CAO BANG - THE LAND OF LEGENDS AND HISTORY
Cao Bang is surrounded by mountains and forests like that, but the landscape constantly changes. Those landscapes are bestowed by nature on Cao Bang.
MY JOURNEY TO CAO BANG IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE YEAR WAS JUST A TRIP TO THE VIETNAMESE BORDER TO RELAX FROM STRESS IN THE DUSTY AND NOISY CITY, BUT UNEXPECTEDLY, IT BROUGHT ME GENTLE AND UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES.
Regarding Cao Bang tourism, everyone probably thinks of the most famous attraction: Ban Gioc waterfall. Therefore, I chose it as my first stop in the journey to explore Cao Bang. Located in Dam Thuy commune, Trung Khanh district, Ban Gioc waterfall is more than 80 km from the center of Cao Bang city. This is one of the most majestic waterfalls in the world at an international border, comparable to Iguazu Falls, Victoria Falls and Niagara Falls. Fortunately, I visited Ban Gioc waterfall on a sunny day. The sun shone brightly through the mist in the air, resulting in the formation of the marvelous rainbow like in a wonderland.
About 3 km from Ban Gioc waterfall is Nguom Ngao cave. Nguom Ngao means “Tiger Cave” in the Tay language. The underground stream in the cave flows day and night, echoing sounds like the roar of tigers, hence the name. This limestone cave has a length of over 2 km, divided into various chambers, floors, steps and lobbies of many sizes, with large sections as big as a great hall and narrow paths that you must bend over to go through. Inside the cave, there are many stalactites and stalagmites with strange shapes, forming terraced fields, waterfalls, ships, lotus flowers and towers. More specifically, scientists have found in Nguom Ngao cave corals and crinoid fossils that were formed in an ancient sea hundreds of millions of years ago. Raising my head to look up at the limestone domes that fell into the shape of giant jellyfishes, I could not help but imagine a distant past, when this mysterious mountainous cave was once a magnificent Sea King’s palace with many shrimp soldiers and fish generals...
On the way to the next attraction, Mountain Angel Eye, I stopped by some villages of ethnic minorities. There are the Phia That incense village and the Pac Rang forging village of the Nung An people. Except for agriculture, handicrafts are the only source of income of the people here. However, their products can win every visitor’s favor because of the high quality and cheap price! I was also impressed by the Khuoi Ky stone village of the Tay people. Khuoi Ky is called a stone village because of its stone houses on stilts, leaning against the rocky mountain and facing Khuoi Ky stream. Fences, dams, mills and furnaces are all made of stone, creating a simple but ancient look like a legendary fortress in the faraway border. I stopped at Mountain Angel Eye at sunset. It was the best time to see the splendid afternoon sun shining straight into the “angel eye”. This is actually a hole in the mountain of more than 50 m in diameter. The Tay people call this place Phia Piót, meaning “mountain with a hole”. Right below the Mountain Angel Eye were the peaceful green fields of rice and corn, here and there people were drawing buffaloes and horses to the stable. A Tay woman told me that if I visit this place in the rainy season, I will see a more beautiful scenery, when the valley at the foot of the mountain is submerged in the crystal-clear water, reflecting the shadow of the magic mountain in the clouds.
LOOKING UP AT THE LIMESTONE DOMES THAT FELL INTO THE SHAPE OF GIANT JELLYFISHES, I COULD NOT HELP BUT IMAGINE A DISTANT PAST, WHEN THIS MYSTERIOUS MOUNTAINOUS CAVE WAS ONCE A MAGNIFICENT SEA KING¶S PALACE WITH MANY SHRIMP SOLDIERS AND FISH GENERALS...
That morning, I woke up in the mountains, looked out at the green tea hills, and took a deep breath of fresh air in the early morning. Chewing a piece of tasty pudding, sipping a cup of aromatic green tea, I thought I was still in a wonderland and just needed to reach out to catch the yellow sunshine and white clouds.
Cao Bang is surrounded by mountains and forests like that, but the landscape constantly changes. A majestic Phia Oac is engulfed in a vast sea of mist; the Tinh Tuc hanging valley stands up like a frozen trace of millions years in the midst of history; Dragon’s Back mountain range has jagged limestone “thorns”, winding between forests, rivers and streams; or more modest, Mao Ga mountain mixes rugged limestone ranges with gentle slate shale.
Those landscapes are bestowed by nature on Cao Bang. Since then, many generations of people have cut open mountains and forests, created terraced fields, tea plantations, salmon farms, villages and factories. I had the opportunity to visit the Kolia tea plantation as mentioned above and the Sunny salmon farm, both on Phia Den mountain. I highly recommend that if you havc enough time, please take a moment to visit these places. The tea tree and the fish were raised on the high mountains, in the clean air. Just take a bite, you can feel it so different from the ones in the cities.
CHEWING A PIECE OF TASTY PUDDING, SIPPING A CUP OF AROMATIC GREEN TEA, I THOUGHT I WAS STILL IN A WONDERLAND AND JUST NEEDED TO REACH OUT TO CATCH THE YELLOW SUNSHINE AND WHITE CLOUDS.
TO THE NORTH: THE HISTORY OF FREEDOM
Not only being an enchanting beauty with rich and unique culture of ethnic minorities, Cao Bang is also where happened many important historical events in the pre-uprising period. In particular, the most outstanding is the Pac Bo Special National Monument. You can take a leisurely walk along the Ho Chi Minh path or hire a guide, not because the path is too difficult that you will need guidance, but to listen to historical stories and local legends about a time of heroic revolutionary.
I bought a bag of roasted sweet chestnuts, then walked and gazed at the crystal clear Lenin stream that softly and peacefully meanders at the foot of the Karl Marx Mount. The old fig trees that bend down closely to the stream surface of the water conceal the small pathway of about 30-50 steps leading to Coc Bo cave. The cave is small and dry and has a quiet, reserved second entrance. The main entrance, badly damaged during the war, was partly restored, but the interior speleothems, as well as the stone bed and stove, remain mostly intact, recalling a time “walking out of the stream by sunrise, coming back to the cave on sunset” by Uncle Ho.
The further to the end of the path, the darker and narrower mountains, the terraced fields and the grass fields seemed to expand in the tranquility of the late afternoon. A few Tay and Nung children wearing colorful clothes stood on the side of the road. They were holding sweet potatoes and cassava roots in their hands, smiling with me. That night, I stopped at a homestay halfway up the mountain and enjoyed the atmosphere of “living like a local”. The host was very sincere and hospitable. The dish of braised pork hock with chestnuts, smoked beef jerky, fried bamboo shoots was so delicious that I just wanted to taste it again and again!
After three days of escaping from the dusty and noisy city, coming to Cao Bang’s watershed to watch the white clouds, I found my heart surprisingly calm and peaceful...