Cao Bac Pass

Before 1968, this pass on National Highway 3 carried a French name: Bel Air. According to the record of Decision 373-NV, dated July 23, 1968, the name Bel Air was changed to Cao Bắc. The new name joined the names of the two provinces the pass crossed at the time, Cao Bằng and Bắc Thái. That was when the pass first had a Vietnamese name.

National Highway 3 is the main road from Hanoi to Cao Bằng. It runs through Thái Nguyên and Bắc Kạn on the way. The pass is one of the most notable stretches of mountain road between Bắc Kạn and Cao Bằng. It is more than 10 kilometers long. It lies at an elevation above 1,000 meters, with sharp bends and deep drops beside the road. One section runs through Thịnh Vượng commune, in the Nguyên Bình area. That part lies inside Cao Bằng province.

When fog settles on the pass, the mood changes completely. Cloud and mist gather here often, most of all in the early morning and in the evening. The ranges of mountains on both sides fade into gray and white. The bends ahead vanish into the mist, and a vehicle behind suddenly becomes invisible to the one in front. The scene is beautiful, but the fog is also the reason the pass counts among the mountain roads that call for care at the wheel.

A truck accident was once reported on this stretch of National Highway 3. It happened in rain mixed with fog, on a slippery road with poor visibility.

Cao Bắc Pass has no carefully built viewing stops, as some better known passes do. It lies on a working road, and people appreciate it mostly through the window of a car.

That is also why the pass feels real in a different way. Long-distance drivers, trucks carrying farm produce and buses between provinces have crossed it for decades. The scenery was not arranged for sightseers. The road is real, the mountains are real, and so is the fog.

One of the finest sights from the pass comes when the sky is clear. Ranges of mountains run on toward the horizon, and now and then the roof of a village house shows among the trees. It is the northeast of Vietnam with nothing touched up.

On a day when the fog is down, it is easy to see why the long-distance drivers who have crossed here for decades never let their guard drop, and yet never forget this road.