Only 50 km away from Hanoi, Duong Lam is an appropriate destination for tourists to have peaceful experiences within one day.
Duong Lam, located in Son Tay town, Hanoi is the ancient town with many houses dating back up from the 16th century. Despite the erosion of time, Duong Lam today still preserves the inherent charms with mossy tiled roofs and unique laterite walls, old wells and communal houses, taking visitors back to the beautiful past of Northern villages. Many houses had been built in a long time since 1649 by honeycomb rocks, iron woods, which have stood on solid foundations, in spite of high win and heavy rain. Visiting here, tourists will enjoy “reading” the traces of time marked in every corner, from the neck stamps on doors, the sophisticated glyphs to mossy partitions.
Surrounding the village is a system of ponds, creating romantic scenery. On sunny days, the pond system is the air conditioning of the village.
The unique features of these houses are being kept cool in summer and warm in winter, while the furniture is maintained originally.
Under the guidance of many people, autumn is the year’s best time to visit and feel remarkably the space of the ancient one, with pigs and chickens wandering about the village streets; rice being ready to harvest and dried straw pervading pastoral perfumes.
Not only walking and contemplating ancient beauties, people also are attractive to explore the traditional handicraft villages, the intangible cultural features, stories about two kings, Phung Hung and Ngo Quyen, as well as legendary of Sword hill and Silk lake.
Until now, Duong Lam has been trespassed by market and service factors. Sometimes, the happiness is simple, such as renting a bike, going around the village to discover and get away from the outside chaos and bustle.
The local people are quite hospitable, hence, it is not surprising if you are invited into a house to drink a cup of tea, have a meal and listen to the host thoroughly answer all your questions.
