Not only famous for its strange flow, dangerous rapids, containing countless legends from the time of the founding of Van Lang and Son Tinh - Thuy Tinh, or the habitat of monster fish, but the Da River is also the greatest energy river in Vietnam. Those things have turned the Da River into a legend.
Proud war horse in the Northwest forest
The Da River - with other names such as the Bo River, Da Giang - originates in Yunnan Province (China), with a total length of 1,366km, of which 543km flows through Vietnam. This is a wild, fierce and brave horse, considered a symbol of the majestic Northwest mountainous region.
That wild, fierce and rebellious nature comes from the hydrological and soil factors of the place where the Da River flows. This horse runs on terrain that is mostly high hills and steep slopes. Therefore, the terrain along the Da River is mainly high mountains, deep ravines, large flow slopes, and deep riverbeds.
The Da River flows through Son La, Hoa Binh, Phu Tho, and Hanoi provinces. When it just passes Hoa Binh province, it is blocked by the Ba Vi mountain range on the right bank, forcing it to change course and rush north to the foot of Da Chong mountain, before joining the Thao and Lo rivers to form the Red River flowing into the sea.
This is the reason why the scholar Le Quy Don (1726 - 1784) of the Later Le Dynasty made a short but accurate comment like a sword strike to leave his name forever "Da Giang flows to the north", while most other rivers flow to the East in the direction of the Northwest - Southeast mountains.
On such rugged terrain, the Da River naturally has a fierce character, with 83 dangerous rapids, of which the most famous is Bo waterfall (in Hoa Binh province) and the most fierce is Bo rapids (in Phu Tho land). The proverb "going up the waterfall and down the rapids" refers to the arduous, difficult, and dangerous work that also originated from the Da River.
Read Nguyen Tuan's descriptive essays about this river in his travelogue "Da River" published in 1960 to understand the majestic and harsh appearance of a mysterious entity: "Da River is like a strand of black hair thousands of fathoms long", or "Da River has many whirlpools, many dead currents, many rapids, many waterfalls".
Writer Nguyen Tuan also described in detail some of the most dangerous waterfalls on the Da River to show that the human journey on this river is a life-and-death struggle to protect life, no less than any notorious life-and-death scene between humans and nature.
There are rapids that "have to be pulled the boat through the whole wet season, the whole dry season... there are stretches where the boat must be lifted ashore, tipped over and pulled for nearly a kilometer. There are places where the boat must be pulled ashore and then up the steep rocky shore", or like "Riding the rapids of the Da River, one must ride to the end like riding a tiger".
Habitat of all sea monsters
The cliffs are as sharp as razor blades on both sides of the river, the riverbed is also full of boulders, the water is so deep that it turns the color of the Da River darkens, containing many legends about water monsters. There are mysterious giant snakes that can overturn boats, take people to their caves to eat in the legends of Son Tinh - Thuy Tinh, and ferocious water dragons that often create storms on the river.
However, putting aside the mythical elements, the obvious truth is that the Da River is full of monster fish living in the cold, dark water, residing in hundreds of thousands of rock holes at the bottom of the river, and is still very much alive. These monster fish have made the reputation of the Da River.
Among them, the top is the Anh Vu fish with its delicious meat, which was offered to the royal court in ancient times and recorded in history books. "Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu" records that Anh Vu fish live in the upper reaches of the Da River, where the water flows rapidly in a terrain with many caves. The snout of Anh Vu fish looks a bit like a pig's snout because this fish often uses its snout to bite into the rocks on the riverbed to eat moss.
The meat of the parrot fish is white and more delicious than any other fish. Not only that, the meat is as chewy as a piece of ham, creating a pleasure when eaten. However, the best part of the parrot fish is the snout, which is made entirely of lip cartilage. This cartilage is rumored to be able to cure many diseases, eating it helps the mind to be clear and the body to be comfortable.
The Da River catfish is a true monster because it is a ferocious fish, often living in rocky caves next to rapids and rapids. The catfish has a strange shape, its whole body is covered with moss green spots, and its weight can reach 60kg.
However, that strange shape hides a delicious piece of meat inside. The fried fish meat has a beautiful turmeric yellow color, the meat is also chewy, delicious like the parrot fish and has absolutely no small bones, very suitable for making lightly processed dishes such as salad, hot pot or stew.
In the bottom layer of the Da River, there is another rare fish called the blue dam fish. The fish has a thick mouth and shiny blue scales. The blue dam fish has a very long intestine, 10 times longer than the length of its body. Another special feature of the blue dam fish is that its meat is sweet and fragrant from when it is as small as a fingertip until it has an average weight of 6 - 7kg.
River of Light
The Da River is a source of hydropower that brings light to human life, with a huge source of electricity from hydroelectric plants.
Thanks to its steep terrain and high hydropower, the Da River has one of the highest hydropower potentials in the Vietnamese river system. The first hydropower plant was built in Hoa Binh city and the second hydropower plant with a capacity four times that of Hoa Binh hydropower plant was built in Son La province.
In December 1994, Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant officially came into operation, with a total installed capacity of 1,920 MW, producing an average annual electricity output of more than 8.16 billion kWh. This is the eldest brother of Vietnam's power grid system, contributing significantly to ensuring national energy security.
Upstream of the Da River in the Ta Bu, Muong La, Son La province is the Son La Hydroelectric Plant. This project started construction on December 5, 2005 and was inaugurated on December 23, 2012 and was the largest hydroelectric plant in Southeast Asia at that time with an installed capacity of 2,400 MW, with 6 generators producing an average annual electricity output of 10.246 billion kWh.
One year before the Son La hydropower plant came into operation, in 2011, the Lai Chau hydropower plant was started in Nam Hang commune, Nam Nhun district, Lai Chau province. This power generation source consists of 3 units with a total installed capacity of 1,200 MW, contributing to the national grid about 4,670.8 million kWh per year.
Thus, the Hoa Binh - Son La - Lai Chau hydropower trio has utilized the flow and water volume of the Da River to generate 25 billion kWh of electricity each year to serve the country's domestic and production electricity needs. This profit is estimated at about 1.2 - 1.3 billion USD each year.
Obviously, the Da River not only created the culture of the Northwest region, or contributed water and alluvium to the Red River over thousands of years to create the Red River civilization, but also illuminated the lives of the people, providing a huge source of energy to operate the social machine.
Although the river flows differently from all other rivers in Vietnam, the Da River deserves to be considered one of the most famous rivers in Vietnam.
