Nguyen Thi Thu’s family (33 years old, living in Ba Dinh district, Hanoi) traveled more than 50 kilometers to the lotus pond to take pictures.
After a long period of closure due to the epidemic, since June 22, the lotus ponds in Duc Duong village (An Phu commune) have reopened to welcome guests.
Contrary to the crowded scene of the previous year’s lotus season, this year the number of tourists coming here to take photos is sparse and mainly comes on weekends.
Ms. Vuong Thi May (52 years old), owner of a 4-acre lotus pond shared: “In the past 15 days, visitors have been scattered, the most on Saturdays and Sundays. But it is only possible on cool days, and on sunny days, there are no guests.”
Mrs. May estimates that this year’s income has halved compared to the previous year. It is known that last year, her family’s income was from 60-70 million VND/crop.
In addition to selling lotus flowers, fresh lotus seeds used to cook tea, lotus leaves, dried lotus seeds and lotus hearts used as medicine, people here also charge a fee of 15,000 VND for photography services per person. Besides, they also combine rental clothes for 50,000 VND/set, and sell extra soft drinks to visitors.
Looking at the lotus ponds in full bloom today, it is unbelievable that they used to be rice fields with low productivity and income. “Since about 2015, households in the village have converted from growing rice to growing lotus, combined with tourism development,” said Nguyen Van Hien (28 years old), a lotus growing household.
Thanks to synchronous development, management, photography services, clothing rental, plus the surrounding mountain scenery, this place is well known, especially since 2018. When there was no epidemic, there were days when more than 1,000 people came to visit, take photos, and the scene of people and cars stretched for hundreds of meters.
This is the third time Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Dung (34 years old, living in Dai Nghia town, My Duc) has come to the lotus pond in Duc Duong village to take pictures with family and friends. “Although there are many other places to take photos, here there are both lotus flowers and open space, very beautiful photos,” shared Ms. Dung. The number of people who come to take photos is less than every year, so Dung’s group is free to take photos, without having to wait for their turn like in previous years.
Traveling over 50 kilometers from the center of Hanoi to here, Nguyen Thi Thu (33 years old, living in Ba Dinh district) and her family want to preserve special moments in this place.
Thu’s two daughters are lovely and pretty in Ao Dai.
After many years of being married, this is the first time Ms. Thu and her husband have had a picnic together.
Source: Collected internet.