If Bac Thai tea, which is famous as a delicacy throughout the north, tastes slightly acrid, Bao Loc tea is mellow and fragrant. After being picked, the tea buds will be boiled to reduce the bitter flavor, then the tea goes through a stage of drying. An infusion of additives such as cinnamon and liquorice will give its unique taste. In addition, tea in Bao Loc is scented with flowers like jasmine and cholorantus, giving off a fragrant odor.

Regarded as the “kingdom of tea,” Bao Loc is home to many famous tea brands, including Quoc Thai, Do Huu, Tram Anh and Rong Yang. Tram Anh and Tien Phong tearooms are venues for both tea connoisseurs and visitors to enjoy a performance of tea-brewing by artisans and taste different varieties of tea

Drinking tea also entertains tourists. In the harmony of the mild atmosphere and a view of the lush green hills, a hot cup of Bao Loc tea with its strong aromatic flavor helps tourists relax and escape the strains of life.

Located in Hiep Thanh Commune, Duc Trong District, Lam Dong Province, around 15km from the center of Dalat City, Voi Mountain tourist site is managed by Phuong Nam Ecotourism Joint Stock Company. In the past, Nui Voi was one an important military strategic point but today it enjoys a new role as a retreat for tourists as well as local residents.

From HCMC on National Road No 20 on the way to Prenn Pass, Voi Mountain can be seen standing imposingly in the west, on the left of Tuyen Lam Lake, and further up the road on the right is the 1,699m high Da Tien (Fairy Rock) tourist site, set against splendid scenery.

Nguyen Thanh Phuc, director of Phuong Nam Ecotourism Company picks us up as scheduled and takes us to Voi Mountain in the drizzling afternoon rain. With the pine trees lined along the mountain walls on one side and an abyss filled with pine trees, wild sunflowers, mimosas and po-lang flowers on the other, we were totally immersed in the mystery of the local vegetation. “The road was built entirely by hand by the local ethnic peoples, the M’nong, K’ho, Chil and Ma, with hoes, axes, crowbars and large knifes,” said Phuc, adding that he initially rented 380ha of forest from local government to develop Voi Mountain tourist area and called on the ethnic people to build villages, preserve the forest and provide tourism services.

Phuc showed us stilt houses along the abyss with smoke emerging from kitchens, glowing in the sunset and warming a deserted and silent mountain sides. In a valley engulfed in endless mountains of pine trees and mist with a temperature oscillating between 15 to 24ºC, Voi Mountain has been developed as a closed eco-tourist site with 10 well-equipped stilt houses to serve tourists, four in the mountain sides and 2 in trees, along with community play grounds.

Tourists can feel the soul of the mountain in the tranquility and whispers of the breeze in the pine trees, as they sit around a camp fire enjoying fresh grilled corn, potato and ruou can (wine drunk out of a jar through bamboo pipes) while listening to old stories told by the village patriarch and tunes of panpipes performed by other artisans.

In the cool weather of dawn, visitors can stroll along valleys to see the wildlife and learn more about the life and customs of ethnic people, and as the sun rises high and the smog disappears the sweet melodies of the wild birds fill the air as the girls of K’ho, Chil or Lat peoples in their in brocade dresses with papoose on their back, make their way to the farms.

Phuong Nam Ecotourism Company is offering a tour running from 8 a.m to 6 p.m to Tuyen Lam Lake, Da Tien tourist site and Voi Mountain priced at VND100,000 per person.

It is unfortunate that if you visit Da Lat – Lam Dong you do not visit the secret and dreaming of Lieng Rowoa Waterfall (Voi Waterfall). Located about 25 kilometers southwest of Da Lat City of Lam Dong Province in Nam Ban Townlet, Lam Ha District, the waterfall appears as many elephants are swimming together.

According to local legend, the name of the waterfall is derived from a folk story about a beautiful girl, the daughter of the head of a tribe in Joi Bieng mountain region, who had an excellent voice, when she sang the foliate seem to stop rustling, the bird stop singing to listen to her. She had promised of becoming spouse with a handsome, brave and strong young man, the son of the head of a tribe in the neighbour region. But one day, the young man must say good bye to his lover to be fighting at the front. She waited for long time but the young man did not come back. She went to the place where they made the promise before and began singing with ardent and mournful voice. The B’ling birds had been moved by her voice. They flied far away to seek out information and then flied back to inform her that the young man had died in the battle. However, the girl did not accept this bitter truth and she sang to call her lover until she get exhausted and falling down. The flock of elephants that had lied prostrate to listen to her turned into stone. The waterfall named Lieng Rowoa Joi Bieng, means the waterfall of elephants that lied prostrate turned into stone before the ardent and faithful love.

The waterfall which associated with this faithful, woeful and majestic love has been recognized as a national landscape. The transparent water flowing through granite mountain sides looks really spectacular, especially when the waterfall is illuminated by the brilliant sunlight, seven-coloured rainbow will appear.

Next to the waterfall is Gio (wind) Cave. The road to enter the cave is narrow between two cliffs, but inside the cave there are many wide spaces and full of wind. Voi Waterfall looks like a lively picture which has been carved by nature with the particularly interesting caves hide after craggy cliffs and many rocks now appear, now disappear look like as many elephants are jostling to bath. At the foot of the waterfall stream there are many large, flat and smooth stones like the nature set up to offer tourists sit to chat.

Voi Waterfall is waiting to be discovered by the natural lovers. The waterfall is still keeping the original’s features. Some guest houses, tourist clubs, some poetic bridges are looming in the deep eyesight. Every year, the Voi Waterfall welcomes thousands of visitors. If you are the people who like wild, quiet, go to this place to contemplate the hills and mountains, pine forests and rocky waterfalls.

In front of a wooden house in Proh commune, Don Duong district, several men are sharpening bamboo poles and decorating them with flowers made from the same materials. Sweat keeps running down their brown faces but none of them give a hoot.

It is rather hot at this time of year. The sun shines hard on the ground, bringing summer’s throbbing heat to the air with the soft scent of wildflowers and plants from everywhere.

Ya Hang, a 53-year old villiger says: “The Churu, an ethnic minority group in Lam Dong, believe rice has a soul and the rice genie is a goddess. They have a total of nine sacred rituals related to farming practices”.

Here in the community, he adds, only married men are entitled to take care of making two bamboo poles.

The short one, called the female, is decorated with three circles of bamboo flowers, dyed red, black and yellow. Red symbolises human sweat, blood, and energy needed to grow rice. Black symbolises natural calamities, which may create havoc for farmers anytime. Yellow symbolises golden rice arriving home.

The long one, the male, has nine circles of similar flowers. On top of this pole sits a sacred bird named the Polang. It is the bird of God, which can drive away other birds and crows.

The local holyman Ya Phu is regarded as the centre of power. Villagers believe that he can communicate with the gods and evil spirits.

This middle-aged man is a farmer like other villagers. He is invited to perform ancient rituals. At the end of each performance, he is offered a chicken, some wine and a string of beads in return for his assistance.

The two bamboo poles are erected in front of a hut made of bamboo and straw before darkness falls. It is the time the holyman is expected to arrive. He wears a white skirt, his head wrapped around with a long white scarf. He is followed by a man holding a tray of offerings, two men handling a set of three gongs and other people carrying big jars of wine.

In the hut, the villagers put plates of food in the east direction and set the gongs against the wall in the opposite direction. They all believe the east breeds human life that needs the offerings including rectangular cakes, chicken, pork, betel and areca, boiled eggs, rice gruel and bananas. Always added to these things is a bowl of rice gruel with a chicken’s feather stuck in it.

The cakes, made of glutinous rice and beans and wrapped in banana leaves, are tied in pairs, then boiled for four hours.

The sacrificed pig must be a male one of 30kg selected from their roaming pigs. After it is washed clean and tied to a bamboo pole, the butcher will fill up a wine jar with water from a nearby stream, and then pour the wine over the pig’s head before killing it.

In the hut, the holyman burns some wax in a bowl of hot coal – which is supposed to invite the gods to come.

He sits facing east, asking the gods to allow them to start the ceremony. The village elders take their seats behind him.

Ya Phu holds a string from which small bells are hung, with the other end tied to the bamboo partition. While praying, he shakes the string. Sometimes he pulls it strongly, causing the little bells to ring. Sometimes he leans backwards, indicating he is riding a horse to the gods’ world but the ride is rough.

The holyman then informs the gods that the rice has been harvested and taken home, and that the villagers are gathering in the yard to thank them and praying for more bumper crops and good health.

If anything goes wrong during the performance, the holyman has to punish himself by drinking wine or water and hitting himself with a whip.

Two trays of pork are laid out in the yard, while two other trays in the hut are carefully arranged with chicken, rice, wine and a bowl of rice gruel.

A piece of pork is tied above the gongs for the god of gongs.

The holyman holds a bowl of wine in his hands to invite the rice goddess and other gods. When he starts praying, his assistant presents the offerings to the gods.

At the end of the ritual, the holyman throws chicken legs and wings in the air to forecast the future.

“We believe that there are the gods and evil spirits in existence,” says Y Ro Lang A.

The yard where the villagers do the rice threshing, is covered with yellow straw. They make a bonfire and wait till it burns out under the starlit sky.

To the lively accomplishment of their traditional Rokel pan-pipes, drums and gongs, a group of 10 young men and women form an arc and dance.

With graceful hand gestures and glistening eyes, the women perform to invite the gods to come.

Slowly, the dancers approach the hut, their loud cries of delight making the atmosphere very exciting, just like the times when the highland tribes went hunting in the woods.

The panpipe player also falls in step with them. With this Aria dance they all hope to communicate with the gods.

In the meantime, other villagers invite each other to drink their fill out of the jars through straws. In the bright moonlight the merry dancing and drinking will continue until dawn.

“This is the final in a series of rituals to worship the rice goddess,” says Toneh Thanh. “We will have to wait until all the families in the commune finish with their next rice crop, to hold this ceremony again.”