About Con Chim "country people only have heart"

(VLO) Con Chim (Con Chim hamlet, Hoa Minh commune, Chau Thanh district, Tra Vinh province) is known as a "silent" tourist destination along the Co Chien river. This land has two seasons, based on the salty-sweet taste of the river water, which has opened up opportunities for community tourism for local people, in addition to agricultural cultivation, aquaculture and clean production according to the model of "shrimp hugging rice plants", associated with the goal of environmental protection.

Looking for the countryside full of memories

Temporarily leaving the hustle and bustle of the city, we went to the community tourism site Con Chim - a green oasis in the middle of the gentle Co Chien River, with cool winds and fresh air all year round.

Many interesting experiences, typical of the West at Con Chim.

Surrounded by the gentle Co Chien River, more than 10km from the center of Tra Vinh City along National Highway 53 towards Ba Dong beach, Con Chim - where there are 2 seasons of saltwater and fresh water, has created a unique and characteristic tourist feature.

After about 20 minutes of ferrying to Con Chim, the tour guide welcomed us with a sweet, friendly smile.

The conical hats were handed to us, and on our bicycles, we rode along the vast woven roads embraced by rows of cool green coconut trees, listening to the birds chirping and the fragrant scent of flowers in the backyard.

From the lush green squash trellis, the bank of reed grass, the entrance to the house decorated with rustic portulaca flowers or the bunch of water coconuts laden with fruit… all evoke memories of the familiar, rustic, and close homeland.

With a special way of doing tourism, each house here serves its own specialties, no need to worry about overlapping dishes. There is the crispy banh xeo of Ms. Sau Giau's house, Ms. Van's old kitchen has jam from young coconut, a bowl of cool sương sâm; visiting Ms. Ba Sua's house, you can eat rau mo cake from the perilla leaves grown around the house or visit Be Thao's coconut garden to quench your thirst with fresh coconut and an environmentally friendly straw or the coconut water dish with roasted peanuts and coconut milk, both rich and fatty at Khang's house...

Ms. Pham Thi Sua's house - "Ba Sua" stopover - is one of many rustic thatched-roof houses on the islet, like a miniature picture of a Southern Vietnamese village.

The most special thing is the "dragon scale" floor, next to it is the water floor by the pond full of blooming lotus flowers, the coconut shell in the jar - the familiar, rustic features of the old Southern house.

Coming here, visitors can also learn how to grind flour with a stone mortar, shape leaf cakes, and enjoy the finished product with "family heirloom" coconut milk - rich and fragrant.

Ms. Ba Sua said: “Before, my family raised shrimp and farmed. When the local authorities encouraged us to participate in tourism, my family chose to make rice cakes to participate.

I also built a thatched house and added some stools, hoping to recreate the space and scenery of my old hometown for visitors to see and experience.

Walking around the island, lunch at Nam Bo Ancient Kitchen is ready to please visitors with a variety of home- cooked dishes .

Start with hand-rolled sương sâm, refreshing butterfly pea tea, the aroma of kho quet served with boiled vegetables just picked from the backyard, the strange yet delicious shrimp and flower salad, the sweet and fragrant steamed shrimp in coconut water, the rich fish soup with fermented rice…

In addition to admiring the peaceful scenery and enjoying delicious food, when coming to Con Chim, visitors also have the opportunity to participate in many folk games, associated with the childhood of many generations that seemed to have been forgotten such as: carving cans, shooting marbles, jumping rope, u lanh, banh dua...

Enjoying a sip of sweet coconut water, Mr. Pham Van Hai (Ho Chi Minh City) said: “I have been away from home for more than 10 years. Now that I have come back here to travel, I can immerse myself in nature, breathe the fresh air and peaceful space, imbued with the rustic character of the Mekong Delta countryside. I feel nostalgic, recalling the old days of my hometown.

Not only that, I find the people here very friendly, cheerful, generous, and hospitable. After busy working days with the hustle and bustle of urban life, this is truly an ideal destination to relax."

"Nature-friendly" tourism

The attraction of Con Chim is not only the scenery of the homeland, but also the unique and different way of doing tourism here. Without "concretization", Con Chim is advocated to do community tourism with the motto of promoting the available natural advantages with a green tourism model, focusing on protecting the environment as well as preserving the rustic and simple culture of fields and gardens.

Building according to the law of "natural" tourism, people do tourism associated with protecting environmental resources, farming and clean production according to the model of "shrimp hugging rice plants".

Enjoy rustic hometown dishes that "captivate" tourists.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Van - Head of the Con Chim Community Tourism Cooperative Group, said: People here do tourism with all hospitality, especially always reserve the best products of their hometown to treat guests from afar.

Each household participates in tourism from its own strengths to create its own tourism products, such as: a household that runs a homestay, a household that serves banh xeo, a household that lets guests experience grinding flour to make banh la, a household that runs a rice shop, a household that serves coconut water, a household that serves folk games, a household that serves specialties...

Above all, people in Con Chim are very conscious of protecting the environment and nature, not overfishing or exploiting natural aquatic resources for tourism.

Many households working in tourism shared: Here, people do not fish with nets smaller than 1.8cm, do not use electric shock, do not set traps, limit exploitation of natural aquatic products during the breeding season and cultivate rice and raise shrimp in accordance with nature, do not use chemical pesticides.

Mr. Nguyen Tan Thanh - Head of Con Chim Hamlet, said: Con has a natural area of 62 hectares located in the middle of the Co Chien River. Currently, the hamlet has 54 households with 200 people living, the main occupation is aquaculture and farming.

Since 2019, Con Chim has started to do community tourism associated with taking advantage of available agricultural advantages. Accordingly, there are currently nearly 20 households participating in community tourism, divided into: households directly welcoming guests, households participating in production and supplying raw materials and products for tourism.

People here both produce agriculture in a way that is in harmony with nature and do tourism, so it does not greatly affect the wild, rustic features and fresh air of the countryside.

Although it has just been put into operation, Con Chim has been known by many tourists as an ideal resort and experience on weekends or holidays. From September 2019 to now, Con Chim has welcomed more than 52,000 visitors.

Coming to the Con Chim community tourism site, visitors not only immerse themselves in the peaceful countryside space, experience the life of the people in the West, see the roofs, enjoy rustic dishes... But the enthusiasm, honesty and sincerity of the people in the island land have also left a deep impression on the hearts of travelers from afar.

Article and photos: THAO LY - THAO TIEN

Source link: https://baovinhlong.com.vn/nhip-song-dong-bang/202307/ve-con-chim-nguoi-que-chi-co-tam-long-3172362/