VietNamNet Bridge – Duong Lam Ancient Village is an ideal place where visitors can get an insight into a typical countryside lifestyle of the northern delta region in Vietnam with a banyan tree, water well and communal house, and a day in Duong Lam is like a trip back to traditions of the countryside.

Visitors enter Duong Lam through Mong Phu Gate.

Located in Son Tay Town and nearly a two hour drive from the center of Hanoi, Duong Lam is said to have existed for around 1,200 years with many temples and communal houses in tact. The most special thing about the first ancient village to be recognized as a national relic is hundreds of old houses made of wood and laterite, a popular building material in the area, 400 years ago.

To visit Duong Lam, you need to buy entrance tickets at Mong Phu Gate by a huge, ancient banyan tree. A day in the ancient village is enough for normal tourists but those who want to further explore and experience the lives of locals in a typical rural village in Vietnam should stay there longer and they can find rooms to spend overnight.

Visitors can ask the village’s management for advice on ancient houses to visit. They will have a chance to talk to the houses’ owners, taste tea, admire distinctive architecture of traditional houses and join the daily activities of locals like farming, production of traditional sweets and cakes.

Duong Lam got the 2013 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation in February for a project to restore historic buildings in the village.

An alley with laterite walls     Mong Phu communal house         A corner of an ancient house

SGT/VNN