Wading through beautiful limestone caves sitting inland - Trang An Landscape Complex 1438; Quan Họ Bắc Ninh folk songs 00183
What and Why
Tràng An is a very scenic area located near the city of Ninh Bình which features beautiful limestone mountains and caves along the river. A common tourist activity is to ride a boat and wade through the limestone caves and witness the beautiful sceneries. The river itself nurtures an aquatic ecosystem of various seafood species and rice planations that provide food to the surroundings.
The area is so beautiful and serene that it is nicknamed 'the inland Ha Long Bay (Vịnh Hạ Long)' (refer to our blog in Halong (Hạ Long)) and is no exaggeration.
Toponymy
'Ninh Bình' means 'serene and flat' in Vietnamese and Chinese, which reflects the serenity of the landscape region. The area Tràng An means 'long peace' to denote its peace and is named after the Chinese capital of Chang'an (Chinese: 长安) during the time, as blogged in Xi'an (西安). Since Vietnam (Vietnamese: Việt Nam) has been ruled by Chinese for a while, the Vietnamese language was strongly influenced by Chinese, as mentioned in our blog Huế.
See
Hoa Lư
The area Hoa Lư was the capital of Vietnam during the late 10th century CE under the political entity called Đại Cồ Việt. Hoa Lư came from its Chinese name 華閭 (hualü) as it was once part of Tang (Chinese: 唐) Empire. The area is one of ricefields broken by limestone mountains, but it was the then major political and economic centre.
The area is easily marked by the East Gate (Cửa Đông) entrance together with an interesting market. The area was chosen as the capital as it was surrounded by limestone mountains which makes it almost impenetrable during the time.
Đại Cồ Việt was formed by the local warlord Đinh Bộ Lĩnh (né Đinh Hoàn), posthumously and commonly known as Đinh Tiên Hoàng, meaning the 'early king of Đinh'. As a result the most important landmark of the area is the Đền thờ Đinh Tiên Hoàng, Đinh's own temple and mausoleum.
Outside the temple, there is the king's pedestal.
Tam Cốc
Tam Cốc, literally 'three caves' in Vietnamese, consists of three natural caves along the Ngô Đồng River. The best (and possibly the only) way to explore the ares is to take take the small boats along the river through rice fields and limestone karsts, through the caves, and back. This ride, costing VND 120,000₫ promises to be one of the most beautiful and pleasant boat rides ever!
Through the first cave. You do have to duck if you are a bit tall like me. As you approach the cave, you will probably wonder how one could get into it!
The guides are well known for rowing their boats using their feet.
It is no wonder that it was nicknamed 'the inland Ha Long Bay'. No question that this is one of the most spectacular sites in Vietnam!
Inside the second cave.
More sceneries and boating. The entire boat-ride takes approximately 90 minutes and is worth every penny!
More sceneries from the boat ride.
The river is actually an important area for rice farming and fishing, but nevertheless one will only be captivated by the spectacular sceneries. The two banks are surrounded by paddy fields and you will see occasional fishermen catching river fishes and shrimps along the ride.
Quan họ
During the boat ride, I witnessed the ICH performance of quan họ, which is fairly similar to the Chinese mountain song (Chinese: 山歌, shan'ge). Quan họ is a Vietnamese folk music style characterised by its antiphonal nature, with alternating groups of female and male singers issuing musical call and response manner, strangely parallel to the mountain song that we know of. The songs are always performed with a duet of men together with a duet of women. The skill is to ensure the pair's voice is in tune and matches with each other. Due to the fact that I was on a boat, I was only able to snap a quick picture of the performance as above.
The rower told us that the common theme in quan họ is about love and festive celebration, especially during the spring festivals of Tết, the Vietnamese New Year. In fact quan họ means official celebration and originates from the Chinese term 官賀 (guanhe), meaning exactly that. Apparently this performance originated from the nearby Bắc Ninh region and was first recorded in the 13th century CE, and is perhaps either influenced by it Chinese counterpart.
Buy and Do
During the return boat trip the rowers will suddenly berth along one of the random landing spots and turn from friendly rowers to pushy sellers. Out of the blue, they will pull from their seat a chest of junks ranging from bags, clothings to handicraft. Honestly they are not that pricey, but unfortunately everyone will be put to the coercion of purchase during the journey. I bought a simple T-shirt at an overpriced cost of USD $5, although I am still wearing that T-shirt after ten years!
By the way, the Vietnamese đồng (₫) is currently the third weakest circulating currency in the world and hence almost everything costs a million!
Eat and Drink
Scorched rice (Cơm cháy)
The local delicacy is scorched rice (cơm cháy), which is served either as a snack or staple. It is a thin crust of slightly browned and burnt rice at the bottom of the cooking pot and is produced during the cooking of rice over direct heat from a flame. While scorched rice is served in many countries, the Vietnamese version is that the rice biscuit It is typically fried in oil until golden brown and is served with pork floss (chà bông), as above and chili paste.
Around the region, one will also see dog meat is being served in various eateries.
Getting There and Around
Ninh Bình is around 90 minute-drive away to the south of Hanoi (Hà Nội), and there are plenty of local tours that ferry tourists from Hanoi to Ninh Bình. Within the area, the best way to explore the city is by bicycle, which can be readily rented at a very affordable price. The area is best visited via the local tours, and is a great day-tour from Hanoi.
UNESCO Inscriptions
Situated near the southern margin of the Red River Delta, the Trang An Landscape Complex is a spectacular landscape of limestone karst peaks permeated with valleys, many of them partly submerged and surrounded by steep, almost vertical cliffs. Exploration of caves at different altitudes has revealed archaeological traces of human activity over a continuous period of more than 30,000 years. They illustrate the occupation of these mountains by seasonal hunter-gatherers and how they adapted to major climatic and environmental changes, especially the repeated inundation of the landscape by the sea after the last ice age. The story of human occupation continues through the Neolithic and Bronze Ages to the historical era. Hoa Lu, the ancient capital of Viet Nam, was strategically established here in the 10th and 11th centuries AD. The property also contains temples, pagodas, paddy-fields and small villages.
In the provinces of Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang in northern Viet Nam, many of the villages are twinned, reinforcing their relationship through social customs such as Quan họ Bắc Ninh folk songs. The songs are performed as alternating verses between two women from one village who sing in harmony, and two men from another village who respond with similar melodies, but with different lyrics. The women traditionally wear distinctive large round hats and scarves; the men’s costumes include turbans, umbrellas and tunics. The more than 400 song lyrics, sung with 213 different melody variations, express people’s emotional states of longing and sadness upon separation, and the happiness of the meeting of lovers, but custom forbids marrying a singing partner. Quan họ singing is common at rituals, festivals, competitions and informal gatherings, where guests will perform a variety of verses for their hosts before singing farewell. Younger musicians of both sexes may practice the four singing techniques – restrained, resonant, ringing and staccato – at parties organized around singing. Quan họ songs express the spirit, philosophy and local identity of the communities in this region, and help forge social bonds within and between villages that share a cherished cultural practice.
References
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