Situated some 8km away from the Ma Pi Leng Pass in Vietnam’s Ha Giang Province, Chung Pua is a local homestay, converted from an over-130-year-old house, where travelers can experience the authentic local culture of Mong people, an ethnic minority group living in this northernmost locality.
The homestay is nestled in Meo Vac Town in the namesake district.
The current owner of Chung Pua, which means “by the stream” in the Mong language, is Tran Minh Thai, a lowland resident that moved to Ha Giang for forest product exploitation in the 1990s.
The Chung Pua old house was home to five generations of the Vang Mi Si family, a large and wealthy Mong family at the time.
Thai purchased this old house from Vang Mi Si in 2011. The house underwent renovation for two years by a group of Mong workers and was transformed into a homestay in August 2013.
He runs the homestay to serve travelers while making sure that the facility is always in a good state of preservation so as to keep the local cultural value of the previous owner almost unchanged.
The architectural style of the Chung Pua homestay, converted from a 130-year-old house, is mostly kept intact. Photo: Khanh Phuong / Tuoi Tre |
With yin and yang roof tiles, the two-story Chung Pua homestay was built on a stone foundation and comprised four blocks enclosing a quadrangular courtyard, but only two blocks remain now.
The lodging facility is a kind of trinh tuong houses, whose walls are made from clay so that they can resist the harsh weather in the mountainous region. The house is warm in winter and cool in summer.
Aside from exploring the remaining artifacts reflecting the traditional culture, history, and social life of the Mong people, visitors to the homestay will also be served with a wide selection of local tasty food.
Inside the Chung Pua homestay, located in Meo Vac Town, Meo Vac District, Ha Giang Province in northern Vietnam. Photo: Khanh Phuong / Tuoi Tre |
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!