In the early sixties of last century, if traveling from the west to Hanoi, it was an important milestone that made everyone have to choose their direction. Those are two chimneys of Dai La brick factory at the end of Cat Linh street. A gentle, simple and proud symbol of the brick machine civilization of the early last century.
If coming from the east, the first landmark when meeting Hanoi must be the Long Bien bridge . It is the highest point that we can see a few dozen kilometers from Hanoi.
From the south, looking at the capital, it is relatively flat. You can only discover the water tank in Kim Lien dormitory when you get very close.
From the north are two electric poles spanning the Red River forever on Chem Ve, which at that time were not connected. adjacent to the city, it was still a purely agricultural countryside.
At the same time, Hoan Kiem Lake was still very deep. The grass and trees on the shore seem wild. At Thuy Ta’s house is where children often swim to catch baby turtles. Descendants of some old turtles sometimes crawled to the feet of the Turtle Tower to lie in the sun. One “old man” crawled up to the door of the Department Store in 1972 after a heavy rain. He stayed there. His remains are now stuffed with cotton to at Ngoc Son Temple. In a glass cabinet.
There are many places deeper than Hoan Kiem Lake. That is the ancient well of Vu Thach pagoda located in an alley at the beginning of Ba Trieu street now To scoop water, you have to connect two more ropes with the correct bucket rope to be able to hook it up.
That high and deep now seems like nothing.
Going from Cau Giay to Central In the center of Hanoi, you cannot see the two chimneys of the Dai La brick factory. In fact, there is only one hidden in the Horizon Hotel campus that is much higher than the chimney keep a chimney embellished as a beautiful and meaningful monument as a heritage. There will never be another chimney like that rising anywhere in this high-tech sky Long Bien bridge from the east. It is also impossible to locate the concrete water tank that has now sunk into the concrete jungle of Kim Lien apartment complex even though nothing has been destroyed. Hoan Kiem Lake is only so shallow that people have considered pouring laVie mineral water into it to replace the aqua green color that once gave the lake its name? And the well in Vu Thach Pagoda has been filled for a long time. The new abbot pointed around and didn’t know where to find the old location.
Happy because those sky-highbuildings have solved so many administrative workplaces. main for the Capital. Also happy because at the foot of the giant towers are now smoking basements. Enough room for all fantasies about static traffic in the city.
But suddenly worried. The depths of ancient cultural relics will most likely say goodbye to us forever. And at the top, is there still room for the poor? I’m also worried because people’s hearts now know how shallow, deep, high and low they are? Indifferent to friends, bland brothers?
April 2008.
Binh Legs
