CAO BẰNG – A waterfall festival will be held this weekend at the Bản Giốc Waterfall Tourism Complex in Đàm Thủy Commune, Trùng Khánh District, in the northern province of Cao Bằng.

The festival, the first of its kind in the region, aims to promote the image of the province and its people to domestic and international tourists.

According to Phạm Văn Cao, secretary of the Trùng Khánh District’s Party Committee, the festival will become a significant event to promote regional tourism.“Here in Trùng Khánh we are creating and promoting high quality tourist products to become one of the province’s key economic ventures,”  Cao said.
Bản Giốc Waterfall is one of Việt Nam’s most impressive natural sights. Thirty metres high and 300 metres across, it is the widest, but not the highest, in the country. The falls occur on the beautiful jade-blue water of the Quây Sơn River as it flows through a pastoral landscape of rice fields and bamboo groves, surrounded by limestone mountains.

The festival will begin on Saturday with a Buddhist prayer ritual for peace and prosperity of the nation at the Phật Tích Bản Giốc Trúc Lâm Pagoda. The ceremony will be conducted by monks of the Buddhist Sangha of Việt Nam. 

This will be followed by an agenda full of activities near the falls. This will showcase the rich culture of the region, especially of the prominent Tày ethnic group.

The activities will include traditional art performances, an ethnic costume fashion show, folk games and sports competitions. A cooking contest of local specialties will also be held.

Of note will be a performance of a style of singing known as then, a unique art of the ethnic Tày, Nùng, and Thái minorities in Việt Nam’s northwestern region. This has been recognised as national intangible cultural heritage.   

The agenda will also include a cultural exchange programme between Trùng Khánh Commune and two Chinese border communes. The event aims to strengthen the mutual understanding and friendship between people of the two countries’ border communes. — VNS