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RED RIVER DELTA TOURISM
villagers generally choose white shoots
from Phu Tho province, or non leaf
from Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces.
It’s great to visit the village on a sunny
day when craftsmen dry white their
palm leaves along the dyke road, while
ladies sew the hats in almost every
house around the village. The piles of
white conical hats displayed at Chuong
market in the middle of village make a
great photo opportunity.
On the way back to the city center
we visited Vac village, which specialises
in making bamboo birdcages, just 2km
from Chuong village. The village also
produces bamboo and rattan fans and
palm-hat frames. The birdcage making
business has been passed down over
many generations. Vac’s birdcages are
intricately hand-made in all shapes and
sizes. They attract foreign customers
because they are not only beautiful and
durable, but also considered to be lux-
ury items, especially by those living in
Japan and Taiwan.
TO THE WEST
The ancient citadel of Son Tay and
the village of Duong Lam lie 60km
west of Hanoi. The landscape is stun-
ning, with verdant maize and golden
rice fields, countless lotus ponds, lakes
and rolling hills. It’s a whole new world
after Hanoi.
A small moat surrounds the ancient
citadel and visitors can either cross it via
a bridge or be rowed across in a small
boat. The citadel was built by King Minh
Mang in 1822 to defend the western
gateway to the city of Thang Long – the
old name for Hanoi. Son Tay citadel is
one of the great symbols of Vietnam’s
cultural heritage, together with Co Loa
ancient citadel, Hanoi citadel and the
Hue Imperial palace.
It has the style of a Vauban fortifica-
tion and it has been praised by French
architects as a masterpiece of Vietnam-
ese architecture. Once there were four
main gates made of bee-stone (later-
ite), a special material from
Xu Doai
.
The citadel was where the kings of the
Nguyen Dynasty lived and worked when
in the area. But time humbles the grand-
est of structures; much of the citadel
was destroyed by the French in 1883,
leaving only the north and south gates
standing. While the north gate has been
restored – unsympathetically with con-
crete, according to critics– the south
gate remains almost entirely intact.
There is a touch of the Ta Prohm tem-
ple of Angkor here, with dozens of tree
roots snaking around the stone walls.
Leaving Son Tay citadel, I made my
way to Duong Lam commune, just four
kilometers from the citadel. The an-
cient village was once home to Phung
Hung, the first Lord Protector of Annam
and Ngo Quyen (889-994) who was
crowned king in 939AD, after soundly
defeating the Chinese at the famous
Battle of Bach Dang, north of modern
Haiphong, which ended 1,000 years
of Chinese domination going back to
111BC under the Han Dynasty.
Now there are nearly 200 ancient
houses and historical, cultural and re-
ligious relics in the area, amongst the
landscape coloured by golden rice-
stacks and dark red laterite brick-hous-
es; it is a bewitching setting.
I stopped at a tea shop by the Mong
Phu communal house, which was built
in 1638AD and repaired several years
ago. I sipped hot tea and nibbled on
peanut candy as locals came and went;
most, I presumed, were busy with their
harvest. I sat and enjoyed the sweep-
ing panorama and bought some banh
te, a kind of rice dumpling filled with
chopped pork fat and green onion
which is steamed and served cold.
I then pressed on to Mia (sugar cain)
pagoda, where over 287 Buddha stat-
ues, as well as the tomb of Ngo Quyen
stand underneath a row of trees. It is
said this is where he once tethered his
elephants before leading his army into
battle.
The last stop of was Cu Da village,
which was long considered by many to
be a perfect example of an ancient Viet-
namese village. Located on the banks of
the Nhue River, about 20km southeast
of Hanoi, the village was a river port
bustling with riparian trade as recently
as the 1930s. It was famed for its ancient
houses – the oldest of which was built
some 300 years ago by affluent traders.
Not too long ago, there were still around
70 of these aging homes here, but now
you can count the number of tradition-
al houses on your fingertips. However,
there are still some old wood houses and
European-style villas which were built
in the 1920s. With its hundred-year-old
banyan-trees, rivers, ponds, village wells
and old, mossy walls, Cu Da does retain
some of its charm, but with economic
development has come a construction
boom which has significantly blighted
the town’s appearance.
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