Tho Ha ancient village stretches on the banks of the poetic Cau River at Van Ha commune (Viet Yen district), where is surrounded with beautiful landscapes having features of the ancient time with banyan-tree, river, temple ground and old houses closed together in little allies.

We (including the German young volunteers working in Bac Giang) got to Tho Ha on an early summer day when the flamboyant trees are in full blossom. We held this out-door activity for these volunteers after our Vietnamese lessons so that they could discover the beauty, customs and habits of the villages in Vietnam. 

The gate of Tho Ha village (photo: Thu Thuy)

As it was the first time the German volunteers visited this village, they felt really excited. When seeing foreigners to their village, the villagers showed their happy smiles, said "hello" to them, shook hands, took photos and invited them to drink tea. The atmosphere became more bustling. By their behaviors, we found the local people very truthful, simple and friendly. They also introduced to us the well-known destinations of the village like the temple or the oldest house. 

Foreign volunteers are impressed by old walls at Tho Ha village (Photo: Thu Thuy)

Tho Ha used to be a famous ceramic village in the North. The gate here is very old covered with moss and a big banyan-tree. There are tens of old-styled houses of the families including Trinh Dac, Trinh Quang, Nguyen Dinh and Cap preserved in the village, which are located in the old little allies. There is one 300-year old house of Mr. Trinh Ba Mui, the 11th generation of Trinh Dac family. This is a big family who used to have high position in the society. In front of the house are a couple of big jars, the product of handicraft pottery used to contain rice in the past and for decoration now.

Specially, in the middle of the small allies at the village, you can see a lot of ceramic and pottery walls. A long with Bat Trang and Phu Lang, Tho Ha is one of the three ceramic villages in the northern delta area with the products of jars and crockery. The unqualified ceramic products would be used to build houses and walls making a unique architecture of the handicraft village. 

The volunteers were excited to discover every alley of the village and experience traditional method of making rice paper (bánh đa nem) and dried rice cake with coconut ( bánh đa dừa) which requires complicated processing from dipping the rice into the water, grilling rice powder, making cakes, drying cakes and cutting cakes. Rice has to be dipped from the previous night to be grilled and made in the following morning. Cakes have to be dried from early morning at sunrise. Drying process decides quality of cakes because they will get mould as getting wet in rain or get crispy if it is too hot and dry. Hence, the people here have  to pay special attention to the weather to make the best- quality cakes.

Local people cross the river by boat (Photo: Thu Thuy)

Tho Ha dried rice cake with coconut (Photo: Thu Thuy)

"I really like the landscape here. It's very peaceful and ancient. This is the first time I have opportunity to enjoy countryside atmosphere in Vietnam, which I just saw on movies or photos before. Specially, I can enjoy delicious fresh "banh da"", said Micky, a German volunteer.

The volunteers left Tho Ha village with bright face. Naturally, the ancient beauty and friendly local people made unforgettable impression on the visitors.

 Thu Thuy, The Center for foreign information and services

Translated by Ngoc Quyen