Many of the 120 families who live in the village, which is about three kilometers from the capital of Son La, offer this hot water bath service for travelers to shrug off their exhaustion and revitalize their energy after a long day of trekking.
The water of over 30oC is pipelined from natural hot springs nearby. The best time for a hot water bath is in the early afternoon, before the weather turns cold. Soaking in the morning is not recommended as it will give you a chill. The staff in the houses clean the bathtub and run the hot water before they invite their guests to soak their whole body, or only their feet if they prefer, for as long as they want. The cost is not more than VND 10,000 a time.
To satisfy your appetite, late afternoon is usually the time for enjoying local food such as com lam with meat grills and a few cups of rice wine, depending on your drinking capacity.
Villageers soak rice for about one hour before they put it in bamboo tubes for cooking over burning charcoal for 45 minutes. Then, they take the cooked rice from the tubes and cut it into chunks. They well-cooked com lam is the rice that is surrounded by the milky layer inside the bamboo tubes. Com lam is served with dried sesame ground with salt, as well as grills of either chicken or pork. The dinner often comes with a sour soup of bamboo shoots and rice wine, which keeps the body warm during cold weather. Thai people often invite their guests to drink rice wine with them and shake hands with their guest whenever they finish a cup of wine. A dinner plus hot water bath for several gusts at Cong Village costs around VND100,000.
All the families in Cong Village are Thai people, who have inherited some 36 dances and 20 folk songs from their ancestors. The villagers stage these dances and songs during Hoa Ban Festival, which takes place in the second lunar month when the ban flowers begin to blossom, coloring the mountains in white. During the month, young men and women go flower picking to celebrate the spring and entertain themselves by singing, playing flute and dancing xoe.