Visitors walking to Yen Lac town in the northern province of BacKan 's Na Ri district will discover scores of unusual old housesmade of timber from the nghien (burretiodendron hsienmu) tree, anendangered native of Vietnam and China.
Residents say that most of the people who live in the quarter areChinese-Vietnamese which could explain why the houses are different fromnative structures. When they were built more than a half-century ago,these tubular houses were placed very close to one another. At first,only a few people in the district built houses in this style but thenthey gained popularity and others began to copy the architectural style.
An ethnic Nung woman named Luong Thi Phung, 80, who wasborn and raised in the quarter, says: "My house, made of nghien wood,was built 60 years ago. Even now, termites and worms stay away from thiswood. At that time, it took four people one week to manoeuvre onenghien wood log to use for construction. It took us years to build ourhouse. Other residents in the quarter imitated us and built similarhouses, finally making the long row of houses that is here now. That'swhy this quarter was named the old quarter."
A courtyardand street were constructed in the middle of this wide quarter. Peopleuse the public space for a variety of activities, such as selling goodsin the morning, taking the air and playing football in the afternoon.
Sitting in the sunshine by a cooking fire on a cold day, Nong Thi Hinhand Ly Thi Nong are talking as they sell banh te (rice cake filled withstir-fried onion) and look after three of their grandchildren as theyplay.
Hinh smiles and says that her cakes are very cheap,costing only 1,000 VND each. She adds that her sales help her not onlyearn some money but also allows her to enjoy the fresh air. Talking withher neighbour Nong at noon has become a habit, she says.
Its location 550m above sea level and poor road access keep Na Ridistrict quite isolated in the eastern part of Bac Can. It is 80kmfrom the centre of Bac Kan Town to the district. In order toreach Yen Lac town, visitors must travel across Ang Toong mountain passalong a steep and narrow road. The population in Yen Lac is 37,000,primarily made up of people from several minorities group such as Mong,Tay , Nung, Kinh and Dao. Primary source of income is agriculture andforestry because commercial services are limited.
As sheexplains the name of the district, Nong, 68, says that in the Thailanguage, Na Ri is spelled as Na Sli, which translates as "longrice paddy", describing high mountains, deep valleys and field paddiesalong the river. She says that it turns into Na Ri when spelled inVietnamese.
The outside space in each of these oldquarter houses is used to receive guests. A narrow corridor on the leftruns to the inside and two or three bedrooms are on the right. Akitchen, stable for cattle and toilet are located at one end of thehouse. An attic for storage is located in the top part of the housewhich can also be used as a bedroom if there are many children. The mostsolemn area of the house is the living room, which contains the altar.
Elders say that at first, the roofs of the houses were covered byearthernware tiles arranged as fish scales but today corrugated sheetmetal, heat-resistant plastic tiles and other materials are the norm.However, most of the houses have been roofed with traditional‘ying-yang' tiles (each tile is layered on top of a gap that is createdby two bottom tiles which are layered a few centimetres apart from eachother).
Residents believe the thin traditional tiles andthe method of placing them upside-down make the houses cool in thesummer. Phung's daughter-in-law Ly Thi Binh says they have to replacethe tiles every few decades but the houses always remain free oftermites and worms. If they decided to move to another location, theycan disassemble their houses and put them back together, she says.
At this time, there is no project to develop the old quarter as atourist destination. An official of the Bac Kan Department of Culture,Sports and Tourism says that not many people, particularly foreigntourists, visit the area. Perhaps it will attract more tourists once aproject to boost tourism in the nearby Nang Tien Cave isimplemented. /.