VietNam Travel: meters

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Thursday, October 21, 2010

Historic and picturesque Cao Bang

Ban Gioc Waterfall is the largest waterfall in Vietnam

Cao Bang province, about 286 kilometers north of Hanoi, has a landscape that begs exploration and a history that demands looking back at.

The province is famous for Pac Po Cave, Ban Gioc Waterfall and Lenin Stream.

We came to Cao Bang in the late noon. The highlands city was not too noisy as the Bac Giang River starts to roar in the early rainy season. When we were there it was the dry season so there was silence.

Karl Marx Mountain in Cao Bang Province - Photos: Lam Van Son

Cao Bang is about 200 meters high above sea level but some areas of the province reaches about 600 meters to 1,300 meters near the border.

After taking a lunch of wild pork and wild vegetables, we headed to Pac Po Cave where we spent an entire day. The cave is in a rugged rocky mountain, about 55 kilometers north of Cao Bang Township.

The roads wind around the mountainsides in the border region of the province

Pac Po means a mouth where hundreds of streams flow, so the cave has many smaller limestone caverns and fresh streams. Uncle Ho lived in one of the caverns. His cave is eight meters long and five meters wide with many holes to let in sunlight and fresh air. Lit by one of these rays of light was a large rock which the tour guide said was the bed and desk of Uncle Ho.

Near the cave is Karl Marx Mountain and below the mountain is a perfectly clear spring which the former President named Lenin. In front of the cave is a 1,000 square meter yard that is shaded by old trees.

Leaving Pac Po Cave to return to Cao Bang Township, we came to Ban Gioc Waterfall in Dam Thuy Commune early in the morning next day. The roar of the water hitting the cliffs could be heard kilometers away. We had heard it in Trung Khanh so we were keen to see it.

Rafts cruised under the thirty meter tall waterfall that divides into three. At the foot of the falls is a large river, as smooth as glass, lined by different flowers.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Ceramic road opens with world record

People watch the inauguration ceremony of the mosaic mural (behind them) when The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes it as the biggest mosaic mural in the world - Photo: Kinh Luan

The Guinness Book of World Records on Tuesday morning presented a certificate recognizing the Ceramic Road along the Red River’s painting name called “Vietnam’s patterns in the historical flow” as the world’s biggest mosaic painting.

The record breaking section from An Duong Terminal to Tan Ap Terminal on Yen Phu Street is 810 meters long and covers 1,570 square meters.

A representative of the record book, Beatriz Garcia Fernande, made the presentation under Long Bien Bridge as part of the inauguration of the mural project coinciding with the Hanoi grand anniversary.

The whole ceramic mosaic mural is 3,950 meters long and has total area of 7,000 square meters. It was made as a celebration of the capital’s 1,000th birthday.

The mural spans the walls on Tran Nhat Duat-Tran Quang Khai-Tran Khanh Du streets and from An Duong Border Gate on Yen Phu Street to Van Kiep Border Gate.

The project was launched at the end of 2007 by journalist Nguyen Thu Thuy. It was made by 20 Vietnamese artists and 15 foreign artists from 10 nations including England, France, the U.S., Spain, Italy, Argentina, Denmark and New Zealand. One hundred artisans from pottery craft villages of Bat Trang in Hanoi, Phu Lang, Chau Dau-My Xa in Bac Ninh Province, Bau Truc in Ninh Thuan Province, Lai Thieu in Binh Duong Province and Vinh Long in Vinh Long Province also helped, along with 50 fine arts student and 500 students from Vietnamese and international schools.

The mosaic on the Red River embankment walls features traditional patterns from the Dong Son era and the Ly, Tran, Le and Nguyen dynasties and Hanoi landscapes.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Built to last

The Ho Dynasty’s extremely short tenure is marked by long-standing achievements including a citadel that still stands, six centuries later

The southern entrance of the Ho Dynasty (1400-1407)’s citadel with three gates in Thanh Hoa Province

The Ho Dynasty was founded in 1400 after Ho Quy Ly (1336-1407), the highest-ranking general of the Tran Dynasty, dethroned King Tran Thieu De and declared himself the new emperor. However, his reign proved short-lived when China’s Ming Dynasty invaded and took over the country in 1407.

Although Ly has been heavily criticized for overthrowing the Tran Dynasty and letting China dominate the country again after 500 years of independence, several reforms that he initiated during his eight-year reign have stood the test of time, including the circulation of paper money.

He is also said to have brought new ideas to the construction of the Tay Do (Western Capital) citadel, in present-day Thanh Hoa Province, where he placed the central government.

The citadel is considered a “miracle of labor”, as it was built manually in just three months. After more than 600 years, the monument still stands, and the mystery of how it was built still endures.

Built with green block granite, the citadel was trapezoidal while other citadels until then were built of bricks and clay earth and bricks and were hexagon shaped.

GETTING THERE

By motorbike or car:
From Thanh Hoa Town, go northeast along the National Way No. 45 for about 43 kilometers.
Or, from Ha Trung District, go along National Way No. 217 to Vinh Loc District which is about 20 kilometers away.

By bus:
Buses to the citadel are available on both the national ways from Thanh Hoa Town.
Ticket prices: VND10,000 (US$0.51) each person.

For accommodation: Tay Ho Hotel (Phone: 037.352 2444) – Vinh Loc District’s Guest House (Mobile: Mr. Vu Manh Hien 091 209 3569)

To Thanh Hoa Town: A four-hour train journey from the Hanoi railway station; and you can get there by car, bus or even motorbike on National Highway No.1.

Round stones believed to have been used as levers to move giant granite blocks to build the citadel hundreds of years ago

The rocks, some of which are 1.3 meters high and 1.59 meters wide, were brought from many places by road or by river. How the work was done remains a mystery.

The citadel has an average height of between five and six meters, with some points reaching ten meters. Its north-south and east-west lengths are 870.5 meters 883.5 meters respectively. It has entrances on all sides, but the main one in the south, with the biggest of its three grates stretching 5.82 meters wide.

Historic documents show that Ly ordered that the citadel be built in 1397, and then coerced Kinh Tran Dieu De to move the capital from Thang Long (now Hanoi).

Three years later, he dethroned the king and set up his own court at the citadel, which has been praised by historians for its good geographical location, as it is backed by three mountains and has two rivers flowing through it.

Inside the citadel there once were palaces comparable to Thang Long’s, but all of them were abandoned and destroyed when Ly was captured and taken prisoner by Ming troops.

In recent years, the old citadel has been opened to tourists who can either make it a destination on its own or as part of a package tour that links different destinations, like Sam Son – Ho Dynasty citadel – Cam Luong Spring – Lam Kinh.

Among the interesting artifacts at the citadel are round stones that are believed to have been used as levers to move giant granite blocks hundreds of years ago.

As at other Vietnamese destinations, local culinary specialties are on offer. In Vinh Loc District, where the citadel is located, che lam and banh rang bua - different varieties of rice cake, are worth trying.