Posts Tagged Hoa Lu
Ancient capital offers colourful history lessons of two dynasties
Posted by Huyen Tran in Destinations, Travel Blog on December 30, 2009
On a spring morning, we visit the ancient Hoa Lu capital, now in Truong Yen Commune, Hoa Lu District, in the northern province of Ninh Binh.
Hoa Lu means “Flowers of Reeds” and was the capital city of the Dinh dynasty (968-980) and the Tien Le (Early-Le) dynasty (980-1009). The Ly dynasty (1010-1225) was also formed from this capital city.
Arriving at the ancient capital, tourists always visit the temple of King Dinh Tien Hoang (Dinh Bo Linh), who built up Hoa Lu as the capital and set up the first centralised feudal State in Viet Nam, as well as the temple of the first king of the Tien Le dynasty, King Le Dai Hanh (Le Hoan).
Hoa Lu as a capital city existed for only 41 years, from 968 to 1009, during which time the first 12 years belonged to the Dinh Dynasty. Dinh Bo Linh was crowned as King Dinh Tien Hoang and he named the country Dai Co Viet. The next 29 years were ruled by the Tien Le Dynasty.
Ninh Binh – Flying solo
Posted by Thanh Vu in Destinations, Travel Blog on December 23, 2009
Ben went off to Halong Bay, and having been there once before, I decided to take myself off for an adventure of my own…which lead me to Ninh Binh…
The kind of place where you have to change your route home because the road has been blocked by rice crops. The kind of place where the drive home included driving under a spray of a rice harvesting machine, getting sprayed with straw. The kind of place where you have to slow down because there is a herd of ducks waddling towards you in unison on the road as the farmer moves them elsewhere! The kind of place you have to squeeze past a buffalo on the road!
I took a two hour bus from Hanoi, and found myself a nice hotel room. In the afternoon I hired a bike with a lovely Vietnamese driver, sadly whom I could not communicate with! I could have cycled to Tam Coc, but I was put off by having to cycle on the notorious Highway 1 which lonely planet stronlgy advises against doing!! The driver took me down fantastic country lanes with views of teh large limestone karsts emerging from the rice paddies.
I climbed up 500 steps one of said karsts, and had a great view of the landscape. Next, I went to Tam Coc for a calm row boat ride down shallow water in between the large peaks. It was beautiful. The only annoyance was when a lady magically got on my boat (don’t know how she got on so quietly!) to deliver a sales pitch. Thankfully she left just as quietly! On the roads back, there were so many people in the rice paddies working hard, but what a scenic place to work!
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Hoa Lu Ancient Capital
Posted by Huyen Tran in Destinations on December 10, 2009
Hoa Lu is some 110km or two hours from Hanoi. Located near Ninh Binh city, Hoa Lu is the site of a 10th-century capital of an ancient Vietnamese Kingdom called Dai Co Viet. This small Kingdom covered an area of only 300 hectares, and reigned from the 10th century, during the Dinh and Le dynasties, to the 11th century, during the Ly Dynasty. The Kingdom was enclosed by a citadel. The citadel and the Yen Ngua limestone hills provided good defence for this kingdom against the Chinese.
The mountains and sea combined to make Hoa Lu’s picturesque landscape. Hoa Lu lays in a flat valley surrounded by the Trang An limestone mountains, which form a natural wall protecting the old citadel. The city’s northwest is bordered by the Hoang Long River, the tributaries of which run through the capital, cooling the weather within the city and serving as convenient waterways. Read the rest of this entry »
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