Blogs from Quang Binh, North Central Coast, Vietnam, Asia - page 6

So we held our successful "Workshop: Community-Based Tourism Potential in the Phong Nha Ke Bang Buffer Zone" on the 7th with representatives from the three communes and local and regional authorities. Wow. I'm still kind of giddy a week later. I'm somehow light years ahead professionally of where I thought I would be one year ago right before I started this Master's program. I was waiting tables at the time. And I just planned and ran an all day workshop attended by important people and introducing a revolutionary idea, assisted of course by the capable workshop-running pros at Counterpart. However, I was the tourism "expert" and I designed and gave many of the presentations, and I planned out the workshop activities for the participants. And it worked! The objective was to create a clear and unified ... read more

On Sunday I hiked to Da Ban waterfall, one of the areas that we may develop as a community-based tourism site. I took my cue from Chi Sen and the others as to what was appropriate hiking attire. I should really know by now that the Vietnamese are much more agile than me, and the fact that Chi Sen was not in her usual dress heels should have set off warning lights in my brain not to wear flip flops. I wore the flip flops for maybe half an hour before retiring them to my backpack and gracefully slipping and sliding over the slick creek boulders in my bare feet. Pretty early on I fell and landed in a sitting position in the middle of the creek, soaking my clothes to my chest. The commune ... read more

I finally got permission to visit the communities in the buffer zone on Thursday. I went from one interview to another with the commune officials to determine their goals for a community-based tourism (CBT) business in their commune and to learn what they already know about tourism development. These places have tons of potential, with breath-taking scenery and residents excited about hosting tourists. However, there are many challenges, the biggest being the general ignorance of the residents and the authorities about tourism. They are very enthusiastic, and the officials talked about engaging in "rapid yet sustainable" economic development, but the obvious focus is on rapid. My involvement will ultimately center on capacity-building and awareness-raising among commune residents and officials so that they can make more informed decisions. I spent most of Thursday in Bong Lai village, ... read more

I met Chi Sen (my boss and mother figure in Quang Binh) at the train station at 10:30pm Thursday night and then fell asleep in my crowded sleeper car to the rocking of the train on its way to Dong Hoi. Dong Hoi is the capital of Quang Binh province, and my headquarters while working outside of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. I feel conflicted about this small and somewhat rural city. It is a beach town and beautiful, and 10x less chaotic and claustrophobic than Hanoi, but because it is not a tourist town (not international anyway), I am a walking attraction and I cannot communicate very well with anyone. My Vietnamese is horrible, even when reading directly from the phrasebook. But I have a nice balcony, and everyone is friendly and pretty patient so ... read more