Kon Pring, a peaceful village in the Central Highlands

LAM GIANG

Kon Pring is a picturesque community-based tourism village surrounded by a valley of thousands of tall green pines. It is likened to a second Da Lat in the Central Highlands due to its cool climate year-round .

the green forest. Surrounding the communal house are small beautiful stilt houses lined up one after another. Many small streams flow through the village connecting the surrounding mountainous terrain and pine forest.

In the blue smoke mingled with the clouds of Kon Pring mountain, graceful girls washed clothes by the water wells, children chattered on the grass at the top of the village, and families

Located on Mang Den plateau, Kon Pring village belongs to Dak Long Commune, Kon Plong District, Kon Tum Province. This is one of four community cultural tourism villages in the district located along Highway 24, 3km east of the district centre. The Mo Nam people (a branch of the Xe Dang ethnic group) make up 95 percent of the population in this village.

Looking down from the pine hill along Highway 24, Kon Pring stands out with the sky-high roof of its communal house poking out of the middle of gathered around in their kitchens. It was very simple but enchanting.

According to the locals, the communal house is built high enough to reach the sky like that in order to gather the sacred air of heaven and earth. In this way, it

connects people, the universe and the gods. Moreover, the communal house is the place Kon Pring villagers use to welcome guests, organise festivals, meetings and annual traditional festivals.

The elderly villagers told that in the traditional society of the Mo Nam people in Kon Pring, families were typically large and lived with three or four generations under one roof. Now, however, they live together in smaller family units. Most of the people here follow a bi-generational system, leaning towards patriarchy. A matriarchal household is very rare. Customary and abstinence rules are prescribed by the community to deal with guilty parties.

Daily meals are simple but wine is a traditional drink that preserves the local identity of the people and helps them to connect with the other Central Highlands ethnic groups through exchange and shared community activities.

The festivals of the people here take place all year round including the sowing ceremony, new rice ceremony and communal house festival. In particular, locals still retain their traditions with special cultural activities in the village such as gongs and xoang dance.

With a cool climate year-round, Kon Pring is an ideal destination for travellers who want to rest, enjoy and experience the culture as well as explore the depths of the people and the land of Kon Tum.