Tam Coc - Bich Dong in the new rice season

Known as "Ha Long on land", Tam Coc-Bich Dong is a destination that attracts many foreign tourists.

The beauty of Ngo Dong River in the rice harvest season. (Photo: An Binh)

One day at the end of May, we followed the boat of a ferrywoman named Thu, drifting along the Ngo Dong River to Tam Coc-Bich Dong. The small boat, gliding smoothly along the river, was likened to a soft silk ribbon, winding through majestic cliffs and caves along with the vast yellow color of ripe rice fields.

It is not without reason that the American magazine Forbes voted Ninh Binh as one of the 23 best tourist destinations in 2023, as well as being voted by Booking.com travelers as seventh in the top 10 friendliest destinations in the world by the 11th annual Traveler Review Awards.

As part of the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site (2014), Tam Coc-Bich Dong is the perfect destination for those who want to fully explore the beauty of the country with its impressive limestone cave system and peaceful countryside scenery.

Here, each season has its own beauty, but perhaps the most eye-catching season that should not be missed is the ripe rice season.

Every year, local people have only one crop season from mid-May to the end of June, with the result being golden ripe rice fields, spreading fragrance along both banks of the Ngo Dong River...

Enhancing the value of agriculture

This is not the first time I have set foot here, but after many years of returning to this place, I have clearly felt a new color of the golden season of Tam Coc-Bich Dong along with the impressive transformation of Ninh Binh tourism.

This year, to welcome the first visitors to experience the golden season, the rice fields were artistically shaped to depict the painting “Fish Watching the Moon” with the desire to enhance the value of agricultural activities through the image of rice plants and convey wishes for national peace and prosperity, favorable weather, and bountiful harvests.

At the same time, the painting also carries the message that farmers should join the government in preserving cultural and natural values ​​to exploit community tourism.

For those who do not understand the meaning of the name Tam Coc, it simply means “three caves”: Hang Ca, Hang Hai and Hang Ba. All three caves were formed by the Ngo Dong River cutting through the mountain with many stalactites of various shapes.

Planted along the waterway from Hang Ca-Hang Hai-Hang Ba, the rice fields are planted from late January to early June for harvest.

The boatwoman told us that during the harvest season, tourists coming here have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the harvest atmosphere, seeing with their own eyes the authentic images of farmers rowing boats, harvesting rice, transporting rice and threshing rice.

The rice harvest lasts for two weeks, which is also the time when the Ngo Dong River is busiest. Boats take tourists on tours, and boats carry the joy of a bountiful harvest season.

Not only can you take a boat trip on the Ngo Dong River, when you come to Tam Coc-Bich Dong, you can also explore Mua Cave - which has a panoramic view of Tam Coc, or cycle around the golden rice fields. In addition, from May to June is also the time when the lotus ponds near Tam Coc bloom brilliantly, amidst the majestic mountains.

Lost in historical stories

The interesting thing during the journey to explore Tam Coc - Bich Dong is that we got lost in the space of ancient stories, such as at Thai Vi Temple - a place to worship kings and generals of the Tran Dynasty in Tam Coc - Bich Dong.

In the past, the Trang An-Tam Coc mountain area was the place where the Tran Dynasty kings and mandarins chose to build the Vu Lam military base to consolidate forces in the second resistance war against the Yuan-Mongol army.

Located peacefully halfway up Dong Vo mountain, Thien Huong cave is also one of the favorite places for many people with a height of nearly 60m, the cave is 40m long and 20m wide, with the cave dome resembling a large bell.

Thien Huong Cave has a wide top, so people often call it Heaven Cave. Notably, inside the cave is a temple to worship Mrs. Tran Thi Dung - the wife of King Ly Hue Tong in the past, who passed on the embroidery craft to the people of Ninh Hai commune, so people built a temple to worship her to express their gratitude.

Located about 2km from Tam Coc wharf, Bich Dong is a dry cave located halfway up the mountain, named by Prime Minister Nguyen Khiem - father of the great poet Nguyen Du - in 1773. This place is affectionately called "Nam Thien De Nhi Dong", meaning the second most beautiful cave in the South, just after Huong Tich Cave.

When coming here, you should not miss Tien Cave - a system of three large caves with a magical stalactite system such as fairy trees, rice plants, fairies, elephants, lions, tigers, monitor lizards, dragons, eagles and colorful clouds...

Experience rowing a boat in Tam Coc-Bich Dong. (Photo: An Binh)

Professional and friendly

It can be seen that the development of tourism has changed the lives of people in Ninh Hai commune, Hoa Lu district, Ninh Binh province, including the boat rowing profession.

The boat rowing team here gathers all households in the commune from men, women to young people, the elderly... To row on the Ngo Dong River, they must have a local household registration, make their own boat and be numbered by the Management Board. In turn, according to the number, all families in the commune take turns rowing boats to serve tourists.

While rowing the boat, Ms. Thu said that she usually works as a factory worker, and only when her family comes to work or on her days off does she have the opportunity to take tourists.

If there are many customers, she can row the boat about three times a month, earning about 150,000 VND per trip. The income is not much, but it helps her and the people here have more joy and income to cover their lives during the off-season.

An interesting thing is that when you come to Tam Coc, you will see people rowing boats skillfully with their feet. From upstream water, to places with many rapids, or through dangerous caves... they can use their feet to control the boat to move smoothly on the water.

When asked about this skill, the boat driver shared: “The total distance for the round trip is nearly 20km. If we only rowed with our hands, it would be very tiring and tiring, so sometimes we used our feet to make it less difficult.”

In addition to rowing skills, the people of Tam Coc - Bich Dong are also good at taking photos on the river. Those who do business in taking photos at the tourist area must register and will be allowed to take photos by the hour, by the day and depending on the number of visitors.

To avoid competition for visitors, the management board of the tourist area has divided many locations for people to take photos on the Ngo Dong River. Each location usually has two to three photographers using boats to invite visitors to take photos.

According to regulations, when approaching a boat, photographers are only allowed to take photos with the consent of tourists. Any other behavior of solicitation or coercion will be severely punished. Therefore, although there are five to seven photo spots along the Ngo Dong River, everyone operates very professionally and friendly.

Saying goodbye to the place known as "Ha Long on land" with a pretty satisfactory photo returned by a female photographer right at the boat dock, each of us felt happy and had special impressions of this place and the enthusiasm and friendliness of the local people...

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/tam-coc-bich-dong-vao-mua-lua-moi-231077.html