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The beauty of Ta Kon citadel in the forest |
The Kon River in the central province of Binh Dinh is often called the “royal river” because it is linked to the popular uprisings. The river is also a place where many stories about the Tay Son’s brothers are handed down by word of mouth. The story of Ta Kon citadel is one of them.
The road to the ancient citadel
The journey along the Kon River seemed to bring back memories with mythical stories about Binh Dinh’s land and vestiges. During the journey, we experienced many interesting things about the ancient relic, Ta Kon.
From the Nguyen Hue’s orange garden located in Vinh Son commune, Vinh Thanh district, we made a journey through the forest to visit the Ta Con citadel at Kon Blo village.
After travelling to the forest’s edge by motorbikes, we left them outside and followed six natives into the forest. On the way to the citadel, we asked some Bana people about Ta Con but nobody knew it.
Rocks at Ta Kon
After travelling through the forest for more than one hour, we suddenly saw a rocky ascent fully covered with creepers. Going to the end of the ascent we faced the Ta Kon citadel, which is formed by huge rocks with the length of 20 meters.
Pieces of big cylinder sandstone were used to build the citadel. Looking from the top of the towering ancient citadel is a dizzying experience. It towers above the valley below.
Visitors can climb around the walls by holding on to the creepers and tree roots that grow out of the gaps between the huge six-sided building blocks.
At one end of the wall is a deep cave, which is a hidden tunnel that leads to the valley below the citadel. Legend has it that Trum and Tram, two kings of the Ba Na group, fled to the valley this way when the citadel was attacked by Bok Toponka, a neighboring king.
At present, visitors can climb for about 500 meters by holding onto the roots along the wall to get a sense of the citadel’s immensity. Ba Na locals know the way well but it takes more than a day to see the whole thing, Khuat says.
Ta Kon Ancient Citadel is in ruins. Although it is linked with many legends, its history is still a mystery.
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