Travelogue through the land of history

(VHQN) - My brothers and I made another appointment to climb the mountain on New Year's Day, as we do every year. Bang Am Mountain has become like a second home; whenever we're tired, we seek refuge there.

Lighting a fire to boil tea on top of Bang Am mountain. Photo: Hoang Loi

It's strange, but young people all love living in the city, even though it's cramped and suffocating. The city is like a big box that traps their souls, while Bang Am opens up to feelings of longing, imagination, and freedom.

Under the Free Sky

Because we've climbed it many times, we're very familiar with the routes to Bang Am. You can reach Bang Am quickly by riding a motorbike along the concrete road at the foot of Ha Nha bridge, connecting Dai Dong and Dai Hong communes in Dai Loc district.

Looking down from the bridge, the concrete road stretched vertically like a ladder to heaven, giving my friend another opportunity to spontaneously compose a nonsensical poem: "Climbing a ladder to the gates of heaven, where can happiness be found in this world?"

After driving past the paved section, the trek to the summit of Bang Am begins. The path passes through almost all the important streams of the Huu Nien mountain range, such as the Bo stream and the Lim stream.

The mountainside resembled a dinosaur's spine, offering views of both the upper and lower reaches of the Vu Gia River. We followed the trail, occasionally stopping by the stream to immerse ourselves in the cool water, shaded by clusters of white and pink wildflowers blooming overhead in early spring.

Between the Bo Gorge and Lim Gorge, our friend Tai built a small house, nestled against the cliff, overlooking the Lim Gorge waterfall. Sitting here, looking down at the waterfall cascading down day and night, with the peaceful village scenery before me, I feel simple happiness in having a place to call home.

The place where one enters has a pot of warm tea, the place where one exits has several beautiful things of the world: A pair of birds soaring across the free sky, far away, flying straight towards Dai Lanh mountain, at the foot of the vegetable fields along the Vu Gia alluvial plain.

We walked a little further and then turned, following a trail to get a view of the Khe Tan dam. Luckily, it was a beautiful, clear day, allowing us to take in the entire Khe Tan lake, like a sparkling drop of water against the sky.

Although Khe Tan Lake is only about 7 kilometers from Am Thong peak as the crow flies, it feels like two separate worlds . We suspect that the vast lake below must have received some contribution from the streams of the Huu Nien mountain range.

Interestingly, someone who had caught stream fish in Tan Khe Lake then encountered a similar species in Bang Am. The brothers wondered where this fish came from – did it appear in the mountains first or in the lake first? There are many such things in nature that no one can explain.

Flat land on the mountaintop

We returned to the main path leading to Bang Am, wading through two or three mountains, occasionally passing a sheer cliff. It took about an hour to reach Am Thong.

Plants and trees in Bang Am. Photo: HOANG LOI

Surprisingly, Bang Am, as its name suggests, is a "flat" area on the mountaintop. Therefore, calling it Bang Am mountaintop is acceptable, as is calling it Bang Am plain.

While the road ahead was lined with large trees, upon reaching Bang Am, one finds only small plants and grasses no taller than a person's head. The entire area is vast, yet the trees only slope gently.

I've conquered many mountain peaks in Vietnam, but I've never seen one as strange as this one. Upon reaching the top, as usual, we lit incense to thank the heavens, the Buddhas, and the ancient lay Buddhist monk. After that, we climbed out onto the cliff, gathered firewood, and set up a pot to brew some tea.

Sitting here, gazing at the Vu Gia River flowing deep into my consciousness, with endless rolling hills before me, I feel the tea soaking into my senses, drop by drop.

The brothers had another chance to compete to see who was better at geography and history. From the top of Am Thong mountain, you can see all of Dai Son, Dai Lan, Dai Hong, and Dai Hung communes.

One man gazed admiringly towards the Vu Gia River, noticing the Hoi Khach Bridge connecting the two banks. He described the bridge's location as very special; standing in the middle of the bridge, surrounded on all sides by mountains and hills, each time he passed by, he could hear all the sounds of the Dai Loc mountains and forests.

The man from Dai Hung commune exclaimed in admiration: "Dai Hung commune actually has a road that runs straight through to Prao, Dong Giang district!" I knew Prao, having once traveled straight from Da Nang , passing through the Quyet Thang tea hills, but it felt like two completely different worlds.

He said that when he was a child, people brought wild animals from that area every day, sometimes deer meat, sometimes bear. I guess that must have been a long time ago, at least from around 1980 or earlier.

The village of Truc Ha has a story about the women who guided Nguyen Anh to safety from the Tay Son army. Later, after the reunification of the country, in gratitude to those who saved his life, King Gia Long bestowed the title of Five Elements Immortal Maidens upon the five women; and ordered the construction of a shrine at the place where they died. Every year, on the 14th day of the first lunar month, the villagers of Truc Ha hold a ceremony at the shrine of the Five Elements Immortal Maidens.

From Bang Am, you can also see the entire Thuong Duc hill, a national historical site. Another man in the group recounted the fierce battles that took place more than 50 years ago in Thuong Duc. He said he had read about them in official historical records and in novels by those who had fought there.

Thuong Duc was a strong base of the South Vietnamese army that our troops only managed to capture at the cost of much bloodshed. He recounted that only after General Hoang Dan was appointed to direct command, discovering many flaws in the battle plan, and having to organize a rapid training course on battlefield defense for the battalion and change artillery tactics, did they achieve the glorious victory at Thuong Duc.

We began each sentence with the phrase "once upon a time": "Once upon a time it was like this, once upon a time it was like that…" until the sun set, casting a golden glow across the land, as if the past continued to echo from the peak of Bang Am mountain.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/du-ky-qua-mien-lich-su-3150390.html