EVERY RIVER GOES EAST, BUT ONLY THE DA RIVER GOES NORTH
These are two verses of the Chief of the Painter and the Tuan Phu of Hung Hoa Nguyen Quang Bich (1832-1890) a century ago when it comes to the distinctive features of the Da river in terms of natural geography: all rivers are flows to the East, only the Da River flows to the North.
Nguyen Tuan used these two verses as the title of his article “Da river ferryman” to highlight the distinctiveness, initial impression, and distinct personality of the Da river, a river that has given life to new ideas. Lyrical and poetic while also being strong and brutal.
The Da River has been transformed into a piece of nature by Nguyen Tuan. Da River is stunning in terms of its overall design, color, and water flow. The Da River’s water is described as being “green jade” in the spring and “slowly ripe and red like the skin of a person’s face bruised by alcohol” in the fall.
The Da River, according to Nguyen Tuan, “flows like a lyrical hair; the head and the hairline are hidden in the clouds of the Northwest sky, blooming with flowers in February and billowing with smoke from the mountains and cats burning the fields in spring.” The Da River’s enormous banks spread out and are covered in butterflies and dragonflies.
The Da River causes nostalgia for those who once met and then left. When meeting the Da River again, the writer also felt that his soul was light and happy as if he had met his old friend but had to say: “Woah, looking at the river, it’s as happy as seeing the crisp sunshine after the heavy rain, as happy as the connection. interrupted dream again”.
If you have a day of adventure on the Da River, visit Maida Lodge, you will meet the vast but peaceful Da River today, a different Da River today and miss the Da River in the past, with Nguyen Tuan.