The 7th Ngoc Linh Ginseng Festival is not simply an economic or cultural event – it is an invitation from the great wilderness. Without noise, without cities, without sparkling LED lights, the journey to Nam Tra My to attend the festival is a real tourist experience – where people seek the originality in nature and the precious medicinal herbs that Vietnam possesses: Ngoc Linh ginseng.
The Road to Ngoc Linh – Go to See, to Understand
Without air conditioning, without a straight highway, the journey to Nam Tra My is a series of successive bends, slopes across the mountainside and sometimes stretches of red dirt road in the middle of the forest. But it is these difficulties that make people remember longer and understand better the true value of each ginseng root grown here.
On that journey, every mountain peak, every valley, every small village hidden in the morning mist whispers about a plant that the Xo Dang people call with pride: Ngoc Linh ginseng. No need to wait for the festival, this place still talks about ginseng all year round – like talking about a living treasure, preserved with all the passion and care of the mountains and forests.
Festival – a meeting place of truth and expectation
When stepping into the main area of the festival, visitors can easily feel the solemnity but not the distance. The festival space is held in the middle of the hills, where you can look up to see the forest, look down to see the land, and surrounded by the gentle smiles of the local people.
Here, ginseng is not in a glass cabinet, nor is it praised with beautiful words. Ngoc Linh ginseng appears in a simple way, when the grower brings a few real ginseng roots still attached to the ground, telling the journey of caring for the plant like raising a child. The stories are not flashy but enough to make the listener feel emotional. Because ginseng here is not only precious because of its active ingredients, but also because of the sweat, tears and faith of the mountain guardians.
Experience is not just “check-in”
Unlike famous tourist destinations that are familiar with full-service packages and beautiful Instagram-standard frames, the Ngoc Linh Ginseng Festival does not aim to “invite the masses” in a mass way. People who come here are often people with a purpose – either to learn about precious medicinal herbs, or to research the market, or simply to find the feeling of living slowly in the middle of pristine nature.
At the festival, you can see the ginseng garden with your own eyes and meet real ginseng growers. You can also try ginseng tea, ginseng wine, ginseng honey – products that are not for display but are the result of serious labor. You can listen to in-depth discussions, or just sit under the communal house roof, sip a cup of hot tea and feel the scent of the mountains in every breath.
Ginseng – not to admire, but to understand
Ngoc Linh ginseng is called a “national treasure”, “the most precious medicinal herb in the world”. But if we only stop at the titles, it is easy to make people see it as something too far away. The festival itself, with its simple organization, is an opportunity for people to look back: ginseng is not a symbol to admire, but a living entity that needs to be understood, preserved and developed properly.
Understand to know why some 5-year-old ginseng plants can be worth tens of millions of dong. Understand to see that the development of the medicinal industry cannot be just a matter of commercialization, but must go hand in hand with the conservation of native varieties, with the survival of primary forests, with the living conditions of people where ginseng is grown. And understand to see that a valuable product cannot forever rely on promotional campaigns, but must originate from the belief in true value.
Closing with a promise
The Ngoc Linh Ginseng Festival is not as noisy as other spring festivals, nor as crowded as other cultural events. But it is the peace, the originality and the depth in the organization that makes people who come here once want to come back. Not to buy a gift box, or to own a ginseng root, but to meet the sincerity in the middle of the forest. And to understand that Ngoc Linh is not just the name of a type of ginseng – it is also the name of a desire to preserve, a way of living in harmony between humans and nature.
