Where black rocks shine and murmur

Most of the rocks and stones at Dong Van look black in the mist and dark grey under soft sunlight, and all glitter with their own distinctive charms that capture the eyes and hearts of visitors to the plateau.
That’s true! The rocks of square, triangle, cube and other shapes shine their attractions, and the increasing number of people flocking to Dong Van year after year to admire the beauty of such natural wonders in the summer or winter is clear evidence.
We are such visitors. My friends and I have visited Dong Van twice over the last four years, and most of us wish we will have one more opportunity to travel by car on the roads that wind their ways through hills and mountains of rocks.
No one can count exactly the number of rocks and stones dotting the plateau, but they certainly know that the number is more than enough to make thousands of hills and mountains stretching from Quang Ba Gate, also known as Heaven Gate, to Lung Cu Flagpole in the northernmost part of Ha Giang Province.
Rock hills and mountains in Dong Van are said to have stood firm for millions of years. Every year, they draw a large number of geologists, photographers and adventures, who come from a far distance to explore the values of the pearls or black diamonds, as many of them say.
Interestingly, the rocks are enlivened when winds and breezes blow by, breathing life into them and making them murmur and tell tales and true stories of the plateau.
One often-told moving story is about the months nearly 50 years ago when Vietnamese youths hung themselves on vertical rocks and mountains to carve a road up and through Ma Pi Leng Peak at over 2,000 meters above sea level. Nowadays, this pass and the winding Nho Que River at its foot form one of the most imposing and marvelous scenes in the mountainous region of Vietnam.
Surprisingly, life and greenery do exist on the black rock plateau. Trees and crops produce buds and sweet fruits such as plums, apples and pears on very limited soil and small orchards between rocks.
The colorful clothes of ethnic minority peoples, who are at home, doing the farming or on the way to market, paint Dong Van Plateau into a masterpiece and a place worth visiting more than once.