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Duong’s Family House: All In One During a business trip to the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, after finishing work, people usually ask locals if there is any interesting place to visit. There are many answers for the question, and one option is always offered. It is called Binh Thuy Ancient House, or Binh Thuy Orchid Garden, or Duong’s family house.
According to the daughter-in-law of the house’s owner, Duong Minh Hien, the sixth generation of Duong’s family, the garden house covering 6,000 square meters was built around the late 19th century or early 20th century by Duong Chan Ky, first generation of the family. “He loved French designs and wanted to keep design characters of Vietnam, so he decided to invite artists from the North, Central and South to design the house,” she said. “This is the reason why you can see that the outside appearance has the French design while the interior brings Vietnamese characters.” The house is classified into five compartments. The two ends are for bedrooms and kitchen while the three central ones are for living room and worshipping, all equipped with sophisticated ancient wood furniture like beds or a large ancestral altar to valuable ancient things such as lamps, wash basin and jars. One special thing is that when building Ky asked to spread a 10cm-thick salt layer on the house’s foundation. “You can see that the wooden furniture has been living for a long time; moreover, the house is always cool despite the hot season,” the lady cum house manager said. She added one more special thing of the house that has so far attracted a lot of local and foreign guests, it is an exciting address for film directors. The famous French movie L’amant directed by J.J Annaud is an example. Tourists can study these stories by documents and images on the wall. From the windows, tourists can experience a wide range of flowers planted in the garden. Duong Van Ngon (1905-1985), Ky’s son, loved orchids. He tried to collect various kinds of orchids as much as possible, as well as other flowers. His descendents have tried to keep the invaluable property, including a 40-year-old 10-meter cactus named Kim Lang Tru. After having a short tour to understand details of the one-hundred-year-old garden house, tourists can have a seat on two sets of stone-made tables and chairs under giant trees in the yard to have a general look at the house before leaving. During the talk, the daughter-in-law who refused to give her name felt quite sad. She said that families have tried to keep the house that has been granted as the national vestige early this year, but this is difficult work. “We either want to open the door for all visitors to understand the house or limit the number of visitors,” she said, explaining that despite being unintentional or intentional, they (visitors) gradually damage things. On the way back by xe om (motorcycle taxi), the driver told us that in the past, Can Tho was home to several ancient houses like that of Duong’s family, but they were mostly damaged. The Binh Thuy Ancient House is luckily an exception. Binh Thuy Ancient House is located at 26/1 Bui Huu Nghia street, Binh Thuy district, Can Tho city. VietNamNet/SGT
Other news for Thursday 24 September, 2009
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