Ngang Pass in Quang Binh

Ngang Pass is famous neither for being steep nor for being the longest, but because mountain, sea, history and poetry meet here.

The pass crosses the Hoành Sơn range, a spur of the Trường Sơn mountains that runs across toward the sea. It is the historic geographic boundary between Hà Tĩnh and the former Quảng Bình. The southern part of the pass used to lie in Quảng Đông commune. After the administrative reorganization, it lies in Phú Trạch commune, in Quảng Trị Province. The section of the pass on Highway 1A is about 6.5 kilometers long. The road winds along the mountainside from the south up to the summit, then drops toward Kỳ Nam in Hà Tĩnh.

Today a road tunnel carries the traffic, so the pass is no longer the main route. The old pass road has become a scenic one, where travelers can slow down and feel the Hoành Sơn mountains rushing out toward the sea.

At the summit stands Hoành Sơn Quan, a gate built in the 14th year of the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng, which is 1833. Many sources agree on this date, including a study by the Hà Tĩnh Museum that draws on the chronicle Đại Nam thực lục. The gate stands more than 4 meters high, with traces of stone rampart running off in two directions. The museum says it was built to control passage over the Hoành Sơn mountain, with stone walls and a soldiers' camp. Soldiers from both Quảng Bình and Hà Tĩnh took part in the building.

Standing before Hoành Sơn Quan, a visitor sees more than an old stone gate. It is what is left of a control post on the old long road that ran from north to south. For centuries, everyone who traveled from north to south, or from south to north, had to pass through here.

One detail stands out. The gate sits exactly on the boundary, so both Quảng Bình and Hà Tĩnh once ranked it as a provincial heritage site, the same gate listed twice. It is a shared heritage of the whole Hoành Sơn region, tied to the history of the whole country.

Ngang Pass is also a place of poetry. The poem Crossing Ngang Pass, by Bà Huyện Thanh Quan, has stayed in the memory of one generation after another, with its images of sky, mountains and water and its longing for home along the old road. A visitor who reads a few of its lines silently here may find the scenery and the words blending in an unusual way.

Looking south from the summit, you can see Yến Island and Hòn La. Looking toward Hà Tĩnh, there is a stretch of rocky shore and a beach beyond. And about 4 kilometers to the south lies Vũng Chùa, the resting place of General Võ Nguyên Giáp, between the waves of the sea and the forested mountains.

At the foot of the pass stands a temple of the Holy Mother Liễu Hạnh. It is a spiritual site, counted as part of the Ngang Pass area.

Ngang Pass needs no exaggeration. At the top, the mountains rush out toward the sea, and the wind from the north and the south gathers at the summit. This small stone gate has watched the footsteps of generation after generation of Vietnamese pass by.