Buzz
During my youthful days, I was captivated by the fiery Rock vocals of Y Moan and Siu Black. Songs like “Coffee Nights in Ban Me”; “I Want to Live by Your Side Forever”; “Oh M’drăk”; “We Love Each Other from Ban Me Thuot”… ignited like a forest fire amidst the rhythmic beat of drums and guitars, lifting my heart to the lofty plateaus. Eventually, after much endeavor, I arrived at Buon Ma Thuot – the coffee capital of the nation.
Embark on a journey to Buon Ma Thuot, and listen to the fabled stories of Ama Kong in Buon Don.
“I have reached Ban Me”
Both highlands, yet Buon Ma Thuot and Da Lat differ significantly, in ambiance, cinematography, music, literature, and even in the flavors of reality. Da Lat, romantic, elegant, and alluring with its flowers, clouds, and villas nestled among pine hills. Meanwhile, Ban Me, wild, with forests teeming with elephants, the rushing Serepok river, vast coffee fields, and legendary figures like Ama Kong. Then, gazing at the clear sky with fluffy white clouds swirling over distant mountains, one can smile contentedly and say, “I have reached Ban Me.”
Each person may refer to this city differently, whether by its old name before 1975 as Ban Me Thuot or its current administrative name as Buon Ma Thuot, but either way, it evokes warm, enticing images of aromatic coffee. Ban Me boasts hundreds of coffee shops and even a Trung Nguyen Coffee Village. The coffee trees may not be extraordinary, but their round fruits cluster together like bunches of grapes.
Driving along the breathtaking suburban roads leading to Lake Lăk, one can spot rows of green and pink coffee beans drying along the roadside, resembling the way people in Lạng Sơn dry persimmons and cinnamon. It's hard to connect those odorless wild fruits with the fragrant brown coffee powder, let alone relate them to a bitter cup of coffee every morning on the table.
Buôn Ma Thuột is a beautiful, leisurely, and pleasant city. I love its atmosphere, reminiscent of a small town. And just by turning onto a small lane beside the city, one can glimpse an almost pristine village: Buôn Ako Dhong, also known as Tile Roof Village, nestled at the source of the Ea Nhon stream.
Nestled within the heart of the city, Buôn Ako Dhong resembles a village within a city, akin to the 'villages within streets' in Hanoi. The long stilthouses quietly await visitors. Most residents of Buôn Ako Dhong follow the Christian faith, living amidst the city, so many of the highland minority customs are only preserved to serve tourists. At the end of the village, there's an eco-tourism area, looking rudimentary and deserted.
Walking the bamboo bridge in Đôn village
Perhaps everyone who has visited Buôn Ma Thuột for tourism eagerly anticipates reaching Đôn village, even though it's about 40 kilometers from the city. I rented a motorbike to reach the village. This place, it seems, became famous through a children's song about a baby elephant, but now it's also a tourist attraction. The atmosphere in Đôn village is lively. Elephants trot along the dirt road traversing the village, carrying excited tourists who have never ridden an elephant before. Original longhouses sell souvenirs and traditional medicines. The majestic Serepok River and the suspension bridge span over ancient, dark-rooted trees.
The most enjoyable activity in Đôn village is still walking the bamboo bridge. The nearly one-kilometer-long bridge is constructed from woven bamboo materials firmly anchored on giant banyan trees with roots that are centuries old, covering an area of 1 hectare. Walking the bamboo bridge, everyone leaves their shoes behind to let their bare skin touch the cool, shaded bamboo tubes. On the other side lies the Yok Don primeval forest, where elephants are becoming increasingly scarce.
The majestic Serepok River flows with its distinctive red water under the bamboo bridge, a sight that once marked a crucial trading point among the three nations of Indochina. This riverine island caught the attention of Laotian merchants who settled here, alongside the Ede people, to establish a bustling new trading village. Named Ban Don, meaning 'Island Village' in Lao, its initial inhabitants were predominantly from southern Laos, including the elephant king Khun Ju Nop and his descendants like Ama Kong.
Curious visitors often stroll towards the outskirts of the village to visit the elephant king's tomb, adorned with a Lao-style pyramid structure painted in vibrant hues. It's actually the village cemetery, situated on the fringes of the residential area. Personally, I'm not much into cemetery sightseeing, even the 130-year-old gloomy ancestral house of the Elephant Kings. Constructed in Lao architectural style, using the finest timber from the Yok Don forests, it served as the legendary Ama Kong's abode and now houses a museum managed by his family.
The Legend of Ama Kong
When you embark on a Buon Ma Thuot tour, you'll hear fascinating tales of Ama Kong. Mention Ama Kong, and besides tales of elephant hunts, extraordinary strength, and ancient remedies, one can't overlook the wealth of the elephant king lineage. The Ama Kong family (1910-2012) was so affluent that they had to break tribal laws by marrying within bloodlines to keep their fortune from outsiders. Though their fame echoed deep within the village, Ama Kong was a notorious player of his time.
In the early 1960s, the suave player Ama Kong would frequently hop on a plane from Buon Ma Thuot to Saigon just for gambling escapades. After three days of gambling, his pockets would be empty, but he could afford to buy ten luxurious stilt houses with the money lost. Ama Kong was renowned across the region for his towering stature, handsome looks, wealth, elegance, recklessness, talent in playing various musical instruments, and virility; he could hunt 300 elephants and, even at over 80 years old, could still 'love', remarry, and father children, enchanting countless local beauties.
But what truly earns my respect for Ama Kong, beyond all these legends, is his commendable conduct as a man. At 30, Ama Kong's first wife, H'Nop, also his cousin, passed away due to childbirth complications. He then married his sister-in-law, H'Hốt, as per customary lineage practices. After some time, Ama Kong fell in love with another woman, but H'Hốt's jealousy forbade him from taking another wife.
According to tribal law, when a man stubbornly divorces his wife, he must leave all his possessions for the wife to raise their children, not to mention a hefty fine. What remains of the ancient tribal system on the plateau has upheld women's rights, similar to Western civilization. Ama Kong accepted it, leaving the house with empty hands, leaving abundant wealth to his ex-wife, and starting a new marriage with his third wife. He rebuilt his life from scratch, engaging in elephant hunting and fostering close relationships with royal figures such as the King of Thailand, and the King of Laos.
By the time Ama Kong turned 75, his beloved wife had also passed away, leaving him a widower for a few years until he fell for a new 25-year-old girl. Despite nearly 60 years' age gap, they found immense happiness together. For his fourth wedding, Ama Kong was no longer a wealthy man, owning no land, property, or even money to organize the wedding, resorting to only slaughtering a chicken. Yet, his last wife still followed him and bore him a daughter.
He continued fathering at the age of eighty, with a total of 21 children and 118 grandchildren. At 102 years old, still fathering children beyond his eighties, and maintaining a century-long love affair with a young wife, Ama Kong's kidney-tonic and virility medicine gained nationwide trust among Vietnamese men. I can't recall its price, but those precious medicine bags wrapped in cheap plastic with simple labels printed on rough paper, and cheap red ink, were sold widely across Don village.
I've heard this medicine was synthesized from rare herbs found by Ama Kong deep in the Yok Don forest and then brought back to process himself. But now, I wonder how his descendants maintain its authenticity. Nonetheless, it has become a souvenir gift. Travelers to Don village buy a few packets to give to their families at home, whether it actually works or not, it's like drinking herbal tea, seemingly harmless, yet instilling confidence that one is about to become Ama Kong.
As reported by Hanoi Times
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