Southern antique house

On the isle of An Binh, located in the Co Chien River in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long, is the more than century old Cai Cuong house.

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Since 2002, the Cuu Long Tourist Company has rented the house and used it for tours highlighting the rural life of southerners.

The current house’s owner, Vo Thanh Tu says, “The house receives several hundred tourists per day, most of whom are foreigners. However, between November and January, due to the low tides, it is difficult for the boats to dock at the house and therefore it receives fewer visitors in those months.”

Tu’s mother says, “My husband inherited the house from my mother-in-law, who got it from her father, who was named Cai Cuong. Now my two sons, Vo Thanh Son and Vo Thanh Tu, are the heirs of the house.”

There is no record of the date when the house was built.

But according to the owner, Cai Cuong house is over 100 years old and has never received any renovations.

Residents of the area claim that in the early part of the twentieth century the Cai Cuong family was the wealthiest in Vinh Long Province.

Back home from a trip to France, Cai Cuong himself created the architectural blueprints for the house before hiring workers for the house’s construction.

The house was built with three sections, a main section with a section on the either side.

The right side was taken down by Nam Long’s mother-in-law, Ba Dieu, a few decades ago.

Now, on the foundation of that section there is a model introducing the life of southerners and their agricultural tools from the early nineteenth century.

While the house is rich in southern tradition, it was built with concrete, steel rods and other materials unfamiliar to the Vietnamese in the beginning of the last century.

In fact, Cai Cuong had the stones imported for the house from France.

The interior of the house is characterized by high ceilings and the original wooden furniture.

The pillars are engraved with four super-natural creatures, a dragon, unicorn, tortoise, and phoenix, all of which are covered with gold.

There is a pair of wood panels with Hanji characters carved in them, which are also covered with gold.

For tourists who book a stay at the Cai Cuong house, they will be treated to a 45-minute southern folk singing performance in the evening around 6 or 7 p.m. before retiring to one of the two newly-built rooms in the back of the house.

These performances are also available for day visitors.

ThanhnienNews