In the old days, Dong Ho Village had the name Mai Village, also locally known as Dong Ho painting village. Lying close to the Duong River, about 40 km East of Hanoi, is Dong Ho village. It was famous for the craft of making Dong Ho paintings.

Last week, we - the teachers and students of grade 4, Thang Long international primary school, had a day trip to visit Dong Ho Village. We had a special time together. We got on the bus and started the trip at 7.40 a.m. I couldn’t forget that day. We felt so happy because we had a good time with my friends. We arrived in Dong Ho Village at 9 a.m. and went to one of the artisans’ houses.

The house owned by the artisan is situated in a long alley of the village. On the walls of the house, there are many folk paintings in different genres, from daily life paintings to landscape paintings. Dong Ho folk painting is very famous because Dong Ho is the only village where people know to make the “Dzo” painting with completely natural materials.

The printing paper is made of  bark of a tree called “Dzo”. The background paper is originally white. People use natural meterials to change the colors of the papers which are usually orange, pink, yellow, purple,...  Colors of the painting are refined from various kinds of tree leaves, that people can easily find in Vietnam. The Dong Ho Paintings are printed by hand, each colour having its own printing block.

After visiting Dong Ho village and making folk paintings by ourselves with the help of the artisan, we had lunch on the way to a popular shrine - tomb of King Dương Vương, which is located in the village of An Lu, Thuan Thanh District, Bac Ninh province. We enjoyed the atmosphere and the wonderful view there. We took many pictures. We explored and learnt many things from the trip.

After a day trip, we came back to school. Although the trip was ended, my good memories about the trip and Dong Ho Painting Village would be always in my mind.