A
group of my friends from the US recently travelled to the Cuu Long (Mekong)
Delta, home to Tra Vinh’s legendary Ba Om Pond. While there, they visited Ang
Pagoda which people claim is the best vantage point from which to enjoy the
beautiful scenery of the pond.

Tree-lined drive: The Ba Om Pond complex in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh. — File Photos

Located on the
outskirts of Tra Vinh Town, the pagoda complex is a fortress that offers
travellers an escape from the heat and dust of Road 52.

One of the group,
Duong Quang Chan, an overseas Vietnamese businessman, who has lived in the US
for years, was returning on this occasion to seek out business opportunities and
said he was considering a tourism project in Tra Vinh, which also happened to be
his grandmother’s birthplace.

“As we arrived at the
complex, we were amazed by the century-old trees. From a distance, their strange
stumps looked like giant snakes heading for the sky,” said Chan.

The soft whispering of
the trees combined with the low murmur of Buddhist monks reciting the scriptures
from a distant pagoda to create a blissful atmosphere for those wanting to
meditate, he said.

A local photographer
Huynh Van Hung said that a great flood may have swept through the area long time
ago, shaping it and marking the old trees.

Sitting on a hammock
strung between two old stumps, Hung said visitors often come here to enjoy the
view of peaceful Ba Om Pond, famed for its pure water.

Hung said although
visitors have their own camera they still ask him to photograph the view.

Ba Om Pond is called a
square pond, but is actually 300m wide and 500m long. The pond is carpeted with
water lilies and lotus flowers which bloom white and purple every summer.

The legendary pond was
formed as a result of a bet between young ethnic Khmer men and women. The exact
date is unknown but according to the elderly monks known by the Tra Vinh Khmer
as Luc Masters, the pond was formed about 500 to 600 years ago.

Nguyen Thu Anh, a
guide at the Tra Vinh Khmer Museum, said that long ago Khmer society was
matriarchal. Young women had to find partners and present betrothal gifts to the
bridegroom’s family. This habit made the young men selfish and they asked for
gifts of ever increasing value.

Fairyland: Ang Pagoda, a marvellous Khmer pagoda, welcomes a million visitors a year.

Tiring of this, leader
of a women’s group, a lady called Om, sought approval from officials in the
region for men to do what women had been doing for centuries. The clever
official asked the two groups to dig one pond each. They were to be a kilometre
apart. Whoever finished first would be the winner and could ask the other group
to do their bidding.

This decision would
benefit the entire region, as two big ponds contained a great deal of water,
which was much needed in the dry season.

In a story that
mirrors the fable of the turtle and the rabbit, the group led by Om pretended
that they was not up to the task and tried to shelter from the sunshine. Om
responded by asking some of these lazy women to lure the men by holding a party
to last all day and night.

While half of her
group were busy with the men, the others lit torches and dig all night. Their
pond was finished by the next morning and took her name. The unfinished men’s
pond can still be seen at the site of Pras Tropeang Pagoda.

There is another
legend which states that the two are natural ponds and that both were there
before the Khmer settled in Tra Vinh. Indeed, many Khmer people still use the
name Srar Cu (twin ponds) when talking about the ponds. The name Ba Om (Lady Om)
is also one way of pronouncing the name of the vegetable which grows naturally
around the pond. The cows in the region love this vegetable, and their flesh is
very tasty as a result. Visitors can try this special beef in cooking stores in the
region.

The Ba Om Pond complex
was recognised as a national historical-cultural relic in 1996. It is popular
site for Khmer festivals, especially the Ok Om Bok, which takes place in the
middle of the tenth lunar month. At that time, the Khmer of the entire Mekong
Delta gather there to host traditional customs and games.

Dang Phuoc Tho,
director of the Provincial Cultural Centre, said the festival was held for
people to express thanks to the moon for good weather and a good harvest.

Last lunar month
nearly 30,000 local and foreign visitors watched a boat race on the Ba Om Pond
as part of this festival. The event attracted 500 boatmen from the province and
eight boats competed over 700m and 1,500m.

The boats, called ghe
ngo, are pirogues crafted from tree trunks. They have a curved head and tail and
are managed by skilful boatmen.

On the night of the
festival, family members gather before the communal pagoda or in their houses,
preparing a feast with farm produce like green rice flakes which are the
speciality of the Khmer people, ripe bananas, fresh coconuts and mangoes. These
are all offered to the moon.

As the moon rises, the
ceremony begins. Family members sit on the ground, hands clasped. An elderly man
expresses the village’s gratitude and recites prayers for continued good crops
and good health.

After the ceremony,
everyone joins hands and looks at the moon. They receive green rice flakes from
the elderly man and make a wish. People then release paper lanterns into the sky
and banana-tree rafts decorated with colourful lights and loaded with offerings
are set adrift on the river.

Tran Hoang Be,
director of the Tra Vinh Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the
province plans to invest billions of dong to expand the Ba Om Pond
culture-tourism complex to 84ha. It will include a Khmer museum, a sports
centre, a service-trade and a tourism centre.

The aim is to attract
more visitors to the area by preserving and improving the site’s original
landscape, said Be.

The site welcomes
millions of visitors every year.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News