In Da Lat, the cozy Nha Gio Countryside guesthouse opens its doors to travelers who are willing to plant a tree as payment for a night’s stay.
Phong Trang, a Saigon resident and owner of the two-story rural guesthouse, welcomes travelers to stay on the first floor in an eight-bed dorm. The only payment required is some light gardening, or perhaps a planted tree.
“Our country [has] less and less trees day by day,” Phong tells Saigoneer via Facebook message. “We only want a [few] trees [to] our self, more shadows in our land so we can enjoy our time under the trees. We plant vegetable and herbs for our meal.”
The cabin, 10 kilometers from downtown Da Lat, also provides a more remote location from which travelers can enjoy the Central Highlands’ forests. Guests are asked to arrive before nightfall and bring enough food and drink for at least one night.
Nha Gio Countryside has been in operation for around a month, though Phong spent a full seven months preparing the space ahead of time.
Nha Gio Countryside.
Long before settling in the Central Highlands town, the Saigon native had a love for Da Lat.
“[During] a long time from school to university I just wanted to move to Da Lat to live and have a wooden house on a hill,” says Phong. “Every morning, I wake up, have a cup of coffee with my beloved one and take care [of] all the plants.”
According to Phong, Nha Gio Countryside is a place for travelers who “want to leave the city and rest in the wild with the forest beneath and relax with the sound of stream[s]”.
Most visitors stay around three or four days, Phong says, depending on their schedule. So far, the proprietor has received many messages from guests who wish to return.
In addition to Nha Gio Countryside, the guesthouse owner also runs Da Lat Old Home, a for-profit guesthouse in downtown Da Lat which opened two weeks ago. Housed in a 70s-style wooden cabin, Da Lat Old Home features seven rooms with a total of 14 dorm beds close to the city center.
Da Lat Old Home.
[Photos courtesy of Nha Gio Countryside and Da Lat Old Home]
