14:31, 04/09/2023
Emotion and surprise - are all that popped into our minds when the car stopped at Ban Gioc Border Station and looked across the road: Instead of the shabby roofs of the shops located opposite the station gate years ago, there is now a beautiful and luxurious resort nestled on the mountainside.
“Saigon - Ban Gioc”, a place name of the far South, is located next to the name of a village, a beautiful waterfall area at the end of the North. A prosperous urban echo stands next to a sacred place that always stirs the hearts of the Vietnamese people, just that much is enough to make visitors who set foot here feel moved! Stepping through the gate, we saw a young man looking up at the red maple trees at the entrance. “What are you looking for?”, “Bird nests, guys, there are so many, every tree has birds coming to make nests!”. We stopped to look, it turned out that every tree had a few bird nests, with the chirping of baby birds, listening to them chirping passionately. Was it a coincidence? Or was it a good sign that birds came to make nests here as our ancestors concluded: “good land attracts birds”.
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| Ban Gioc Waterfall. |
The country has thousands of hotels and resorts, but not every place evokes in us the same sacred feelings as when we come to Ban Gioc. Having been here many times in previous years, the last feeling that remains is always the same. Those feelings are suppressed, stored and now seem to be released when before our eyes are rows of houses with simple but luxurious architecture leaning against the mountain, looking out at the waterfall as if pouring down from the sky. As much water as Ban Gioc waterfall has poured into Quay Son stream, it has also flowed into the Vietnamese people's consciousness as much emotion of sunshine and rain at the end of the border sky.
During the years of going back and forth to the border, we understood the value of a house precariously located on the border, a flag flying in front of a school where children are studying, a group song of children dispelling the silence of the mountains and forests. Unlike in the lowlands, those things, at the border, are the concrete embodiment of sovereignty. Moreover, now, right next to the border is a luxurious and majestic resort, each visitor coming here is a voice affirming the country's sovereignty and then bringing back sacred emotions. That is not to mention the image of the majestic works on the border like a proud smile and the bravery of the fence region.
If you have ever followed the border demarcation, you will understand that to have the border markers today is a fierce battle of wits and strength that has lasted for many years. And to have a high-class tourist area like this on the remote border, it is a dedication and a part of sacrifice.
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| From Truc Lam Ban Gioc Pagoda, looking out to the border area. |
In front of the resort's restaurant terrace, the lights are sparkling all around, looking out at the waterfall, the story between two dimensions of time seems to be tied to a thread of memory, drifting through the years. In us, the memory of a Ban Gioc from a few years ago keeps coming back, lingering.
It was a late autumn afternoon fifteen years ago, Cao Bang was affected by a storm, misty rain, the color of the waterfall seemed to blend in with the misty color of clouds and mist. The villagers were herding their buffaloes back to the barn, their shoulders covered with tattered plastic sheets to protect them from the rain, in the background was the sad Ban Gioc waterfall. And at the same time, looking across the border, the hotels on Chinese land loomed. We had several days of “field work” at this waterfall, hearing many stories about the past, reading projections about the future, but no one could say anything for sure. We still remember the barrier erected right in front of the gate of the Ban Gioc Border Guard Station, on the way down to the waterfall of Cao Bang Tourism Joint Stock Company selling tickets to tourists at the symbolic price of 15,000 VND/ticket. And the entire future of Ban Gioc is described on a prominent billboard with the words: "Master plan for the development of Ban Gioc waterfall tourist area, Trung Khanh district, Cao Bang province". The planning map is detailed down to each subdivision, and the amount of money expected to be invested here makes us excited when reading: "Development investment phases: Phase from 2008 - 2010, investment of 500 billion VND; from 2011 - 2015: 1,000 billion VND; from 2016 - 2020: 900 billion VND". Doing a simple calculation, that investment figure is already 2,400 billion VND! However, those numbers remained silent there, until the end of 2014, Ban Gioc really started systematically from the resort construction project of Saigon Tourist.
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| Saigon – Ban Gioc resort in the land of the headland. |
I still remember my feeling many years ago when I read the news that Saigon Tourist Corporation had just officially started the Ban Gioc Waterfall Luxury Resort project (Saigon - Ban Gioc resort) with 4-star standards on a total area of 31.15 hectares. It was not just a brief news about a purely tourism project if we know that more than a place name, more than a scenic spot, Ban Gioc Waterfall at the end of the Viet Bac sky has always been a part of the Vietnamese people's flesh and blood with many years of ups and downs and the sun and rain of the border region. Perhaps in the aspiration for innovation in this borderland, if only infrastructure development is not enough, the Tay, Nung boys and girls... wearing the staff uniform of this luxury resort are what is significant.
That night, in the comfortable room of Saigon - Ban Gioc resort, we could not sleep. Not because of difficulty sleeping, but because we wanted to let all the beloved space of this border seep into every cell, every skin. The later it got, the more the sound of the waterfall shook, the brighter the border moon shone. Loving the Fatherland's shores, loving the hardships of the people on the border, there was nothing better than going here, staying up with the border for a night, to listen to the sound of the waterfall on the border pouring down noisily. In that sound of the waterfall, we would hear the echoes of our ancestors from thousands of years ago, the sound of war drums, the sound of swords, the neighing of horses... The history of preserving the borders of Vietnam is always such a tragic and indomitable history, our ancestors fell like that, to have this land and water, to have famous places like Ban Gioc...
Le Duc Duc
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