(BGO) - We went along Thac Luoi (Lazy Waterfall) stream to Bac Hoa village, Tan Son commune (Luc Ngan district, Bac Giang province). This is the home of the Nung Phan Sinh ethnic group with unique trinh tuong (rammed earth) houses. However, coming here without visiting Khi Dom waterfall (Monkey watching waterfall) is considered as yet knowing Bac Hoa.
I and Lang Quoc Ky, the son of Lang Van Ngan, who has the merit of preserving and developing folk songs, went along the concrete road to Khi Dom waterfall. Lang Quoc Ky said: This is Khi Dom waterfall beside Thac Luoi stream. The stream originates from Lang Son mountains and forests. A long time ago, following the flow of Thac Luoi, there was Thac Luoi Festival. After the Soong hao season in the first and second lunar months, many couples have become husband and wife.
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Khi Dom waterfall. |
That stream gave birth to Thac Luoi market fair every 5 days so that ethnic minorities in the region have the opportunity to meet and shop to create the identity of a highland market. Thac Luoi stream is sometimes calm and sometimes roars through the village, bringing a huge water source to the immense Cam Son lake.
Lang Quoc Ky looked up towards the green in which Khi Dom waterfall is hidden. It was the cold, dry season, perhaps the waterfall is still like a young girl sleeping in the forest, dreaming in silence and waiting for spring to come. The scenery is quiet but fresh and pure as there are only seven households with nearly 30 people in Bac Hoa.
When villagers meet strangers, they are embarrassed but friendly and like to start a conversation in an open and close manner. Khi Dom waterfall on the green creek of Tu Linh mountain is also silent.
There are many more stories about Khi Dom waterfall told by the elderly, but now they are just anecdotes gathered into nostalgia about a time when humans and wild animals were friends, wild animals were like dogs in the house and chickens in the gate. What happening in front of our eyes are still the sounds of water gurgling through each rock. Here and there exists a pile of ashes that still seems to be warm. |
According to the local language, "Tu Linh mountain" means "Monkey mountain". When the old people here were still children, they saw a group of monkeys regularly appearing on a rock which was as big as a compartment right next to the waterfall. Sometimes they were playful, sometimes they danced and caressed each other. Daily life made them safe and friendly.
Only when seeing a person went to the stream to bathe in the hot summer days, the monkeys from the stock where the stream water falls began to look left and right with two strange eyes and then sometimes imitated. Many times like that, so every time people came back to Khi Dom waterfall to bathe, they just needed to say to each other: "Who is watched by the monkeys?". They continued to bathe together so that the monkeys could look at them. However, there was a time when they were subjective, the monkeys, who were hyperactive, swooped down to the pile of clothes to grab one and then jumped up the tree branch. It took the visitors a lot of time to get it back.
There are many more stories about Khi Dom waterfall told by the elderly, but now they are just anecdotes gathered into nostalgia about a time when humans and wild animals were friends, wild animals were like dogs in the house and chickens in the gate. What happening in front of our eyes are still the sounds of water gurgling through each rock. Here and there exists a pile of ashes that still seems to be warm.
Lang Quoc Ky said that these are vestiges from teachers who have just left after the limited time of the weekend. Most of the teachers live far away from home so they took a rest in the stream to go back to work. They came here to light a fire to bake food, and organize meals like a short but fun and useful picnic. Following the technology trend of the fourth Industrial Revolution, Bac Hoa people have begun to develop community-based eco-tourism on the basis of promoting local available advantages.
