Remember Ninh Binh | baoninhbinh.org.vn

Before that, I only knew that Ninh Binh had many limestone mountains. My memory was of a mountain near my grandmother's house, with a rock extending across the road, covering a long stretch like a cave, and a famous cave. My uncle's family raised goats there...

It was about ten years ago that I had the opportunity to visit Tam Coc-Bich Dong. While being amazed by its majesty and piecing together the story my mother told me, I wondered if the place my mother often told me about, that military factory, that first day of my mother's escape, was one of the caves in this vast complex.

After she passed away, I didn't have time to ask her specifically which area she lived in at that time. I vaguely thought it was Tam Diep area. Then most recently, reading "Going on the Run" by writer Binh Ca, who was the former Vice Chairman of Ninh Binh Province People's Committee, I guessed she lived in Tam Coc-Bich Dong area? But the whole Tam Diep range and the Tam Coc-Bich Dong cave area are incredibly beautiful. They could also be connected, because as I said, the whole Ninh Binh is a giant cave.

In 1965, when the US bombed the North, before the April 3-4 incident in 1965, my parents took my brother and I from Thanh Hoa town to Ninh Binh to be taken care of by our aunts. We also stayed in Luon cave of Dung Duong mountain with the famous Thien Ton cave. Then we went to the temple of King Dinh and King Le, also surrounded by mountains. Majestic and beautiful, but it is true that this place only has the beautiful element, but to make it a capital would be very stuffy. So the ancestors moved the capital very correctly.

Most recently, I returned to Ninh Binh, and my brother-in-law took me to visit a series of famous places, and with writer Suong Nguyet Minh, to the Ninh Van stone village... only then did I realize that the reputation is truly true, the attraction, the exposure, the potential, the greatness of the nature of this region.

When I visited, I saw that they processed the stone like Hue people process wheat flour to make banh bot loc, easier than cutting a tray of banh duc into square pieces. But now, I heard that Ninh Binh stone is out of stock, they have to go all the way to Thanh Hoa to buy Nhoi mountain stone to make it.

Hearing that I was from Pleiku, a "young man" in the village shouted: I just delivered something in there, a stone gate. I have also visited Non Nuoc stone village in Da Nang and it is true (this is just my personal opinion), the people of Ninh Van know how to breathe life into stone in a more delicate and lively way.

Ninh Binh is now a place with great advantages in tourism. Is the Tam Coc-Bich Dong area not amazing? Who has ever been there, rowed a boat there, passed through this cave and that mountain, there are caves that seem to block the path, crouching on the boat to get through, then opening up a vast field of reeds, and then continuing the cave. That's why Mr. Binh Ca, after several years of "undercover" as Vice Chairman of this province, wrote the book "Going into hiding" as a way to repay his debt, it is a story, but above all it is a story about the landscape of Ninh Binh caves, fascinating, enchanting and enchanting...

But that's not all, there's also the Trang An Scenic Complex, Cuc Phuong National Park, Phat Diem Stone Church, etc.

I also remember a certain year, I, writer and journalist Xuan Ba, poet Le Quang Sinh, on the way back to Thanh Hoa, for no reason, we stopped and went into Cuc Phuong forest to rent a room to sleep overnight to enjoy the pleasure of the night in the middle of the forest, even though basically people only come to this place during the day.

Even the Hoa Lu Ancient Capital area that I just visited to burn incense at the temple of King Dinh and King Le, to visit all of it is already spectacular. Just the cave system of this province, if you want to visit it all, it will take you a whole month. And after visiting, I was stunned and exclaimed: Our country is so beautiful, so majestic and we are so small in front of this majestic nature...

I remember when I was young, when my mother sent me there to avoid the bombs, after about a week, the whole Da Gia area was hit by a terrible bomb, we had to run to Luon cave and stay there for a whole week. And I knew about Ninh Binh rock moss from that time.

Recently, writer Suong Nguyet Minh, a full-blooded Ninh Binh native (my only mother is Ninh Binh) happily handed me a big jar of dried moss. He knows I am addicted to this dish. In the past, my grandmother used to cook crab soup, but now that crabs are rare, I often make a salad to treat my friends. It's very simple, just process it with hot water to make it fresh again, then lemon-garlic-chili-fish sauce-peanuts, a little bit of pig skin is also good, mix well with the processed moss to make it fresh. Oh my god, it goes down a lot with alcohol.

Ninh Binh in my childhood had a few more "specialties", which were: coal slag and dust. Once, from Hue (my paternal hometown) I visited my maternal hometown, wearing a white shirt, which turned black in a moment. Then... limestone. The whole village of my maternal hometown had the profession of splitting stone, which was both dusty and noisy...

But now that I'm back, Ninh Binh is completely different, magnificent in my eyes. It's Ninh Binh that has fully exploited its natural strengths, the landscapes, the caves and mountains... All are specialties, a true smokeless industry. It's a wonderful interaction between people and landscape.

And then there is the strength of... the giver. I was invited by a relative to have lunch at a restaurant located on the Sao Khe River, the meal was all the more splendid because of the history flowing in. Ninh Binh is proud to be the land of two Kings, and now, the relics related to the kings are all cared for and preserved.

My brother-in-law is now in charge of the Hoa Lu Ancient Capital's Cultural and Historical Relics Conservation Center. He carefully bought incense and flowers to take me to visit the ancestors. My mother's family name is Le, so I came in both as a guest and as a great-grandchild visiting the ancestors.

Once upon a time, it was still the same relic, the same landscape, but cold and desolate. Now, aware of its culture, history and economy, Ninh Binh has changed dramatically, unexpectedly. Becoming a famous tourist destination, Ninh Binh is now a name that is often mentioned and I am proud of that. Proud and grateful to the ancestors who left a huge legacy for their descendants, including me, a very distant grandchild.

In the system of local Literature and Arts magazines, there is a very interesting group association: Literature and Arts Magazine of the ancient capitals. The group includes Hanoi, Thua Thien Hue, Ninh Binh, Phu Tho, Thanh Hoa...

Every year, the group often organizes very interesting seminars on how to preserve and promote, research and exploit, and create on that land full of history and culture. Looking back at myself, it turns out that I am related to 3 places considered to be the ancient capitals, namely Hue, my paternal hometown, Ninh Binh, my maternal hometown, and Thanh Hoa, where I was born... I remember a poem of mine about Ninh Binh:

"Ninh Binh, my childhood, many nights in Luon cave to avoid bombs

Smell the vinegar rain of the Heavenly Lord

Ninh Binh neighbor girl came to borrow mirror

Braided hair, eyes as indifferent

Stunned by the sight of the pubescent boy...".

That guy is now sitting in the South remembering his childhood Ninh Binh...

Van Cong Hung

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