1. Location and route to the monument
– From Co Noi fork, turn right, follow provincial road 103 for about 16 km, stop the car, walk about 1.5 km to reach cave No. 1.
– The road to the monument is convenient by road. The two sides of the road are very beautiful, the road is paved along the hillsides with the green color of corn fields and lush forests.
2. Events, historical figures, characteristics of monuments
Like other localities in Son La province, present-day Yen Chau has undergone many changes in boundaries and names. This rich and beautiful land has its own history and name.
Yen Chau from ancient times called Muong Vat, when Thai people migrated from Laos to Moc Chau and settled in Yen Chau in the 13th century. At that time, the Muong Vat center was located in Chieng Khoong, so Muong Vat was also called Chieng Khoong. The meaning and history of this name has many explanations: some people think that Muong Vat is a small muong like a lap, others think that this name comes from the fairy tale of Phom Hom or Muong Vat. In Muong village, there is a man wearing a shirt with a split armpit, with a piece of cloth inside called Vat in Thai, so it’s called Muong Vat.
Although there are many different names in history, all of them refer to the land of Yen Chau – a long-standing land associated with and inseparable from the Northwest region, a mountainous region of the Fatherland. .
Dan village, Yen Son commune, formerly in Chieng On commune, Yen Chau district. In 1998, it was separated to establish Yen Son commune. Chi Day Cave is a natural rock cave located under the overlapping limestone mountains called Chi Day. In the Thai ethnic language, it means will be. This cave was discovered by local people in the 70s of the 20th century, but because Ban Dan belongs to Chieng On commune, which is a border commune to ensure security and order in the border area, this cave has not been exploited for restoration. visitor service. After being separated administratively into 2 communes, Dan village in Yen Son commune, in recent years, this cave area has received great attention from the authorities from communes, districts and local people. This will become a scenic spot of the province to soon be exploited and promoted to serve the needs of local tourism development.
3. Relic survey
Chieng On is a land with a long history, the people living here are mainly Thai, Xinh Mun, Hmong and Kinh. According to history, this land was formerly owned by the Xinh Mun (Xa people) ethnic group, which is known as one of the first inhabitants to explore the Northwest basin, to discover and establish the first Muong villages. When the Thai migrated from Laos to the 14th century, due to the massive migration, the Xa people had to move to the mountains to make way for the Thai people. Legend among the people of Chieng On recounts that: “Once upon a time, when the Thai King immigrated from Laos, Chieng On was the land of the Xa people for a long time. The two sides fought over that land. Thai together discussed and agreed to organize a contest in the form of shooting arrows at the rocky mountains, If any side can shoot 3 arrows stuck in the rock, that side will win and be the owner of this land. The Xa people at that time had a very high skill in forging weapons, they were able to cast bronze arrows to shoot crossbows, but when the Xa people shot bronze arrows into the cliff, the bronze arrow bounced back and could not be inserted into the cliff. . Thai people are more cunning, they use softer bamboo arrows, before shooting they apply a little beeswax on the arrowhead to create stickiness, when shooting arrows stick to the cliff. The Thai won, so the Xa had to cede the land to them. The Xa moved to higher ground, mainly living in caves, living a temporary life. In this land today, in the rituals of worshiping villages and Muong of the Thai people, they always mention the merits of the Xa people for having openly destroyed the land of Chieng On”. The Xa people at that time had a very high skill in forging weapons, they were able to cast bronze arrows to shoot crossbows, but when the Xa people shot bronze arrows into the cliff, the bronze arrow bounced back and could not be inserted into the cliff. . Thai people are more cunning, they use softer bamboo arrows, before shooting they apply a little beeswax on the arrowhead to create stickiness, when shooting arrows stick to the cliff. The Thai won, so the Xa had to cede the land to them. The Xa moved to higher ground, mainly living in caves, living a temporary life. In this land today, in the rituals of worshiping villages and Muong of the Thai people, they always mention the merits of the Xa people for having openly destroyed the land of Chieng On”. The Xa people at that time had a very high skill in forging weapons, they were able to cast bronze arrows to shoot crossbows, but when the Xa people shot bronze arrows into the cliff, the bronze arrow bounced back and could not be inserted into the cliff. . The Thai people are more cunning, they use softer bamboo arrows, before shooting they apply a little beeswax on the arrowhead to create stickiness, when shooting the arrow sticks to the cliff. The Thai won, so the Xa had to cede the land to them. The Xa moved to higher ground, mainly living in caves, living a temporary life. In this land today, in the rituals of worshiping villages and Muong of the Thai people, they always mention the merits of the Xa people for having openly destroyed the land of Chieng On”. they use softer bamboo arrows, before shooting they apply some beeswax on the arrowhead to create stickiness, when shooting the arrow stick to the cliff. The Thai won, so the Xa had to cede the land to them. The Xa moved to higher ground, mainly living in caves, living a temporary life. In this land today, in the rituals of worshiping villages and Muong of the Thai people, they always mention the merits of the Xa people for having openly destroyed the land of Chieng On”. they use softer bamboo arrows, before shooting they apply some beeswax on the arrowhead to create stickiness, when shooting the arrow stick to the cliff. The Thai won, so the Xa had to cede the land to them. The Xa moved to higher ground, mainly living in caves, living a temporary life. In this land today, in the rituals of worshiping villages and Muong of the Thai people, they always mention the merits of the Xa people for having openly destroyed the land of Chieng On”.
According to the old people in Dan village, the Black Thai people have come here for a long time until there were wars and wars, people went to look at places to find shelter. They found this limestone mountain range to have a very convenient location for evacuation, where people can both shelter, live and increase production, when people come to this land exclaim: “Chi push, only push” (Will be, will be). Since then, this mountain area has been named Chi Push. Currently, the land of Chi Push belongs to Dan village, Yen Son commune, the population here is mainly Thai Yen Chau.
Chi Day caves are natural caves created by the impact of underground water in the limestone mountains. The relic consists of 3 caves located on a limestone mountain range covered with forests.
First cave: Facing to the west, the entrance of the cave is high and wide, like the image of a giant crocodile opening its mouth to bite. This cave is in the form of a karst cave created by limestone mountains and built up over thousands of years. In the wide and high cave, there are places up to 30m with many different shapes of limestone stalactites. Entering the cave, we feel like entering a cool, airy house, right at the entrance is a stone block shaped like a lion lying prostrate on another stone block with a statue of Guanyin Buddha sitting on a lotus. , surrounded by other animals playing. The ceiling of the cave is relatively flat as if it was inlaid with a thin layer of silver, when the light shines on we see a metallic sparkle. Inside are stalactites like large rice trees, then gold and silver trees… a large stone pillar connects from the ground to the ceiling of the cave like a co-pillar connecting yin and yang.
Scene in cave number 1
The second cave: Adjacent to the right hand side of the first cave, facing West – North. This cave also has a wide and high arch, the length of the cave is about 600m, in some places it is up to 50m wide. Entering the cave is a large space for us to stop to have an overview of the scene of the cave. On the right is a cave like a princess’s room with sophisticated and luxurious decoration that is countless marble-like stones sprayed from the cave wall forming colorful decorative fringes. luster. Next to the princess chamber are also stone pillars that are also elaborately decorated with marble rays connecting from the ceiling of the cave to the ground. This is really a unique creation of nature that certainly few caves have.
Cave door number 2
Going deep inside, a long-time flowing water ingrained in the rock makes us think of a cool stream of spring water that is still flowing day and night, next to it is the princess’s bath with the creation of God. flowing water forms frills around the curved, soft tub.
In the middle of the cave is a wide field that looks like a field, a terraced field with fertile soil and a variety of crops created by countless large and small pebbles. The first field is like a paddy field, the stretchy rice grains are being dried in the sun, showing the farmers’ well-being. The second field is the potatoes that have just been harvested but have not been selected, so the big and small ones are intertwined. The third field is the fruit that has just been collected with grapefruit, custard apple, orange… Due to the flow of water, time has created a special feature for this cave.
Beside the field, looking up above, we see a large stalactite block like a king’s throne, above the canopy, the king is smiling, gently looking down at the fields, happy because of the abundance. warmth of all peoples.
Going inside, we find ourselves lost in the world of fairy tales. The landscape is as beautiful as a painting of nature: here is a primeval forest with thousands of trees, there is a waterfall flowing with white foam, herds of animals are eating grass and drinking water in the forest. .
Looking to the side, we see the statue of Quang Trung Nguyen Hue standing majestically next to his soldiers. At the end of the cave is a large statue like a Buddha, sitting on a lotus, in her hand is a laurel branch with gentle eyes, she is looking down at the world, bestowing kindness to the people of hundreds of them.
Scene in cave number 2
The third cave: The cave with the largest area, facing south, has a length of about 1,200m, the widest place is about 50m, about 800m from the second cave. This cave is also called Elephant Cave because in the cave there is a very large white stone elephant. The cave is divided into seven compartments of different sizes.
The white elephant rock is associated with the legend of a giant elephant trapped in a cave
The first compartment: has an area of about 50m2, this is the entrance of the cave, where visitors stop before entering the cave to admire the scenery.
The second chamber: has a height of about 30m, an area of about 100m2 with large stalactites connected from the ceiling of the cave to the ground looking like groups of statues.
The third compartment: Entering the third compartment, we will see a large stalactite block like tens of thousands of small mushrooms stacked on top of each other. On the ceiling are hundreds of mother’s breasts nursing her cubs.
The fourth compartment: Going through a small cave, like a roof drum, we will enter the fourth compartment, this compartment is about 300m2 wide, in the middle of the cave is a rice dune about 20m high. On the left hand side is the cave wall with stalactites looking like a relief depicting the majestic natural scene of a talented sculptor.
The fifth compartment: On the right hand side is a jellyfish-shaped stalactite with many long white tentacles, on the left is a giant mushroom reaching to the ceiling of the cave.
The sixth compartment: This is the widest part with white waterfalls, with stalactites like lush primeval forests. Overall, we see it as a wonderfully beautiful watercolor painting depicting the natural scene with blue sky, lush trees, murmuring stream.
The seventh compartment: This is the last part in the cave, the cliff on the left hand side is a giant white elephant drinking water. This is the most impressive part of the cave, so people often call this cave the elephant cave. The inside is like a harem with many stalactites with vivid shapes.
In general, the third cave has a large area, the scenery in the cave will take visitors from one surprise to another with the rare beauty of a beautiful and vivid natural picture.
Scene in cave 3
The landscape of Chi Day cave has a very beautiful interior, with unique stalactites, rare in other cave systems. The caves are very large and can accommodate thousands of people. The entrance to this cave area as well as the surrounding landscape is very beautiful with green forests, corn fields, old forests with many precious woods, cool and fresh climate suitable for eco-tourism. Coming to the scenic Chi Day cave, visitors can also enjoy the specialties of Yen Chau with sweet bananas, fragrant mangoes, fruit-laden longan, with the dances and words of Thai girls. remember forever.
4. Historical, cultural, scientific and aesthetic value of the monument
– According to the survey results, research on the status of the relic and other sources, especially the stories of the people in this region, Chi Day cave relic is a cave complex located next to each other, the scene The landscape here is unspoiled, unspoiled, associated with the land with a long history, with pristine stalactite systems, rich images created by nature over tens of thousands of years and continues to be deposited today. cover. Chi Day Cave is a natural rock cave created by the impact of underground water in limestone mountains under the overlapping mountains. The cave has a large area, can accommodate thousands of people, the landscape inside is very beautiful with unique stalactites, rare in other caves. At the same time, it is a great shaping work of nature, with the presence of thousands of stalactites and stalactites. It looks like the majestic pictures that nature has bestowed on this land. This is really a precious gift that nature has bestowed on humans and the land here.
– The cave has a long history, discovered by local people in the 70s of the twentieth century.
– Chi Day cave is a relic with a beautiful landscape, a favorable location, if it is interested in investing, it will be the focal point for the economic and tourism development of the locality and the province.
Source: Collected internet.