Hoa Lu means “Flowers of Reeds” and was the capital city of the Dinh dynasty (968-980) and the Tien Le (Early-Le) dynasty (980-1009). The Ly dynasty (1010-1225) was also formed from this capital city.

Arriving at the ancient capital, tourists always visit the temple of King Dinh Tien Hoang (Dinh Bo Linh), who built up Hoa Lu as the capital and set up the first centralised feudal State in Viet Nam, as well as the temple of the first king of the Tien Le dynasty, King Le Dai Hanh (Le Hoan).

Hoa Lu as a capital city existed for only 41 years, from 968 to 1009, during which time the first 12 years belonged to the Dinh Dynasty. Dinh Bo Linh was crowned as King Dinh Tien Hoang and he named the country Dai Co Viet. The next 29 years were ruled by the Tien Le Dynasty.

Though the time is very short compared to the nation’s thousand-year history, the ancient capital of Hoa Lu marks a splendid historical time in the country. During the time of the Dinh and Le dynasties, feudal Viet Nam was powerful, and the Vietnamese people completely defeated an invasion by China’s Song Dynasty.

According to historians, archaeological excavations prove that 1,000 years ago, Hoa Lu was a magnificent royal citadel. The Hoa Lu Citadel covers 300ha, consisting of an outer and inner zone, linked together by a narrow road. Endless mountains and the Hoang Long River around the capital city defend it against military attacks.

But in 1,010, as the country stepped into a higher development stage, King Ly Thai To decided to move the capital city to Thang Long (now Ha Noi), where it remains to this day. Since then, Hoa Lu has been known as the former capital.

Today, on the foundation of the ancient royal palaces, sit the two temples, 500m from each other.

The temple of King Dinh Tien Hoang is located among ancient trees, orchards and ornamental trees, all intermingling to create a solemn scene. Entering the temple, we are attracted by unique wood and stone carvings by Vietnamese artisans in the 17th-19th centuries.

In front of the temple lies a large stone bed. Its face has a carved image of a dragon, with a foot holding its beard.

Walking on the main path, passing two big columns, visitors enter san rong (dragon yard). Perhaps, it used to be the place where the king gave audience to his mandarins. In the middle of the dragon yard is a stone bed, 1.8m long and 1.4m wide. On the two sides of the bed are two unicorns, made of two entire green rocks.

In the middle of the main sanctum, the bronze statue of King Dinh Tien Hoang sits on a green-stone platform.

On his left and right sides are two stone dragons. The right chamber is to worship the King’s two sons: Dinh Toan and Dinh Hang Lang. The left chamber worships the King’s first son, Dinh Lien.

The temple is surrounded by a “natural wall”, with a semi-circle lotus pond on the east side and a single mountain to the west. The surrounding mountains create a maze of valleys and caves, which were used to store food for soldiers and horses during the feudal period.

From King Dinh Temple, we walk 500m to visit the temple for King Le Dai Hanh and Queen Duong Van Nga. She used to be the wife of Dinh Bo Linh, but after he died, she had to cede the throne to Le Hoan (King Le Dai Hanh) to fortify the country to cope with an invasion by the northern Song Dynasty.

This temple is reflected in a branch of the Hoang Long River, and it is smaller than the King Dinh Temple.

Walking along the road to the temple, on the left-hand side, there is a large rock, 3m high, with an image of a dancing phoenix with its wings spread. On the right-hand side we see a rookery, with an image of a reclined tiger, close to an old tree, over 300 years old.

Visitors pass rocks with images of a kneeing elephant, a phoenix incubating its eggs and a long ma (a half-dragon, half-horse creature).

The statue of King Le Dai Hanh sits in the middle of the main sanctum. On the left sits the statue of King Le Long Dinh (the fifth son of King Le Dai Hanh), and on the right sits the statue of Queen Duong Van Nga.

Like the decorations in King Dinh Temple, the temple of King Le features wooden sculpture art of the 17th century, of a very polished and refined standard.

In the large lawn in the middle of the two temples, local people form a small market that sells local products, mostly ornamental trees and rocks with artistic works upon them.

Nguyen Thi Lien, a local seller, says her father and husband make the rocks and shape ornamental trees for her to sell at the market.

“We sell these products to tourists; each rock is sold for between VND60,000-100,000 (US$5.7), while an ornamental tree is cheaper, from VND10,000-50,000,” she says. “Serving tourists brings us a little extra income, in addition to our farms.”

Not far from the two temples is the Nhat Tru (One-Pillar) Pagoda, which has a stone pillar carved with Buddhist scriptures, and a memorial stele house for King Ly Thai To, inaugurated on September 29, 2000, on the celebration of the 990th anniversary of Hoa Lu – Thang Long – Ha Noi.

Tourists should understand the historical significance of the ancient capital, says visitor Truong Thi Diem, a Hanoian teacher.

“The two temples and the stele house for King Ly let future generations know that this region used to be the magnificent royal citadel of two dynasties, Dinh and Le, and the birth place of the Ly Dynasty, before King Ly Thai To moved the country’s centre to Thang Long – Ha Noi,” she says.

The kind of place where you have to change your route home because the road has been blocked by rice crops. The kind of place where the drive home included driving under a spray of a rice harvesting machine, getting sprayed with straw. The kind of place where you have to slow down because there is a herd of ducks waddling towards you in unison on the road as the farmer moves them elsewhere! The kind of place you have to squeeze past a buffalo on the road!

I took a two hour bus from Hanoi, and found myself a nice hotel room. In the afternoon I hired a bike with a lovely Vietnamese driver, sadly whom I could not communicate with! I could have cycled to Tam Coc, but I was put off by having to cycle on the notorious Highway 1 which lonely planet stronlgy advises against doing!! The driver took me down fantastic country lanes with views of teh large limestone karsts emerging from the rice paddies.

I climbed up 500 steps one of said karsts, and had a great view of the landscape. Next, I went to Tam Coc for a calm row boat ride down shallow water in between the large peaks. It was beautiful. The only annoyance was when a lady magically got on my boat (don’t know how she got on so quietly!) to deliver a sales pitch. Thankfully she left just as quietly! On the roads back, there were so many people in the rice paddies working hard, but what a scenic place to work!
I had a wonderful evening – just me and the cable tv! hehe….I think it’s allowed once in a while!

The next day I went further out along the country roads and got driven to Cuc Phuong National Park (36km away). It was a good hour on the bike, so I was glad of the 2 hour walk I did in the park to refamiliarise myself with my bum muscles! Once again though, the views on the way were stunning. The area has a lovely landscape. On my walk it was nice to be surrounded by pure countryside and nature; caterpillars (which had cut perfect circles in the leaves), butterflies, big spindly spiders, stick insects.

I also visited the monkey rescue centre, caring for endangered monkeys, gibbons and langers.

After yet another scenic ride home (thankfully we stopped for photograph taking!) I enjoyed dinner with four fellow travellers staying at the hotel, and we had a funny experience on our walk back from dinner. Vietnam was celebrating the full moon festival, so there were many street parties taking place. The one we passed were keep to involve us! All the ladies were round one table drinking lemon juice, while the men on the next table were getting blind drunk on beer. As we passed by, we were pressured to join them and have a beer, but we couldn’t stay long as the others needed to catch a night bus. So, we stood round, unable to communicate drinking the beer, when one man challenged a downing competition! We realised our only cue to leave would be to finish the beers, so we drank up, and after being handed a banana said our thanks and moved on…all very random!

After a relaxing morning in Ninh Binh, it was time to be reuinted with Ben and take the bus back to Hanoi.
I had a lovely 2 nights in Ninh Binh. The landscape is stunning.

Blogger: JHG

The mountains and sea combined to make Hoa Lu’s picturesque landscape. Hoa Lu lays in a flat valley surrounded by the Trang An limestone mountains, which form a natural wall protecting the old citadel. The city’s northwest is bordered by the Hoang Long River, the tributaries of which run through the capital, cooling the weather within the city and serving as convenient waterways.

Not much of this ancient kingdom is left standing. Whatever that remains of the palaces and shrines would only be of interest to archaeologists. The Royal Court was built in an area of 150 hectares in the eastern part of the capital while the western part served as a site to educate and protect children. The surrounding to be quite picturesque, with its ponds and limestone range forming a jagged horizon. There are two 17th century temples, modelled after their 11th-century originals that are on most itineraries to Hoa Lu. They are the Dinh Tien Hoang Temple and Le Hoan Temple, dedicated to the founder of the Dinh Dynasty and to its successor, reachable after a climb of more then 200 steps. I shall describe these two temples separately on their respective pages. As the capital of the country for 41 years, Hoa Lu has many palaces, pagodas, tombs and pavilions that were built by different dynasties. One of the most popular pieces of architecture is the Bao Thien Tue Palace, which was plated with gold and silver. However, many vestiges have been destroyed due to time and weather.

In 968, Dinh Bo Linh ascended to the throne and took the name of King Dinh Tien Hoang and reunified the country under the name of Dai Co Viet. Hoa Lu was its capital for 41 years (968-1009). The first 12 years were the Dinh Dynasty while the rest were the Le Dynasty with King Le Dai Hanh. In 1010, King Ly Thai To moved the capital to Thang Long (Hanoi now). Coming to Hoa Lu, visitors can attend traditional cultural festivals here, and the most important and largest of them is the Truong Yen Festival, which is held on the 10th day of the third lunar month. The festival is in memory of the Kings of the Dinh and Le dynasties. The festival lasts for three days with many traditional games and martial arts, reflecting local residents’ legends.

Hoa Lu  Festival

The festival is held annually on the 10th -13th of March of the lunar calendar in Truong Yen commune, Hoa Lu district with the purpose of commemorating the two kings Dinh Tien Hoang and Le Dai Hanh. The festival includes two parts: Worshiping is water procession at Truong Yen water station located on Hoang Long river and worship at the two temples of King Dinh and King Le. Entertainment activities includes performing “Co lau tap tran”, competing in writing Han script, playing chess, performing dragon dance, etc.