On the 7th day of the first lunar month every year, both domestic and foreign tourists flock to Tra Que vegetable village in central Quang Nam province to join Cau Bong festival.

The festival is held in honour of those who set up the village’s lucrative business of vegetable planting, and pray for abundant crops, happiness and prosperity. It is also a fair to introduce special vegetable products to visitors.

Villagers wake up in early morning to launch a god-honour procession held in honour of their ancestors who found the traditional vegetable village 500 years ago.

Festival-goers will particularly have a chance to experience a day of living and working with the locals in Tra Que village, in which they will try their hand at actual farming by ploughing the land, making beds, planting seedling and watering them like “real farmers”.

It is part of a one-day tour held by the Hoi An Travel Company, annually drawing more than 1,000 foreigners and thousands of domestic tourists each year since 2005.

A visitor from Germany expressed his surprise and pleasure to become a real farmer in Viet Nam , an amazing experience that he had never imagined before.

Tra Que is a charming little village on the outskirts of Hoi An ancient town. It is famous for a variety of sweet scented vegetables that spice up the daily meals of the Vietnamese people. The vegetables are widely used in traditional Hoi An dishes such as Cao Lau, Quang noodles and rice pancake folded in half (and often filled with shrimp, meat and soya bean sprouts).

According to an old man of the village, Nguyen Van Ke, the village is currently home to 220 households who attend to 40 hectares of vegetables. For local farmers, planting vegetables does not only earn them more incomes but also brings in pleasure.

In the village, vegetable growers are called “artisans”, not “farmers” because the entire farming process, from tilling the land, digging furrows and planting seedlings, is done with passion.

The trading of vegetables does not only earn the villagers billions of VND each year, the occupation has also contributed to the development of the local tourism.

Apart from expanding vegetable planting acreage and developing tourism in Tra Que village, the local authorities are preparing to register trademark for the vegetable village.

Source: VNN