At the age of 28, young man Kieu Duc Thang left the city to live on a 1,700 m2 plot of land.2located in the middle of the pristine mountains and forests. On that land, Thang and his colleagues created a garden full of flowers, leaves, vegetables, and fruits; a house of only 36 square meters to daily make pottery, dye fabric, make cakes, ... and countless other unnamed jobs.
As the dream of many urban people, Thang has also shared his life in magazines and social networks a few times, but the stories about Thang seem to be enough to make people more curious: What makes a young man at the age of greatest energy choose to retreat to the countryside? Is it difficult to maintain that dreamy or "gloomy" life?... Let me tell readers about the interview that Travellive conducted with Kieu Duc Thang - or, the way the young man made us completely believe that: anyone who returns to nature, must also return to themselves.
Hi Thang. Please introduce yourself and what would you like Travellive readers to know about you?
People still call me Thang Kieu. After graduating from the Interior Design major at Hanoi University of Architecture, I continued to work as a designer and creative in Hanoi and Saigon. The nature of my job requires me to move around a lot, but I am currently choosing to live in a new land, a mountainous district - Khanh Son (Khanh Hoa) to focus on my work and lifestyle.
Having lived and worked in two of the most bustling cities in Vietnam, Thang has now built a life completely separate from the streets and modern people, with only nature remaining. Why?
That was my dream; or maybe it was because I was born in Mai Chau (Hoa Binh), surrounded by mountains, trees and streams, in the middle of a large valley, which formed a lifestyle close to nature for me. I am used to the air, the scent, the colors of nature, and the harshness that nature brings. Returning to live in nature for me is a normal story, nothing special.
Many people think that self-sufficiency is something strange and different in this era, but is it possible that modern humans are also something strange and different from the laws of nature?
But Thang is currently still doing a job like "modern people", so does this simple life bring difficulties or advantages to Thang's work?
Nature and local culture are the two elements that give rise to the ideas for all my designs, and my mission is to bring these ideas to life. I am still in the process of researching and creating sustainable furniture products, combining them with local techniques. Here, I find the right materials for my work - things that I would have difficulty finding in the city.
Another project I am working on is to revive the Thai weaving and dyeing craft - a long-cherished passion and cherished passion for traditional cotton weaving and natural dyeing of my people. Living close to nature allows me to explore new materials from plants, flowers and leaves.
Changing to a new environment and a new life will certainly have many obstacles. However, what I am doing is what I have wanted for a long time, I have had time to learn, prepare and now is the time to do it.
This is probably what everyone is curious about: Can Thang "draw" for everyone to imagine what his day will be like?
Living with nature, I can fully observe its miraculous operation every day, month, year and vice versa, nature itself also forms a reasonable schedule for me. My sleep is awakened at the same time as the sun and other animals. When I wake up in the morning, I can recognize that time as 5:15 or 5:30 even if that day is drizzling or covered in fog. Outdoor work will end when the sun shines on the plant beds, at that time I know it is around 9 or 10 o'clock. When I see the sunlight through the bamboo blinds, creating warm yellow stripes on the wall, I know it is around 5 o'clock in the afternoon, when I need to clean up all the work of the day to prepare for dinner. Dinner takes place from when the sky is still in the early morning until it darkens, turning into a dark black, that is around 7 o'clock and the meal ends, sometimes earlier.
“Converting” time is like that, but I usually rely on natural conditions to live and work, not having an exact and specific time. Every day of mine has changes and is different. I do not force myself to follow the time, but let my body feel and do what it sees fit.
Is that too far out of everyone's "time zone"?
I did not create that time myself, but the rhythm of nature formed the schedule for me and for the people living in the “village”, the people in the countryside, they are also living like that. In that freedom, I found myself trained by nature to have habits, discipline and work with a more planned schedule.
Thang also often shares about his "green" meals on social networks. But did Thang actively choose this diet or was it a reluctant choice when living in the mountains and forests?
Taking care of a garden to have food for myself is something I have always wanted to do. Luckily, the climate here is quite favorable for plants to grow, all the plants and tubers in my garden grow naturally, healthy plants produce good products, weak plants will automatically die and become compost for the remaining plants. Currently, I cannot use 100% of the products from my garden, but in return, there are still many other safe options from local markets and in the gardens of indigenous people.
Cooking doesn’t take much time because the vegetables and roots are picked directly and used right away in the meal, all of which are still sweet and fresh. If I want to add flavor to the dish, I use tropical spices such as pepper, cinnamon, star anise, lemongrass, aniseed, ginger, garlic, etc.; and to make the dish more flavorful, I only need a little salt or homemade fish sauce, without using any other spices.
This tropical land also gives us a rich variety of fruits: mango, jackfruit, pineapple, durian, rambutan, grapefruit, papaya... But each fruit has its own season, the fruits are harvested for only one or two months, so I often process them into products for later use such as making mango, pineapple, lemon, orange jam... or pickling various fruits and vegetables to eat with each meal.
Every aspect of life is connected with nature, Thang is confident that he understands it?
I have been, am and will continue to learn what nature has. At least, I have understood that nature is not always about wonderful landscapes, laden fruits, and colorful flower gardens, but inside it is a fierce battle between trees and natural enemies. Trees also have to fight with terrain and weather to survive and grow. They will die if they do not grow deep roots to overcome the drought season, and they will die if they are not strong enough to fight against harmful diseases.
I still try to create a natural ecological environment where all drugs and biological products are superfluous. My garden does not use any chemicals, plants grow naturally according to the season, insects and bugs are also free to live, do not need to be destroyed, because the ecological balance diversity will operate and eliminate them by itself.
So does Thang plan to maintain this life for a long time?
I consider health as the most important and necessary thing to help the human body survive. To have health, you must know how to take care of, maintain and select things that directly affect the body. That is land, water, air, food,... Therefore, nature will always be my choice to sustain life.
Up to this point, it is just the beginning of a new life, I also hope that in the future my garden will have enough food to provide for my relatives living in the city; there will be enough raw materials to create environmentally friendly products.
And one last message to everyone?
Modern society and urban areas are developing too fast, which can make people not have time to reshape what is the best life, and forget that there are still other options for themselves. But humans and nature are two inseparable elements, I will always choose to live with and become a part of the natural world, maybe you too?
Yendu Farm
Yendu Farmis the new name for Thang's garden - farm, where Thang and his colleagues create products such as essential oils, distilled water, tea, food... All are processed 100% by hand, without preservatives or additives. Some of Yendu Farm's most popular products today are galangal/betel leaf distilled water, insect repellent oil, natural essential oils from lemongrass/cinnamon/star anise/camphor...
