Tourism development in sonla province phát triển du lịch sơn la

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES - - NGUYEN THI HANH TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN SONLA PROVINCE MASTER THESIS ON VIETNAMESE STUDIES Major: VIETNAMESE STUDIES Code: 60 31 60 Supervisor: Associate Professor Tran Duc Thanh HANOI,12/2012 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am heartily thankful to my supervisor, professor Tran Duc Thanh PhD, whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an understanding of the subject I would like to express my gratutude to the staff of the Institute of Vietnamese Studis and Development Science, especially the staff of Training Office, for the favorable conditions they have created, to the lectures involving in my class named K5 for their interesting and beneficial courses, for their efficacious help during my study I also wish to thank the leaders of the Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism of Sonla Province, the leaders of my College, for their helping and encouraging me to achieve my work Although I have tried my best, I realize there will be limitations to our work due to my situation and capacity as well Therefore, I am eager to receive your comments to improve the work Son La, December 2012 AUTHOR NGUYEN THI HANH TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale statment Research objectives Research tasks Study objects Scope of research History of research problem Research Methods The structure of the thesis Chapter 1: BACKGROUND ON THE CONDITIONS FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER BACKGROUND ON THE CONDITIONS FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT 1.1 Some basic concepts 1.1.1 Tourism 1.1.2 Tourist 1.1.3 Tourism resources 1.1.4 Destination 1.1.5 Tourism accommodation establishments 1.2 The conditions for tourism development 1.2.1 Natural conditions and natural resources 1.2.1.1 Geographical location 1.2.1.2 Topography 1.2.1.3 Climate 1.2.1.4 Hydrology 10 1.2.1.5 Plant and animal 10 1.2.2 Socio-economic conditions and human tourism resources 11 1.2.2.1 The historical – cultural monuments 11 1.2.2.2 Festivals 12 1.2.2.3 The tourism objects associated with ethnography 13 1.2.2.4 Occupation and the traditional craft villages 13 1.2.2.5 The objects of culture, sports and other cognitive activities 13 1.2.3 Infrastructure for tourism 14 1.2.3.1 Transportation system 14 1.2.3.2 Communication system 14 1.2.3.3 Electrical system 15 1.2.3.4 Water drainage and supply system 15 1.2.4 Labor 15 1.3 Current situation of Vietnam tourism 16 Chapter summary 22 CHAPTER 2: REAL STATUS OF TOURISM ACTIVITY IN SONLA 23 2.1 Son La tourism resources 23 2.1.1 Natural tourism resources 23 2.1.1.1 Topography 23 2.1.1.2 Climate 24 2.1.1.3 Hydrology 26 2.1.1.4 Flora and fauna 27 2.1.2 Human tourism resources 28 2.1.2.1 Monuments 29 2.1.2.2 Contemporary works 31 2.1.2.3 The other ontological resources 33 2.1.2.4 Festival 35 2.1.2.5 Custom 38 2.1.2.6 Other intangible tourism resources 39 2.2 Material and technical facilities of tourism 42 2.2.1 Accommodation establishments 42 2.2.2 Catering establishments 44 2.3 Labour 45 2.4 The tourism products 47 2.4.1 Sightseeing tourism 48 2.4.2 Festival tourism 49 2.4.3 Ecotourism 50 2.4.4 Home-stay Tourism 54 2.4.5 Resting tourism 55 2.4.6 Cultural tourism 55 2.5 Results from the tourism activities 55 2.5.1 Tourists 55 2.5.1.1 International tourists: 56 2.5.1.2 Domestic tourists: 58 2.5.2 Revenue 58 2.5.2.1 The room occupancy Rate 59 2.5.2.2 Profit 60 Chapter summary 61 CHAPTER 3: SOME SOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN SONLA PROVINCE 63 3.1 The basis to build solutions 63 3.1.1 Development orientations of Vietnam tourism sector 63 3.1.2 Orientation for socio-economic development of Son La province 63 3.2 Some measures to develop tourism in the provinces effectively and stably 64 3.2.1 Solution on policies 64 3.2.2 Solutions to tourism space development 65 3.2.3 Solutions to develop tourism products 65 3.2.4 Solutions to training, human resource development and improving the community capacity 65 3.2.5 Solution to protect the environment and ensure sustainable tourism development 66 3.2.6 Solutions to tourism promotion and development 66 Chapter summary 67 CONCLUSION 68 REFERENCES 71 APPENDIX 74 INTRODUCTION Rationale statment Sonla is third lagest pronvince in Vietnam (ranking after Nghean and Daklak provinces) Over 60% of the province area is covered forest Land for agriculture is very limited, in average, it is about 0.2ha/capita The majority of residents (993 thousand /1084 thousands) live in the rural areas, so the people here still faced many difficulties The province's GDP was only about VND 4600 billion, GDP per capita equvalent to 1/6 everage GDP per capita of the country (about USD212 / USD 1,200 of the country - Data 2009) To serve the national hydro power plant, thousands residents living in the planed area have been moved to new place Although the authorities actively support, but the lives of many people disturbed The shifting lines were difficult because unfamiliar with the new job, due to weather, farming conditions, etc Son La has a favorable geographical position, fresh air, abundant natural resources and tourist attractions So this is the ideal destination for many tourists Son La has many attractions, including the typical tourist spots like Moc Chau Plateau, the plateau Na, cave bats, hang thick, hydro Son La, Son La ancient prison The sights are great advantages to Son La to promote investment in developing tourism activities Meanwhile, in Son La convergence of many cultures, unique traditions of 12 ethnic groups, which are typical habits of ethnic Thai and H‟mong peoples With that potential, Son La will be very favorable for the development of cultural tourism, tourism homestay With convenient locations and potential tourism resources in abundance, Son La tourism in recent years has seen a remarkable development, contribute to the development of local economy and to the cause of tourism development in the country However, the tourism potential of the Son La has not effectively exploited, the tourism product is poor, investment in tourism in the area is limited, the image of the Son La tourism have not created a clarity in the relationship with Hanoi, the tourist center and with the other neighbouring provincesand travel nationwide as well Number of tourists coming to Vietnam in general and Son La in particular is increasing Thus promoting tourism development in Son La is consistent with the trend of the times, in accordance with the development strategy of Vietnam's tourism, especially strategic socio-economic development of the province, in which tourism and services was identified as an important economic sector Tourism development has special meaning for a local mountainous areas of Son La - where the poverty rate remains high The shifting economic structure from agriculture to service sector will enable local people to increase their incomes and to reduce their poverty So study "Tourism development in Son La province" has a practical significance meets objectives of Vietnamese studies Research objectives - Contributing to the process of economic transfomation in order to improve the living standards of local communities - Determining the direction and solutions forsustainable exploitation of the Sonla tourism resources, contributing for poverty alleviation Research tasks To achieve the research objectives set out, the thesis focuses on the following tasks: - Collecting secondary data and overviewing theoretical concepts on sustanable tourism development and overviewing the present situation of tourism in Son La provincebyfield observations, interviews and questionare - Analysising and evaluating the situations and concret conditions for tourism development in SonLa - Proposing the orientations and solutions for Son La tourism development Study objects The conditions for tourism development, tourism resources and tourism activities in Son La Scope of research - Content: Topics focused on Son La tourism activities - Spatial scale: The whole territory of Son La province, of the tourism resources, the tourist spots, the toursin Sonlain relationship with the neighboring provinces and the North West tourism sub-regiona - Time: Subject focuses on investigation, data collection, analysis and research mainly in the period 2006 - 2011, proposing the solutions and directions tourism development in the phase of from 2015 to 2020 History of research problem 6.1 Abroad The scientific projects research on aspects of tourism such as tourism resources, tourism planning and territorial organization had just appeared in the late nineteenth century and flourished along with the trend of planning, socio-economic development planning and tourism development from the thirty years of the twentieth century From 1980 onwards, China and other developing countries have considered tourism as a key economic sector, so many theoretical and practical research works relating to tourism planning and tourism resources are carried out by the scientists such as: "Development and management of local tourism," by Ngo Tat Ho, 2000; "System of planning criteria" by Ngo Vi Dan, 1979 6.2 In Vietnam Currently, there are tourism geographical research works in Vietnam on issues from theoretical and practical bases of tourism development from provincial, regional scale to national one A number of scientific themes is involved such as: Tran Duc Thanh, Tourism Geography, Vietnam National University Publisher, Hanoi, 1995; Nguyen Minh Tue, Vu Tuan Canh, Le Thong, Pham Xuan Hau, Nguyen Kim Hong, Tourism Geography , Ho Chi Minh City Publisher; People's Committee of Son La Province, Department of Son La Trade and Tourism, general report on master planning for tourism development in Son La Province in the period of 2007 - 2015 and vision to 2020, Son La 2007; Le Trong Binh, tourism current State and territorial organization orientation in Vietnam Scientific Yearbook: Vietnam socioeconomic territorial organization – Art to ensuring the successful development in the context of international integration” Ministry of Planning and Investment, Development Strategy Institute, Hanoi 02-2007 Vu Tuan Canh (Editor), Vietnam tourism environment and the problems given for the sake of sustainable environmental development Synthesis Report; Vu Tuan Canh: Vietnam Tourism at the threshold of twenty-first century, Journal of Tourism and Development No 01-1995, Hanoi; Handbook on sustainable tourism development, Vietnam Tourism Bureau, the travel newsletter No 1, 11-2005; In addition, there are many other valuable research works like MA thesis Dang Duy Loi, 1995, "Assessing and exploiting the natural conditions in Ba Vi District, Ha Tay province for tourism purpose." MA thesis Tran Duc 4.5 Bacon Bacon of the Son La ethnic minority has a very long time The people here, every winter, buy these delicious pieces of pork to thinly slice and be from the roof of the kitchen The heat of fire will make the meat shrunk with melted fat Bacon can be processed into many different dishes such as boiling, baking, frying, or cooking with beet Usually, people only use lean and fat meat mixed, sometimes meat of the rump and shoulder meat The food made from bacon shall be more delicious than other porks not in the kitchen roof, in which the meat is very firm, not broken and characteristically scents Currently, in our country's northern areas, bacon has become indispensable in the restaurants In the families of the Thai, Mong, Tay on the Tet‟s holiday, almost family has the meat in the kitchen roof 4.6 Ruou can Ruou can is present in the lives of the Thai ethnic families and is the gift offered to the gods For the Thai fellow, any household also brews alcohol- a drink with a unique enzyme To make a jar of Ruou can, it must have Rice, corn, potato, cassava, y di, bananas, pineapple, yam and some other plants, roots, fruits with wine alcohol yeast are essential to make a jar of Ruou can The longer the wine is brewed, the more delicious it is drunk Ruou can is drunk by the cool boiling water When you drink, you should pulled the lid out, pour water to soak for a minute, plugging the tube into and pouring water continuously until it become washy and stops Ruou Can has been drunk across the Thai ethnic areas in Son La When the big jar of Ruou can is opened, it shall be followed by singing, pan-pipe, flute, drums, gongs, enthralling and swarming Xoe rounds throughout the night Ruou can is the gatherings of the sincere, united, equal, and un-discriminatory ethnic groups Drinking Ruou can is a nice cultural feature of the Thais in Son La 81 Appendix 5: SOME PLACES IN SON LA 5.1 Moc Chau Plateau Moc Chau Plateau is about 173 km from Hanoi along National Highway 06 (Hanoi - Hoa Binh - Moc Chau - Son La City) with an average elevation of 1,050 m, freshly and coolly temperate climate, average temperature of the summer months from 180C - 250C; with beautiful sceneries (the mountains, meadows, tea hill, the special-use forests, caves, waterfalls, hot mineral springs, ) Moc Chau may develop many abundant forms of tourism, characterized by a plateau, such as: eco-tourism, cruises on the mountains, meadows, tea hills, fruit tree gardens, export vegetable and flower growing areas, the study of ecological forests, caves, medicinal tourism with hot water waterfalls, herbal remedies plated at the plateau… Study community tourism, enjoying the culture of the ethnic minorities of the Thai, Mong, Muong, Dao ; visiting the tea processing factory for export, the dairy cow raising and processing facilities, high-tech agricultural zones, the small and medium hydro power plants, sport and entertainment tourism like climbing, parachuting in the pasture, motor racing, horse racing, boating on the lake Moc Chau tourism area has the overall and detailed planning; currently being invested in constructing infrastructure and ecotourism product development At present, the Moc Chau tourism zone has attracted organizations, individuals, travel companies and tourists to visit and invest; in the near future, Moc Chau will be an attractive tourism destination to domestic and foreign tourists 5.2 Son Moc Huong cave The Son Moc Huong cave (Bat cave) is a work of art, a national beauty spot bestowed to Moc Chau highlands The Son Moc Huong cave is located in 82 the town of Moc Chau, Moc Chau district, Son La province This cave is called Sa Lai cave (Water cave) by the Thais because there is artesian water flowing all year round without dryness in the mountains The Son Moc Huong cave is tied to famous legend "Cung nha troi" and "The water lake legend." According to legend, there was a dragon wandering everywhere When going through this region, it saw the beautiful scenery and temperate climate, so it had chosen this place as a resting place, then it had released the seven dragon pearls to form mountains included the Son Moc Huong cave In the middle of the Son Moc Huong cave, there is a shallow lake of about 200 m2 wide, a stone turtle, and a couple pictures with stalactites in the left According to old legend, it had young prince, daughter of Thuy Te King passionately loving the princess on land, the prince often rode turtles of the King to met the princess With full knowledge of the facts, the King had ordered to drain water without the way, the Prince had stayed the earth with his lover and turned into stone to prove undying love Moved by the love of the couple, the turtle had also turned into stone in the middle of the lake to guard them Faithful love of the couple made the King moved, so he had created a small lake, terraced field and the animals to create new life to the prince Road to the Son Moc Huong entrance must go through the 240 stone steps, the entrance is shaped like the mouth of a giant dragon, two sides are like two dragons edges, in the middle, it has a rock protruded out like a dragon tongue, the ceiling is high as dragon jaw, the background is flat, large and airy In the cave, there are colorful stalactites strips; many stalactites‟ shapes are like the fairy and animals (elephant, lion, tiger, leopard, eagle), the girl‟s shape sitting, rotating and weaving fabric; the grain dune‟s shape; 83 money tree; tray of five fruits; mothers cradling children and towering stalagmite range The Son Moc Huong cave has an area of about 6,915 m2, is a typical Catxto limestone cave located at an altitude of 100 meters over the road 6, with length of 80m, height of 20m, width of 25m, structure into three major compartments, divided into stalactite blocks and stalagmites, stone curtains and stone walls The Son Moc Huong cave was discovered in 1952, where the archaeologists had discovered a number of artifacts, relics of the ancient Vietnamese In 9/1992, Son La museum associated with the Vietnam Institute of Archaeology explored in this cave At the wide land in the front of the entrance, reconnaissance holes had detected cultural layer with the thickness of 0,5m, the objects obtained including title pieces, blade grinding axes, shards of pottery as the signs to prove the existence of the ancient Vietnamese about 3000-3500 years On 24/01/1998, the Son Moc Huong cave was recognized as a national beauty spot by the Ministry of Culture - Sports and Tourism In order to come to the Son Moc Huong cave, visitors may stem from Hanoi along National Highway about 195 km to the town of Moc Chau, then move on to the Son Moc Huong cave 5.3 Son La Prison Son La prison was built in 1908, at first, it was only a small jail with an area of 500 m2, then it was expanded up to three time by the French, Son La prison had become a place of imprisonment and exile to abolish the fighting will of the communists in Vietnam With the dark rooms with solid brick and stone, tin- roofed, it, in summer, was like a furnace and in winter, is actually a 84 refrigerator The walls in the prison are collapsed as a proof relating to the atrocities of the enemy With the location of a sacred forest and toxic water, malaria has always been a terrible obsession, not only for the prisoners, but also for local people Therefore, in a confidential letter sent to the Tonkin governor, Son La Xanhpulop Minister wrote: " You should continue to send political prisoners to Son La If, in Hoa Lo, these guys are stubborn, to Son La, within six months, malaria germs will cause them to become depressed and gentle " At that time, they also used tricks to lure people that if any one got the head of the escaped communist prisoners, they would be awarded 20 white silver coins and quintals of salt They detered prisoners: "Do not try to escape because the natives would bring your heads in exchange for salt!", "If he, in Hoa Lo, was worried at dealing with the government, to Son La, he would face up with malaria! " Prison regime in harsh hell place was compared to the coffin with opened cover, just waiting for the prisoners with last breath to bury! Son La prison had detained a total of 1,007 communist prisoners, in which there were many people as delegates, parish committee, central committee members as Le Duan, Truong Chinh, Nguyen Luong Bang, Van Tien Dung, Tran Quoc complete, Le Duc Tho, Nguyen Co Thach, Xuan Thuy, Song Hao In late 1935s, with the determination to turn prison into a place to train will of the Communists, Unity Council Organization was confidentially established and guided by Truong Chinh as president In four years later, the temporary cell of the Son La prison was formed and Mr Nguyen Luong Bang was appointed the cell secretary The activities of Son La Prison were associated with the names of many loyal Communist Party members, most notably the role of Mr To Hieu Although he had caught severe pulmonary tuberculosis, as the cell secretary in the Son La prison in a 85 short time, Mr To Hieu had abolished the policy of banning the prison escape after the unsuccessful escape of two fellows Mr Dam Van ly and Dam Van Sang As you know, the prison escape is the urgent tasks in order to provide the staff for the rising revolutionary movement The cell had secretly published the Suoi Reo newspaper to organize the artistic cultural activities within the prison to promote policies and guidelines of the Party Son La Prison Expansion at the third time with an area of 2,170 m2 was still not enough spaces to detain prisoners moved up from the plain In 1941, Northern governor ordered the construction of new prisons in the area of 4,000 m2 next to Son La Prison They estimated three thousands of workday by the prisoner were estimated to work hard for two years At that time, Son La Prison cell had been grown significantly The cell had used the tactics of the enemy to fight the enemy to undermine plans for new jails by mobilizing the go-slow, carelessness in the job and making improper technical procedures by the prisoners When detecting a new jail design‟s mistake had no drainage, the prisoners quietly ignored As a result, the works had been completely collapsed from building In 3/1945, Japan ousted the French The Lopong jailer had removed all the prisoners at Son La Prison to Nghia Lo Prison On the way, it was said that the prisoners in Nghia Lo prison had rebelled to destry the prison successfully, the soldiers escorting had been extremely puzzled Converter and persuaded by the cell, more than 200 prisoners as the key leaders of the Party had been released to the localities to lead the revolutionary movement and had contributed to the resounded insurrection‟s victory The reason for only the brick yard in the Son La Prison now is that it had experienced two attacks with bombs by the enemy The first attack was in 1952 In the process of withdrawing from Son La, the French airplane had 86 dropped the bombs into the prison to remove traces of their crimes The second time was in 1965 The U.S imperialists had invaded Son La city and dropped bombs to destroy the rest of Son La Prison After the peaceful unification, the Son La Museum has had condition in restoration of the two watch- towers and a partial prison with the rest part preserved the status quo because of no the design and drawing documents Visiting Son La Prison, tourists are certainly difficult to imagine the too small and cramped place of detaining the communist prisoners like that In just over an area of 2,000 m2, , French colonists, at peak time, had exiled to 500 prisoners Through the vicissitudes of time, ancient monuments have been now dilapidated, almost mere ruins However, To Hieu peach tree, as a symbol associated with the names of solid cell secretaries is brilliantly flowered in the spring 5.4 Que Lam Ngu Che epitaph Temple of King Le Thai Tong (epitaph "Que Lam Ngu Che") is located in the center of Son La city The temple is the autograph of a great talent of Vietnam - King Le Thai Tong In May, 1440, after the King and his army to conquer the rebels in the North West and stay at La Cave, feeling before beautiful and peaceful landscape here, the King wrote a poem "Que Lam Ngu Che" inscribed on the vertical cliff at the top of the entrance, the poem has had 140 kanji 5.5.Chieng Khoi Lake Chieng Khoi Lake is located at the Put village, Chieng Khoi commune, Yen Chau district, Son La province From the town center of Yen Chau district in the south about km, Chieng Khoi Lake has an area of 40 Chieng Khoi Lake is the artificial lake constructed in 1971 with a 45m high and 110m long dam, completed to go into use in 1980 Chieng Khoi Lake is 87 the bottom of narrow valleys, with small streams flowing from the mountains into the Sap Stream The bowel of the lake is a narrow valley; running zigzag around the big hills up to km Water is always pure, blue and calm all year round by providing water flow for the lakes originated from the mountains It is the small streams and pristine mountain that create the landscape with subtle beauty When visitors come in the Ban flower season, they will see a hidden pure white along slopes and softness as silk strip 5.6.Tham Tat Toong cave Tham Tat Tong cave is about 2km from the Son La center Tourists should use hand-held candles inside Putting the candle on the sinciput, Tham Tet Toong cave‟s landscape appears mysteriously as the natural paintings, with the stalactites with the shape of a bamboo clump and a crowded rock cluster to form a cloud on the cave edge, etc All things are blended to create a wild and strange Tham Tat Tong cave but no less charming Although it is wild and not exploited the tourism, it is the destination of so many Kinh‟s young people, the Thais in Son La city, and villages, communes and districts in the province 5.7.Co Noi Victory Monument Historical monument of Co Noi Victory Monument is located in Co Noi commune, Mai Son district, Son La province The monument has commemorated 100 youth volunteer soldiers who died in Dien Bien Phu campaign, reappeared by the image of youth volunteers in the different positions, proudly holding their head up on duty before bomb rain and bullet storm 7.8.Chi Day cave From the Highway 06, tourists pass through Co Noi Commune and Ca Nai mountain pass to the Chi Day cave about 15km located in the Dan village, Yen Son commune, Yen Chau district, Son La province Caves in the 88 Chi Day Mountain consist of large caves, with two adjacent caves, and a cave about 100 meters from the mountain road The deepest cave is about 400 meters, and the shortest one is 200 meters Like many other caves, stalactites in the cave is flowed and down naturally from the top of the cave However, the stalactites here have the strange object-like main shapes in the life of the potatoes, fruits, agricultural products and some animals 5.9 Muong Chanh revolutionary base area: More than 60 years ago, under the yoke of French colonialism , Muong Chanh revolutionary base area had formed the first National Salvation Youth Forces first Youth in Son La province with 12 members, enlightened by the Son La Prison Branch Since then, Muong Chanh had become a revolutionary base area, contributing actively to the process of building the revolutionary forces for Son La liberation from the yoke of French colonialism on 26/08/1945 5.10 Tien Phong Lake The Tien Phong lake is in Muong Bon commune, Mai Son district, adjacent to the Highway about 23km from the Son La city, about 7km from Hat Lot town and about 2km from the Na San airport You can reach the lake by several different routes: road, waterway and airway Visiting the lake, one of the particularly attractive things to tourists are the excursions on the lake by the hand-rowed boats, pedal boats or motor boats You can bring your fishing rod in the lake such as carp, grass and black carps, major carp, trench bream, etc To the dam base, visitors travel by boat up to the dam crest to admire works partitioning two mountains to create a vast lake, the lake water is provided from the underground After a tour around the lake, visitors will visit the floating islands on the lake This island looked from the remote 89 distance is like a turtle floating on the water with an area of 10,000 m2, always cool by the steam winds from the lake 5.11 Dai Yem Fall (Ban Vat village Waterfall) The Vat village waterfall has spectacular ecological landscape awared by the natural According to the Thai language, "Vat" means the place saving the people from catastrophe To the Vat village, visitors will be heard about its legend Visitors will directly see the amazing beauty given by the Creator the owner of this land From the water in the mountains, it has formed the Vat stream and flowed to the waterfall, with nearly km in length, the available spring water the year round, while flowing to this place, the flow is blocked by a wall of limestone making water to overflow and flow back, the water here rises and overflows to the lower shore and run to the bottom to form the waterfall and flow into Bo Sap spring- the large stream derived from Bo Sap village bounded by Lao-Vietnam to flow Yen Chau 5.12 Hot water spring of Mong village The Mong village is the destination of attractive eco-tourism, culture and resort in Hua La commune, Son La city, Son La province Here, natural scenery is so beautiful and charming with the undulating mountains like a dragon winding itself down the Nam La River On the hillsides of luxuriant coffee, apricot, plum, pine and bamboo, in the distance, it is a forest with precious woods: Syzygium aromaticum, Madhuca pasquieri, Burretiodendron hsienmu, Pinophyta, Vernicia montana, etc… and dozens of species of orchids with many colors In spring, flowers of apricot, plum and Ban bloom white in the forest with the bees to find the honey for making fun atmosphere In winter, Vong gai flower blooms red at the hillside to adorn the stilt houses with red tile roof The coldness is an ideal time to indulge in hot water spring 90 The Mong village has natural hot water spring, about km from Son La city to the southwest Hot water here can treat and cure According to a survey of INCODEMIC mining company of General Corporation of Vietnam Chemicals, the temperature of the hot water spring varies according to season and weather Water temperature is 380C with strangely odorless and colorless water 91 Appendix 6: SOME TYPICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE ETHNIC MINORITIES IN SON LA 6.1.Percussion instruments The percussion instrument of the Thais in Son La includes drums, gongs, cymbals and music bob This percussion has a very important role in the life of art and spirituality The percussion is sacred of each village The percussion is conducted with strict steps: offering sacrifices to the god, praying the god to permit, grant and bless, and then conducted in secret and clean place When the processing is complete, it should celebrate a solemn ceremony, is stored in the stilt house or the worship house of the Chief or dignitaries and is used only during the Tet‟s holiday or Xen ban Xen muong worship ceremony When processing drum, to gain the desired sound, the artists have shaved the inside and the outside without paint Gongs and cymbals are elaborately manipulated, especially the gong navel For a desired sound, the artists have added into the copper with the golden ratio as an esoteric formula The gong has a deep sound The gong can be used alone or combined the triple to create a unique chord 6.2 Pan-pipe For the Hmong, the pan-pie is indispensable in spring Many ethnic groups have the pan-pipe, but the pan-pipe of the Hmong is individually unique Its structure consists of a breath gourd sharpened and lathed by pine trim and six long and short tubes according to sound levels, and most importantly, each pipe is fitted with a copper razor Differently high, low and pitched sounds are from making the razor like the reeds with high and low vibration mounting on the bamboo tube in the breath gourd When blowing or sucking in the breath, the vibration frequency of of the razor blades is resonant in chords of the breath gourd to generate the sound 92 The pan-pipe is separated into the entertainment, sentiment, marriage and funeral ceremony At weddings and funeral ceremonies, it is called the ritual pan-pipe (as well as the ritual songs in the folk), with a system of strict regulations For own funeral, the pan-pipe must also coincide with the drum Hmong pan-pipe usually has three categories: large, medium and small, also known as great pan-pipe: bass and specialized in the funeral; medium panpipe: medium sound, often used in expressing sentiment or wedding; small one: using in the single play and dance or collective dance Pan-pipe dance is shown very clearly in to three types: Martial dance, fighting dance and amateur dance This type of martial dance can be seen in the movements of pressing the pan-pipe notes, a hand clapping the feet; or bending the body down and using the leg to brush the rivals, or throwing the leg into the competitors Type of fighting is typical in the squatting movements, with two legs kicking forward, highly jumping to kick the leg backward or trampling the legs each other Amateur type is typical like balance on the rope, dancing on poles, jumping on the edge of boiling pan, handstand, using the head as the fulcrum and then curling the body for circular acrobatics, using the head as the fulcrum and then plucking the body forward or tilting back, even tossing over the fire All actions whether complicated but the pan-pipe is constant, which requires the healthy, agile and sensitive artists For the Hmong, blowing the pan-pipe is to express the sentiment, whisper with the lover or talk with the friends and to show the ability before the crowd as Spring Festival, the fair The pan-pipe is commended as a creative work of many Hmong generations, and a symbol of traditional Hmong culture, so we need to conserve and preserve 93 6.3.Flute Hmong or Meo flute flute is often used to entertain after the weary hours of labor However, it is also the means of love exchange of the boys to the girls in the village Hmong flute is capable of describing the Hmong‟s language, instead of them to express love in their heart In the past, the Hmong‟s flute is only a solo instrument for limited number of listeners Today, many artists have also increased its tones, gamut and pitch to help to play with other musical instruments or solo instrument with accompaniment orchestra Traditional Hmong‟s flute is made of thick bamboo tube or small bamboo, about 20cm long and about 0,7 cm in diameter On one tube tip, it has a copper reed, and on the body, it has from to holes in the same row The copper reed is called Lam, a notched isosceles triangles on a thin rectangular piece of copper This copper piece is inserted into the flute body and uses the wax to press not to move out The player shall keep in his mouth the tip with the reed on the mouth side to blow At the bottom, there is a hole located between the upper first and second holds Type of improved Hmong‟s flute has larger tubes, about cm in diameter and 45cm in length It is carved with total of holes; the player only presses the body with the reed in his mouth and uses the lips to seal around the reed to blow When the holds are covered or opened, they will emit differently high and low sounds Folk Hmong‟s flute has pitch not enough an octave but in the kind of improvements, it add one bass, less than the st bass for an octave Hmong flute‟s timbre is very clear, smooth, and included cracked sounds If the player does not produce a traditional sound of the Hmong people, the Hmong does not recognize as Hmong‟s flute because it does not speak Hmong language In order to blow this flute, people often use vibration technique, reed, pressing slightly, stroking and repeating 94 95 ... neighbouring provincesand travel nationwide as well Number of tourists coming to Vietnam in general and Son La in particular is increasing Thus promoting tourism development in Son La is consistent... Ho Chi Minh City Publisher; People's Committee of Son La Province, Department of Son La Trade and Tourism, general report on master planning for tourism development in Son La Province in the period... 74 INTRODUCTION Rationale statment Sonla is third lagest pronvince in Vietnam (ranking after Nghean and Daklak provinces) Over 60% of the province area is covered forest Land for agriculture