon arriving in this land that we learned the story of the teachers who, beyond their teaching duties and the cultivation of literacy for generations, are truly manual laborers in their everyday lives. The contributions of this teacher couple in the hilly village of Trung Nghia, though small, left a deep impression on me. And I was reminded of Frank K.A. Clark's quote: "Everyone wants to do something great, but they don't realize that life is made up of very small things."

NGUYEN THI THU THUY

Source: https://baodanang.vn/channel/5433/202504/noi-tim-ve-binh-yen-4003538/