Small hamlet in Cao Bang hidden halfway up the mountain, the scenery is as beautiful as a picture

This place is nestled in a small valley, at an altitude of more than 1,000m above sea level and still retains a rare pristine beauty.

In Hoai Khao, there are 34 households living and 100% are Dao Tien ethnic people. The people here still preserve and conserve almost intact the unique traditional cultural values ​​of their ethnic group.

The most impressive feature that visitors can easily notice when coming to Hoai Khao is the ancient wooden house architecture with yin-yang tile roofs. In addition to the main house for living, each house also has a separate wooden granary outside.

Hoang Minh Duc (a freelance photographer in Hanoi) had the opportunity to visit Hoai Khao in early September. He could not help but admire the beautiful scenery of a small hamlet nestled next to vast rice fields.

“As a supporter of sustainable tourism, when I arrived here, I was completely impressed and attracted by the neatness, tidiness and cleanliness. More specifically, the local people still preserve almost intact the beauty of the inherent architecture and natural landscape,” Minh Duc shared.

That's why, instead of just visiting for a short time, having lunch and then going to the bamboo forest and grassy hills in the area, 9X and his friends abandoned their original schedule to stay here longer, leaving late in the afternoon.

According to the young photographer, in addition to enjoying the pristine, peaceful and fresh landscape, visitors to Hoai Khao also have the opportunity to learn about the culture and life of the Dao Tien people with many typical activities such as silver carving, beeswax dotting, catching carp, and singing pao dung.

The ethnic people here have a very unique method of embroidering and printing patterns with beeswax, from which they create sophisticated and elaborate costumes with eye-catching motifs such as geometry, birds, animals, flowers, leaves, grass, trees, etc.

In addition, if tourists have a request, the villagers will perform and reenact the coming of age ceremony which only happens once every 10-15 years.

“Each villager is a tour guide, ask them when you come here to have the most interesting and complete experience,” the 9X added.

Minh Duc commented that the road to Hoai Khao hamlet is quite easy to travel, so even tourists with weak driving skills can ride a motorbike all the way there.

However, visitors should find and follow the directions to the location of the “Hoai Khao hamlet cultural house” to reach the village because, according to Minh Duc, the location of this destination on Google Maps is incorrect. “We found the hamlet’s location based on Google Maps, so we got lost about 20km.”

According to the Hanoi photographer, the ideal time to visit Hoai Khao is from late July to mid-September every year. This is also the time when the small village enters the rice season, the scenery is beautiful and poetic, visitors can check-in anywhere to get beautiful photos to bring home.

Although it is a new destination on the Cao Bang tourist map and not yet known to many people, Hoai Khao still leaves a strong impression on any visitor who has ever visited. It is a sustainable tourism platform, prioritizing the conservation of nature and culture.

“Hoai Khao is a worthy destination, especially for those who love to travel and experience and fully enjoy the local culture. I also hope that this place will not be over-touristed and lose its identity and still retain the core meaning of a community tourism destination,” Minh Duc expressed.