Travel, sports combined with charity

Coming from many countries, the members of the Tu Lan Adventure Race 2016 not only freely explored and conquered the dangerous roads, but also took practical actions to share with the local people.

Boat racing teams cross Rao Nan River in Tu Lan Adventure Race 2016 - Photo: Tan Vu

At 7am, a crowd of people from the villages were standing on the old bridge, women going to the market lingered to watch strangers coming here to row their boats. Never before had Khe Rinh (Trung Hoa commune, Minh Hoa district, Quang Binh) - a branch in the upper reaches of Rao Nan river - had such a joyful morning, with nearly 100 members of 10 teams participating in the race to conquer Tu Lan - 2016.

Crossing rivers and mountains

Nguyen Mai Trang (26 years old, from Hanoi), a member of the Ashkicker team, said she was very excited to join this race. Trang's group included many boys and girls from Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnamese students studying abroad, but it was difficult to tell who was from which country because the group's main language of communication was English.

The Rinh stream has entered the dry season but the water is still clear blue. The first challenge for the race team is to row the local people's dugout canoes along the 15km Rao Nan river with its jagged rocks, sometimes going up and down rapids.

The locals had a good laugh when they saw the desk-bound people, the doctors, and the teachers rowing dugout canoes.

Many boats sank in the middle of the river, or drifted freely against the will of the boatman, but this was also the time when they maximized their team spirit and the cohesion between members who were strangers according to the organizer's intention. The members provided their own water and lunch, and it took nearly six hours for the boat crew to reach the destination.

Thanks to their experience in last year's race and their youth, the Jetstar Pacific team finished first on this race day, while the "old men" American doctors and their Vietnamese friends working in Ho Chi Minh City (Funny Walker team) finished second.

The second day was the real challenge as the racers had to cross forests, wade through streams, climb slopes and swim through terrifying black caves on a 24km route. At 8am, the group set off from Tan Hoa, running more than 3km to get through Hang Chuot, the first challenging cave.

Continuing through La Ken valley, over Lom Com slope, through To Mo valley, over Hung Ton cave to cross a valley full of reeds before running to the finish line. At nearly 5pm, the last group reached the finish line, many people were injured, their limbs were bleeding.

Nguyen Thi Tieu Phuong, a professional marathoner from Ho Chi Minh City, was also the first to reach the finish line. She said that this race in the forest was different and a real challenge.

“I have climbed Fansipan and raced 42km on the road, but this is a very interesting experience in terms of difficulty because the steep slopes are full of cat-ear rocks and the dark underground rivers have created different feelings. Moreover, this is a group race, so the person who finishes first is meaningless, but the last person in the group must finish to count the points,” said Ms. Phuong.

Mr. Luu Van Phong, head of the tour guide department at Viet Mark Travel Company, who designed and guided the programs in this race, said that the 24km distance through the forest is not for the weak in spirit or physical strength.

“Almost all human survival qualities are maximized. And the value behind the race, each person has a separate feeling to urge them to surpass themselves” - Mr. Phong said.

Members of the racing team help local people build floating houses to prevent floods - Photo: Tan Vu

Responsible Tourism

The route that the race team crossed was located right in the valley where the American film crew had just filmed the movie Kong - Skull Island. The stunning beauty captured in every angle, every look, was not in vain for those who came from far away.

But the race participants are aware that they come not only to enjoy it, not only to satisfy themselves but to leave more for the locals.

All the money that members contributed to the race, after deducting the organization costs, was used by the organizing committee to build 20 flood-proof houses for local people.

On the third day, after the race ended, the teams visited each house to see for themselves the houses they had helped build. The teams also painted their names on the walls of these floating houses to mark the occasion.

Mr. Nguyen Truong Anh, a local resident who was recently sponsored a flood-proof floating house, said that in Tan Hoa, the flood season is no different from Ha Long Bay.

“The water in the caves receded very slowly, so the entire valley was filled with water, with some places reaching 12m high. The valley was left with only submerged mountains. In previous years, we had to climb into caves to take shelter,” said Mr. Anh.

An initiative of a floating house model tied by 24 iron or plastic barrels to lift the entire house above the water has been applied by the people for about three years now and their lives have become somewhat less difficult.

Mr. Anh boasted: “Now that we have a house, when the water rises or falls, we are not afraid because we can stay safely on this floating house for weeks. We just need to prepare food carefully.”

Mr. Tran Trung Kien, director of Travel and Outdoor Gear Company in Hanoi, also a member of the racing team, said that the members participating in the race not only to explore themselves or simply admire the beautiful scenery but also to do something useful for the community.

“The benefits of tourism companies must be spread to the local community. They have preserved the beautiful landscape for thousands of years, while tourism organizations monopolize the benefits for themselves, which is unfair. Sharing the benefits of tourism with the local community is the only way to develop sustainable tourism,” said Mr. Kien.

Mr. Do Tuan Anh (Director of Viet Mark Travel Company) shared: Gone are the days of doing tourism in a haphazard manner, doing whatever comes to hand. Why do some tourist destinations have so much waste but Cu Lao Cham does not? The problem is the benefit of the people, do not demand too much from the community when the benefits that tourism companies gain are not shared with the community in a proportionate manner.

People must have income and share benefits, their attitude towards tourists and investors will be different. In my opinion, this is the core thing and Hoi An is a typical example of this development.

Every household in Hoi An has income and lives well from tourism, so they will naturally support and build everything better to attract tourists.

According to Tuoitre.vn