“Come Sit Down and Play to live like a local fishing villager, not just go on a tour”
Sit Down to Play homestay Retreat is located on Binh Hung Island, Cam Ranh City, Khanh Hoa Province. People are often curious and interested because the style here is quite unique: Coming to Sit Down to Play is to live like a local fishing village, not just to travel.
Not only is it a place to enjoy many specialties of the sea and immerse yourself in the fishing village scenery, Sitting Down to Play also has a rustic, simple beauty thanks to the friendliness and hospitality of the local people.
A pure white homestay, surrounded by blue sea and long sandy beach in Binh Hung
Lien Minh - the owner of the Sit Down and Play homestay Retreat is known to tourists by the affectionate name Thi Mo. Many people are impressed by the host's lovely hospitality from the booking stage to the time they stay at the homestay. The girl from Saigon came to this fishing village, starting a huge lesson in life: learning to eat - learning to speak - learning to wrap - learning to open.
“As someone working in the creative and media industry, I have the opportunity to come into contact with countless interesting things and people every day. But I always feel that life is bigger than an office or an advertising campaign. I am curious, want to learn, and then play big. I withdraw all my savings and play. People spend money to travel around the world, or register for short-term courses abroad. Consider me spending the same amount of money, also learning. Making Sit Down and Play, I feel very happy. Sit Down and Play did not start with a desire to learn business, but rather a personal project for me to freely fly, to satisfy the 'creative' blood in me. And I created opportunities for myself. From there, Thi Mo and Sit Down and Play were born,” Lien Minh said.
Sea view
Come to a place that smells like home and live innocently like a child
“From the architectural design, interior design, living atmosphere in the house... all follow a common theme: children!”, Lien Minh said.
According to her, the philosophy of Sit Down and Play can be summed up in three things. First, Sit Down and Play is not just a place to travel. Second, visitors will feel the "smell of home", coming to visit a familiar person's house in the countryside. Finally, this place not only provides accommodation, but also brings the experience of living in a fishing village.
Come Sit Down and Play is not just about traveling, but about going to a place that "smells like home"
Explaining the familiar yet simple name of the homestay, Lien Minh shared with Travellive: “Coming to Sit Down and Play homestay Retreat, visitors can take a break from being an 'adult', be good, eat well, play well like a child. Here, it is not only a vacation in the middle of nature, but also a break from the chaos, mess, and even many prejudices from the 'adult' world. But playing like a child, everything is simple, innocent, and easy to have fun. Just sit down and play, relax from expectations, plans, and arrangements, and joy will come naturally. The name means that!”
...and live carefree like children
Choosing Binh Hung Island as the location for the homestay came from the fact that Lien Minh had previously traveled to the island alone. Before returning to Saigon, she leisurely explored every corner and fell in love with this place without any prior planning or business strategy. And it was the nature and fishing village environment in Binh Hung that guided Lien Minh to create her own model of Sit Down and Play.
“Sit Down to Play homestay is an old house located at the end of the fishing village. Later, Lien Minh kept the facade with its ancient features and took care of the entire interior as well as the space design to create a 'childish' atmosphere. Simple, charming, and innocent are the words reserved for this place. The yard has many large trees. 40 years ago, the owner planted them when they were still tamarind seeds and buds, and now they have grown into ancient trees. The fishing village people and I benefited from the hot summer afternoon in the Central region, but in the end, it became cool and refreshing,” Lien Minh confided.
Bedroom space at Sit Down and Play homestay
Bedroom space at Sit Down and Play homestay
Kitchen
The entire yard, the house and the small garden behind the house of Sit Down and Play homestay are about 700 m2 in total.2. This place is first of all a normal house with 5 bedrooms (4 for guests and 1 for the owner), a kitchen, and a living room. With these 4 rooms for guests, there will be 1 room where the owner is worthy of being called a beauty queen, both beautiful and talented, and the remaining 3 rooms are all runner-up.
Lien Minh always tries to personalize the atmosphere in the room as much as possible for each guest, ultimately only to have visitors exclaim at the end of the trip: "It feels like home".
Lien Minh said: “The 'personalization' is activated right from the way Thi Mo chats with customers when messaging on the fanpage. Then comes the way of trying to understand customers, the way the in-house team mixes colors of bedding, room decorations to create a color palette just for you and many gestures of care and concern like family, not clearly converting into service packages”.
Enjoy cuisine like a local through banh can with the breath of the sea
Taste of the sea
Sit Down and Play tries to surround each guest who comes to visit the house to enjoy the most pristine atmosphere of life in the fishing village.
Not only come to Sit Down and Play to feel the breath of home, this place also brings visitors many extremely interesting and attractive experiences and activities.
Especially: learning to row a basket boat with fishermen, watching the sunrise on a motor basket boat, fishing on a boat; Removing fish from the net with fishermen, learning the names of ocean creatures and also enjoying a very brain-boosting knowledge morning; Walking around the island, into small alleys of local houses, taking film photos of pretty little corners, practicing slow living; Drifting in the middle of the ocean watching the moon and stars at night; Practicing making some traditional Central Vietnamese cakes with the locals; picking shells, picking dates on Egg Rock Beach; Playing ball throwing, jumping rope in front of the house with children in the fishing village; Exploring local beaches with few tourists... all of that sounds so appealing.
Enjoy the most pristine atmosphere of fishing village life
Learn to row a basket boat with fishermen
The host believes that Sitting Down to Play tries to surround each guest who comes to the house to enjoy the most pristine atmosphere of life in the fishing village. From the genuine fishermen, from the fishing village children, from the simple neighbors. Lien Minh combines fishing village activities with unforgettable experiences... All moments cannot take place fully without the emotions and cooperation of the visitors themselves when coming here. In short, coming to Sitting Down to Play is to live like a local in the fishing village style, not to travel.
The first steps of Lien Minh and Sit Down to Play homestay Retreat have many memorable stories.
“When the children of the fishing village chose the yard of the house to Sit Down and Play as a gathering place for all their happy and sad stories, they would call 'Miss Minh' once, then 'Grandpa' twice. Each day that passed, Thi Mo felt like she was watching a Ghibli animation. A strange fairy tale, strangely clear!
The children of the fishing village chose the yard of Sit Down and Play as a gathering place for all their joys and sorrows.
Or when tourists texted me, chatted with each other for a long time, and then decided on a room, they found out that we were going to Sit Down and Play on the island. And there were also many friends/brothers/sisters who changed their schedules to try to stop by and play with Thi Mo. At all these times, I felt: Ah, the spirit of Sitting Down and Playing has gone beyond the framework of a choice of accommodation when someone wants to travel to Binh Hung. Or every tourist before leaving couldn't help but exclaim: Wow, this is really a place to sit down and play!", Lien Minh excitedly shared.
Sitting Down to Play homestay Retreat was born with the contribution of ideas and images by Lien Minh's friend Ti Hon. Ti Hon is the photographer who always captures every memorable moment of Sitting Down to Play.
The Alliance combines fishing village activities with unforgettable experiences, all moments cannot be fully realized without the emotions and cooperation of the visitors themselves when coming here.
“In the end, all the effort to create a mood for customers is worth it! People automatically feel it and say the slogan. When I feel like I have neglected myself for too long, when I feel like being an adult is too tiring… I should just put my adult life aside for a while, sit down and play with the child in my heart for a bit,” Lien Minh exclaimed.
