Two villages in Thanh Oai commune
Saturday 21 November 2009 – Some friends visited Hanoi, so we rented a taxi and traveled 40km to two villages in Thanh Oai commune. The first village we visited was the Vác village where the locals make bird cages and paper fans. We visited 3 houses and saw the locals drying fans in the sun or making bird cages of different shapes. The next village is more interesting. Our taxi went along the Nhuệ river and we passed by Cự Khê village then stopped at the gate into Cự Đà village. This village is famous for its finely preserved architecture. It is also home of 50 northern-style traditional houses and 25 French villas which were built in the early 20th century.
According to the “Heritage” magazine of Vietnam Airlines, Cự Đà village could have been founded up to 2,000 years ago. Archeologists have recently discovered the remains of a brick grave dating back to the period when Vietnam was under Chinese rule. The village maintains the features of a typical northern village, including 3 village gates. In the past, these gates were shut at curfew, after which nobody was allowed in or out. The residents engaged in agriculture and trades.
Today the hamlet is reached via a paved road that runs by the Nhuệ river. There are 400 households with 5 family names: Trịnh, Đinh, Vũ, Vương and Nguyễn. Except for the traditional houses which are 100-130 years old, there remain 25 French colonial villas in this village. They are decorated with enameled tiles, carved wooden doors and curved wrought iron railings. Every year the locals celebrate the God – Earth ceremony on the 14th day of the first lunar month.
We walked along the narrow road and saw many alleys as well as vermicelli (clear noodles) which are dried in the sun. Soy sauce (tương) made in this village is also very famous. The first house we visited was House No. 15, the Vương Family Altar House, which was built 130 years ago. The next house has beautiful carved doors that depicted scenes from Chinese fairy tales. The house owner said she saw many visitors coming to her house and praised the doors, so she knew they must be valuable. In fact, they bought this house from another man in the village who used to work in the wood business. The last house we saw is a very beautiful French building. It is the photo of this building I saw in the magazine of Vietnam Airlines that inspired my visit to this village.
At 3:00pm we all were tired after walking a long way around the villages, so we decided to skip seeing one more village (Chàng Sơn fan village) which is located in another direction. On 9 November we organized a Travel Blog get-together in Hanoi. I met Kent, a veteran from the US and Graciela, a woman from Argentina during their visit to Hanoi and thought we may make a trip together to these villages. However, Kent and Graciela were busy with other plans, so they couldn’t go with me. I hope you both are seeing these photos and imagine how the places look like.
Travel tips: Our taxi ride or car rental to the said villages cost VND 700,000 (about US$38). Big cars are not advised to use since the road to the villages is very narrow. You can combine the visit to Chuông hat village on the way to these villages. This is the name of 3 must see
houses in Cự Đà village: house No. 15 of Mr. Vương Văn Đức (130-year-old house), house of Mr. Đinh Như Lai (with beautiful carved doors) and house of Mr. Văn Duyên (old French building). These houses are located inside different alleys.
Saturday 21 November 2009 – Some friends visited Hanoi, so we rented a taxi and traveled 40km to two villages in Thanh Oai commune. The first village we visited was the Vác village where the locals make bird cages and paper fans. We visited 3 houses and saw the locals drying fans in the sun or making bird cages of different shapes. The next village is more interesting. Our taxi went along the Nhuệ river and we passed by Cự Khê village then stopped at the gate into Cự Đà village. This village is famous for its finely preserved architecture. It is also home of 50 northern-style traditional houses and 25 French villas which were built in the early 20th century.
According to the “Heritage” magazine of Vietnam Airlines, Cự Đà village could have been founded up to 2,000 years ago. Archeologists have recently discovered the remains of a brick grave dating back to the period when Vietnam was under Chinese rule. The village maintains the features of a typical northern village, including 3 village gates. In the past, these gates were shut at curfew, after which nobody was allowed in or out. The residents engaged in agriculture and trades.
