Young Hanoian Nguyen Khai Trung, born in 1997, has already made 84 trips across 61 provinces and municipalities in Vietnam. In addition to natural landscapes, Trung loves to visit colorful mural villages. By now, Trung has visited 5 of them in the country.

Nguyen Khai Trung checked in at the Tam Thanh Mural Village in Quang Nam Province. Photo: Nguyen Khai Trung

Mural villages shared similarities with any other Vietnamese villages in their rustic simplicity. What set them apart are vivid paintings that breathe life into normally dry, plain constructions.

Trung said mural paintings often replicate the landscapes, culture and daily lives of the locals in the most sincere and friendly way. They are a way to reflect the formation, development and desire for the prosperity of the villages.

“Mural villages in the coastal areas often have paintings of fishing villages, fishing boats and sea animals, whereas it is easy to find paintings of terraced fields, forests and ethnic minority culture,” Trung said and added that artists also draw characters from animations, celebrities, history or even abstract paintings.

The round boat road in Tam Thanh Mural Village. Photo: Nguyen Khai Trung

Tam Thanh Mural Village has left a particularly deep impression on the young Hanoian. It is the first mural village in Vietnam, with numerous decorated walls along the seaside road. Tam Thanh has around 100 mural paintings, breathing life into the old houses.

A local said the walls help to alleviate the stress and tiredness after long and hard working days. Tourists coming to Tam Thanh can marvel at the painted walls, visit the fishing village and enjoy a good swim.

Mural walls in Ly Son Small Island. Photo: Nguyen Khai Trung

For those in Hanoi who want to find an interesting place to visit during weekends, the Chu Xa Mural Village is not a bad choice. Located 20km from Hanoi downtown, the village is decorated with commonly found landscapes in the rural areas of northern Vietnam such as ramparts of bamboo and rice fields. Trung believes the mural walls can help visitors to better appreciate Vietnam’s agricultural civilization and traditional arts. On the journey to discover Chu Xa, tourists can also visit the Bat Trang Pottery Village and Xuan Quan Flower Village located close by.

The trips to mural villages often leave Trung with wonderful impressions.

The daily life activities Vinh Truong Mural Village of Khanh Hoa Provincein seem to weave seamlessly with the mural paintings. Photo: Nguyen Khai Trung

“When I visited the Vinh Truong Mural Village in Khanh Hoa province, I saw local women fixing the fishing nets. At first, I only asked for permission to take photos with them, but when I saw them work so meticulously, I decided to get to know them. They told me about their jobs and harsh lives and even taught me how to make a fishing net. In the end, not only did I get beautiful photos of the mural paintings in the village, but I also learned how to weave nets,” Trung recalled.

It is fairly easy to find mural villages in Vietnam.

“For some villages, I only needed to use Google Maps. For some others, I needed to ask locals. The easiest village to find for me was Canh Duong in Thua Thien-Hue province and the hardest one was Chu Xa,” Trung noted.

A mural wall in Chu Xa Village. Photo: Nguyen Khai Trung

Trung believes mural paintings help to make the village more attractive to tourists. The colorful walls in mural villages are suitable for all ages and forms of tourism.

Trung hopes to continue discovering more mural villages to spread his love for traveling and arts to the wider public.

“There are many mural villages that I want to visit in Da Nang, Hue, Ninh Thuan and Quang Ninh. Some have just emerged recently so not many people know about them. When the pandemic is over, I will head to Thua Thien – Hue first because there still are two more mural villages there that I have not been to yet.”

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