According to Mr. Giang Mi Mua - Vice Chairman of Lung Cu Commune People's Committee, there are currently 11 tourism households in Then Pa village with 32 rooms, with a capacity of about less than 100 guests. They live together like a big family, together and surrounded each other in each crop and each lifestyle. Five of these households have boldly participated in community tourism - some have cooked corn, some have woven flax, some have prepared menu to serve customers. Tourists come not only to relax but also to experience the authentic life of H'Mong - simple, hospitable and sincere.
The turning point came to Then Pa in 2021, when young businessman Vu Gia Dai - a son of Ha Giang - looked down at the small village by Mat Rong lake and compared it to "an ancient picture that has been forgotten". He convinced the people to renovate the rammed houses into homestays, keeping the traditional architecture but adding minimalist amenities to serve tourists. That idea initially caused many concerns, but with perseverance and enthusiasm, he helped people believe that tourism can be a way to preserve culture and improve life.
Since then, Then Pa has changed. The small dirt road leading to the village is now flatter, the old tiled roofs are more brilliant in the sun. Tourists coming here can live like local people - eating corn together, going to the fields together, learning to weave linen or cook wine together. Each experience is a small story about the connection between people and land, about how the H'Mong people preserve tradition without losing the modern rhythm of life.
In just a few years, Then Pa, from a poor village by the Dragon Eye Lake, has become a bright spot for green tourism. According to statistics, since the beginning of 2025, Lung Cu commune has welcomed more than 200,000 visitors, of which Then Pa is a prominent stop. Tourism revenue helps many households escape poverty, children have more access to school, and their lives are getting better and better.
Mr. Duong Ngoc Quy - Secretary of the Party Committee of Lung Cu commune - said: "We identify developing tourism - services associated with preserving cultural identity and orienting green and sustainable tourism as one of the breakthrough tasks in the next 5 years. This will be the key content specified in the thematic Resolution of the commune, in order to effectively exploit the unique advantages of Lung Cu".
The goal by 2030 is to welcome 1 million visitors, reducing the poverty rate by 5 - 6% per year.
Although tourism has brought many changes, the people of Then Pa still maintain their old lifestyle. They go to the fields, raise livestock, weave fabric - familiar jobs that connect life and culture. The homestay is built on the foundation of an old, cozy and familiar rammed earth house. Modernity is gentle, just enough to make it more convenient without fading away from identity.
The village is also a gathering place for artistic creativity. Painter Vu Thai Binh - who is famous for his Do paper paintings - first experimented with the technique of painting bee wax on flax fabric right in Then Pa. From hand-woven linen, skillful hand-woven and traditional techniques, works with the breath of the mountain and forest have been born, both rustic and unique.
The fabric and brocade here are not only tourism products but also cultural pride. When participating in daily life - with indigo dyeing, drying fabric, pounding corn or enjoying a bowl of warm corn wine - visitors will understand more about the way the H'Mong people preserve their identity through each fiber, each mossy roof.
From the center of Ha Giang city, visitors travel about 150km along National Highway 4C - the road named Hanh Phuc - to Lung Cu, then turn into the small village at the foot of the flagpole. Each season, Then Pa has its own beauty: Spring peach blossoms, pear blossoms blooming white like a mountain; autumn with golden ripe rice mixed with buckwheat colors. resting all night in a homestay on the wall, listening to the wind through the tiled roof, sipping a cup of warm corn wine - that is how people feel a very different, peaceful and genuine Then Pa.
Amidst the increasingly vibrant tourism flow, Then Pa still retains its most precious thing: The original painting of an ancient H'Mong village, where every earthen wall, every small road tells a story about the bond between people and the northernmost sky and earth.
Today's Golden family is a testament to the enduring vitality of culture - where tourism does not fade identity, but becomes a bridge between the past and the present, between people and the majestic nature of Dong Van.
