4:30 up the hill to welcome the dawn
When it was still dark, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Trung and some officials of the Commune Cultural Center brought cameras and equipment, following the dirt road to the tea hill.
They had to depart at 4:30 am to promptly record the moment of dawn covering the green hills.
From the commune center to the foot of the hill is only about 3-4km, but the last kilometer of dirt road is a challenge. In the night, the whole group explored step by step through the slippery road.
In one afternoon, the sudden rain poured down, making everyone soaked, their shoes heavily covered in mud. They hurriedly went down the mountain to be able to return to work at 7:30 am.
Hello! I am Secretary Long Coc" - the opening sentence of each Mr. Trung's video has now become familiar to many people.
Amidst the bowl-shaped tea hills, the head of the locality smiled, introducing the landscape, tea picking methods and customs of the Muong and Dao people.
The first clip was posted on July 30 on the "Amazing Long Coc" channel. Before that, for more than 10 years of using social networks, Mr. Trung had almost never posted or shared personal information.
I am no longer young, but before the requirement of digital transformation, I must boldly try new ways of doing things. If it is beneficial for the people and the locality, the head must try to implement it," Mr. Trung said.
Without a professional team, the Commune Party Secretary and some officials came up with ideas themselves, built scripts and then filmed.
People with decades of Party and government work admit that standing in front of the camera is more difficult than imagined. Every step, gesture of raising hands to greet or smile must be performed according to the script. Many scenes have to be filmed many times.
Some days, the whole group stayed up late to introduce the star viewing spot, others went up the hill from early morning to film the scene of people picking tea.
Going with the people, I realize that tea pickers have to start working from 2 am to finish before the harsh sun. The closer I get to the people, the more I understand their hardship and feel that I have to do something to improve the lives of the people in a substantive way," Mr. Trung shared.
When every citizen is a tourism ambassador
Long Coc is more than 100km from Hanoi, located near Xuan Son National Park. The winding tea hills, stacked like hundreds of overturned bowls, make this place likened to Phu Tho's "Ha Long Bay on land".
Before being widely promoted on social networks, Long Coc welcomed about 5,000 visitors each year, mainly small groups coming to take photos and experience.
After more than 20 days of deploying videos, the number of customers has increased significantly.
There are days when the commune welcomes up to 500 guests, which is an unprecedented number for Long Coc before. Even if it was only crowded on weekends before, now guests appear even on weekdays, including many international guests.
Accommodation facilities are often fully booked. During the National Day holiday on September 2nd, many places are almost empty," the Secretary excitedly shared.
However, the whole commune currently only has one resort, about 6 homestays and a number of small businesses, which do not meet the demand during peak hours.
The atmosphere of doing tourism has also spread to each village and hamlet. English classes for children and people have been expanded to serve basic communication with foreign tourists.
Long Coc commune currently has nearly 1,100ha of tea. The locality orients agricultural development associated with green tourism, gradually expanding the organic tea area and building a hamlet with more than 100 Muong ethnic households into a community tourism destination.
Traditional stilt houses will be preserved, combined with renovation of reception rooms.
The locality is also attracting hotel, resort, and night market projects; and at the same time proposing to build squares, parking lots and electric vehicle systems to reduce congestion and preserve ecological space.
Amidst those long-term plans, Mr. Trung continues to appear in videos. Meeting him on the street, many children and people smiled and greeted: "Hello Secretary Long Coc".
People's satisfaction is the most impartial measure, not achievement reports" - Secretary of the Party Committee of Long Coc commune added.
