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With the position of the majestic landscape, to arriving Ma Pi Leng Pass, a famous tourist destination, one of the 11 majestic landscapes of Ha Giang, we must overcome the roads, the extremely dangerous turnings. It can be said that “if you do not yet pass Ma Pi Leng, you are not past master in going backpacking”
It is just a rhetoric of the author when using the phrase “if you do not yet pass the Great Wall of China, you are not a hero” but with the majestic landscape the dangerous roads, Ma Pi Leng Pass deserves the most majestic landscape, so the above rhetoric is quite true for the case of Ma Pi Leng Pass.
However, Ma Pi Leng is a mountain worthy to conquer not only because of its unrivaled danger, but also because of the immense effort of man opening the way to the stone plateau as mentioned in the essay “Mỏm Lũng Cú tột Bắc” on the process of opening Ma Pi Leng Pass, Nguyen Tuan wrote: “It took a year and a half to complete the whole Dong Van – Meo Vac section with 24 kilometers of rocky road, but separately Ma Pi Leng slope, it took 11 months to hang body on the cliff for boasting, cutting and carving stone to snuggle the road face up to the steep cliff.”
Ha Giang, the far away land “The bird flying twice to be broken its wings”, is located at the northernmost position of our country. Ha Giang is also the oldest rocky land of the Earth, helping Dong Van Karst Plateau become a Global Geopark recognized by UNESCO in December 2010.
|Read more: Travel Guide of Ha Giang – Vietnam if you are planning a trip there
Therefore, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, when visiting Ha Giang, visiting Dong Van Stone Plateau, once said: “It is qualified to award the hero award for people here to build houses, live in this harsh climate area, but not to mention that they have to make wealth to feed themselves and contribute to society … ”
Ha Giang or particularly the Dong Van Stone Plateau has been known to be a place of stone only, a harsh rocky plateau! Ma Pi Leng Pass is not only a majestic natural landscape but also a place where people show their strange vitality in the top of the northernmost area of the country, as shown in the photos shooting on the most grandiose pass in Vietnam.
Ma Pi Leng Pass (also known as Mã Pí Lèng, Mã Pỉ Lèng, Mả Pì Lèng) is located in Ha Giang Province, which is a rugged pass road with a length of about 20 km over Ma Pi Leng peak. There is a mountain peak with a height of about 1.200m belonging to Dong Van Plateau, located on a road named Happiness Road connecting Ha Giang city, Dong Van and Meo Vac towns.
This 200 km long road was made by tens of thousands of youth volunteers belonging to 16 ethnic groups of 8 northern provinces in Vietnam in 6 years (1959-1965) with over 2 million turns of working days, of which, the Ma Pi Leng pass was completed in 11 months by suicide squad hanging their bodu on the cliff to encroach on every centimeter to open the way. Ma Pi Leng is called unofficially by tourists as one of the “four greatest peaks” in the Northern mountains of Vietnam, in addition to O Quy Ho Pass, Khau Pha Pass and Pha Din Pass.
Ma Pi Leng is the name in the Mandarin language, referring to “the bridge of horse nose” literally. Figuratively, however, this name refers to the most dangerous of the mountain peaks where mares climb to the peak but she suffers a miscarriage and died, where the slope is so high that the horse passing by is breathless, or erect mountain peaks like a horse’s nose. However, according to some local H’mong people, the correct name of this pass is Mao Pi Leng, meaning “the bridge of cat nose”.
Anyone who came to Ma Pi Leng once would be surprised by the passive and mysterious beauty of the pass connecting Dong Van district and Meo Vac district. Wind, sunshine and clouds creat a wild mountainous area like the period of creation of the world.
Located deep in the valley, Nho Que river appears as a white rope lying across the ravine, in the fountain head, endless fog is sucked in and mixed in the vast sea of fog. There are mountain grains seem to be split into a vertical plane so that people can write letters on it like a blackboard in the classroom.
In life, people often say to the peak, Ma Pi leng is a peak, Nho Que river is a peak located at the bottom of the abyss and mountains here are also high to blue sky.
On a beautiful sunny day, in Ma Pi Leng, what is covered by fog will be revealed. Those are the houses, the villages appearing in the sun like stamps stamped on the butt of the blue “elephant mountains”, majestic and immense.
Do Duc painter once wrote some verses when he first visited Ma Pi Leng:
“…Row on row of mountains like elephants
Road crossing the sky like parallel clouds
High mountain, deep valley, winding river
Corn plants wobble in wind in the mountains
Face up to look up at the soaring sky
Climb to the top of the mountain to see the mist around feets
The frontier region has rugged passes and slopes
A sunny day but nine rainy days”.
And after the beauty touched the earth and sky, other peaks are also realized, that is the peak of conquest of the Mong people on that endless mountain.
The single houses are surrounded by stone fences on the edge of the tottery chasm, wind and clouds can freely pass through the walls made of neohouzeau. However, they still cling to this place with the corn stumps from generation to generation. I suddenly laughed when I thought about whether it is neccessary to get a red book for the houses covered by clouds in four seasons. Another feeling: It is not that the government grants the red books to the people, but the people here are holding the red book for the government! If a red book is needed, perhaps except for the district town, the households here only share one book, thai is too sure …
The biggest problem: The harsh nature has been harmonized by the people here. They clying here without suing anyone. Therefore, the red book is not necessary, so the syrinx sound crepts into every stone, they blow themselves and find themselves happy without the audience or fans.
Going to Dong Van – Ha Giang, passing Ma Pi Leng, once again, we discover a new peak, which is the pinnacle of living with harsh nature. On this our S-strip of land, perhaps the Mong people are still No.1 in living in harmony with the harsh nature.
Ma Pi Leng Pass is one of 11 tourist destinations of Ha Giang, so when you come to Ha Giang, take the time to enjoy the beautiful scenes and the majestic landscape all over the country!
