The North of Vietnam is a jewel for authentic cultural and natural resources. Surrounded by impressive rice fields, magnificent mountain ranges with incredible views and local ethnic minorities having the greatest smiles, Pu Luong Retreat will definitely make a rewarding experience to travel off the beaten track to the Southern end of Pu Luong National Park. Check out our list of top 6 reasons why you should stay at Pu Luong Retreat.
1. Scenic beauty like no other
Located in Pu Luong National Reserve, the 150 kilometre journey allows a slow visible change from the hectic city life in Hanoi towards a calm, green and fully natural environment. Once you set your foot upon its path, it will definitely give you a feast for your eyes with its diverse scenery from pristine forests to the farmlands, from limestone to valley, dotted with the settlements of ethnic minority villages and traditional water mills of Thai people.
2. Get Active
Being home of many endangered species such as the Delacours langur or clouded leopard, the national park has an incredible variety of flora and fauna. Its two mountain ridges are parallel to each other include the Pu Luong mountain with 1700 metres, which is worth a hiking experience. Or familiarise yourself with the life on the countryside by kayaking or doing bamboo rafting on the Thia river, allowing you to spot the life by the river with its traditional water wheels.
3. Off Beaten Track
Far from big traffic and pollution, Pu Luong offers tranquillity enabling you to get closer to peaceful state of mind. The nature reserve is surrounded by calm and peaceful villages, in which hectic has no space. Unlike the well known ecotourism area of Mai Chau, with a fair share of tourists, Pu Luong will definitely knock you off your feet and take the stress lever down to enjoy the hidden beauty.
4. Authenticity
The lodge would not be this authentic without including the local community wherever possible. From the planning until this day and beyond, the local community works hand in hand with the investors to provide you a pure and real experience. Some of the locals, who made this story happen include Ban U Kha – the supplier for the big lamps you can find in the entrance of the lodge. Born in 1940, he spent much of his live living in the tunnel during the Vietnam War and started to produce the lamps (which original purpose is fish traps) from 1960 on. Or Ha Thi Sen uses her great cooking skills making tasty meals the natural way.
5. Finding your best eco solution
With the commitment to make this lodge eco-friendly, one of their first priorities is local involvement. Hiring the locals enabled us not only to create job opportunities for them, but also allowed to set a strong bond between the lodge and locals. This bond ensures a positive relationship between the locals and the lodge right from the beginning.
Another major part in our master plan is the focus on nature. The lodge should not harm our rich environment but benefit it.
Next to building as sustainable and local as possible, we educate our employees about the importance of sustainability. Spreading the knowledge will lead to a change in the local behaviour and have a positive impact for the whole region.
6. Local Material
Pool water/pond
Our water resources for the infinity pool are completely natural and part of the river course starting up in the mountain and going down through the pool into the rice fields.
Previously being a pond, the pool builds a perfect dam for the rice fields and ensures a natural and efficient flow through the installed systems. Natural cleaning techniques working mechanically than chemically make sure that no toxic or harmful substances go into the nature.
The ponds’ flora and fauna was cautiously moved to the pond at the massage bungalow ensuring that nothing will be destroyed. This creates a win-win situation for the nature itself and the local families, still using the pond for living.
Rocks used to build houses
Mixing local architecture and modern sustainable elements make an unbeatable combination. Our houses are designed using local materials and modern architectural knowledge. This results in having roofs and beds made out of bamboo, while usingpavings for strong support on the house and pathways. These pavings are leftovers from an infrastructure expansion nearby.
Lamps made locally
All under the motto reduce, reuse, recycle, we found creative ways how to get our authentic lamps: Our nearby living bamboo master uses his great expertise to design and make indoor lamps out of his great bamboo storage, whilst Ban U fish traps found their perfect reuse as entrance lamps.
Rocks and trees kept the way they are
Interfering with nature to a high extent harms it more than we think. This is why we try to keep it to an absolute minimum, meaning that if there is a tree on the spot where our bungalows should stand, we build around it and not with it. Same goes for the rocks: Moving great rocks will cause nature to change, which is why we keep it just as natural and beautiful as it is.
In the end, there is you. Apart from sustainability and local involvement, our master plan realisation allows you to experience peace and tranquillity, local traditions and magic views over a real treasure; something, you cannot capture with pictures but memories in your mind.
