Hai Van Pass
Hai Van Pass
Hai Van Pass is one of the most scenic hillside roads in Vietnam. When braving the steep winding roads of a paved mountain pass, you will have a chance to discover peace, quiet and history along the way…
On the north – south nation highway, Hai Van Pass is an impressive landscape. It is like a giant dragon, lying on Highway 1 on the border between Thua Thien-Hue Province and Danang City.This is the highest pass in Vietnam (500m above sea level). This rugged pass is the final section of the Truong Son Range stretching to the sea. Hai Van means “Sea Clouds”, since the peak of the mountain is in the clouds while its foot is close to the sea. In the past, Hai Van Pass was known as the Thuan Hoa and Quang Nam frontier. In the early 14th century (11306), Che Man, a king from Cham Pa, offered two mountainous administrative units of O and Ri as engagement gifts to Princess Huyen Tran, daughter of King Tran Nhan Tong. On his way to see off the Princess in the Quang area in a Summer sunny noon, the King and his entourage were on horse back for almost half a day but could not reach the top of the pass. Facing upwards, the King saw a rampart of mountains in dim clouds, and at the foot of the pass, an immense ocean, of waves. Though sorry for his daughter’s difficult journey, the king was comforted by the closer ties between the two nations.
Whenever one goes through Hai Van Pass, two feelings are experienced: amazement at passing through the clouds and fear when seeing the dangerous bends of the road. After climbing through several hair-pin curves for close to an hour, you reach the crest of the Hai Van Pass. Here, if the weather affords it (which it often doesn’t), there are views to both the North and the South. The pass forms an obvious boundary between North and South Vietnam, and if proof were needed, you need look no further than the fortifications built by the French and then later used by the South Vietnamese and the Americans. You will of course want to stop here if you make this trip, but be warned that you will have to fight off a large band of souvenir and snack sellers who are among the most aggressive I encountered during the whole trip.With sudden curves and blind corners, Hai Van Pass is likened to an arrogant but beautiful girl challenging drivers’ skills. Hai Van is considered to be the largest frontier post in Vietnam. The name “De Nhat Hung Quan”, meaning the most colossal frontier post, is engraved on an incense burner in Thai Temple.
On a journey through the land, Hai Van is always an attractive landscape, full of perilous obstacles and is the last spur of the Truong Son Range reaching to the sea. On the top of the pass are the vestiges of long ago, a fortified gateway. The gate facing to Thua Thien-Hue Province is inscribed with the three words “Hai Van Quan” and the other gate looking down on Quang Nam province is engraved “the most grandiose gateway in the world”. The entrance to Hai Van Quan looks like the entrance to an old citadel with its stone structures. Time, war, and neglect has taken its toll on Hai Van Quan, as it sits today in near ruins. The old story is only a memory, old vestiges covered with green moss, among vast spaces vast of plants and trees, tourists are filled with the emotions of the past.The most impressive about the journey is the sense of isolation you feel as you move further along. There is a strange delight about the desolate conditions, a seemingly unbroken asphalt road that cuts through a mass of forest. Below you, the green trees contrast with the breaking waves in the blue sea. And herein lies the beauty of Hai Van. While many rave about the charm of the Bao Loc mountain pass, the road is crowded with people and villages nestled along the way. But just as civilisation characterises the allure of Bao Loc, Hai Van’s beauty is closely connected to nature and its lack of population.
Lining the peak of the mountain is the immense abyss dotted with the light and dark green colours of the trees. The scene is capped off with fanciful clouds flying across the sky. The area is a perfect place to have a cup of coffee and contemplate the scene, looking over Hai Van as if from the heavens as the trees blow with the wind.
Hai Van is well know for its dangerous roads, and accident warning boards carefully appear regularly along the side. It’s a surprising sight to see the animation and modernity at the peak as foreign visitors buzzed about buying souvenirs. Those who do not make it to the peak would have a hard time believing there was such a busy trading and modern scene, as foreign women made their way up the rough staircase at the Hai Van Quan ancient vestige to take photos.Whatever endowed by nature, time by time and by hands of man will be something of humanitarian values. Coming to Hai Van is to come to the sanction of two land, to satisfy the peak-conquering philosophy, to mix ourselves in to echo of heroic songs of Vietnamese ancients when they went to find new lands to be emotional to prolong past of the Center region where suffering a lot of losses in the course of finding and protecting the nation.
Hai Van Pass will satisfy your desire to conquer high peaks and remind you of the glorious past of the Viet people. Moreover, from the pass, on nice days, visitors can enjoy the whole vista of Danang, the Tien Sa seaport, Son Tra Peninsula, Cu Lao Cham Island and long sandy beaches.
The 21km that stretch over the Hai Van mountain pass may sound like a challenging journey, but after having done, it is certainly that you will find it is one worth taking.
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My Son Sanctuary
My Son Sanctuary
My Son – the address that attracts numerous Southeast Asia and Oriental art researchers , is the Sanctuary of the ancient Champa kingdom in the past. It was built from the 4th to 13th centuries in dedication to Shiva God of Destruction and Inventory in Hinduism.
My Son was the most abundant architectural complex representative of Champa arts with over 70 temples, however, about 20 temples and towers have been preserved quite well. The air of mystery in My Son comes from the towers built of bricks adorned with sandstone. They are joined together with no glue and They have stood up to sunlight and rain for thousands of years. In 1999 My Son was recognized by Unesco as World Cultural Heritage. Thus now it is ranked with other renowned relics in the Southeast Asia like Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Pagan (Burma) and Borodur (Indonesia).First Choice Travel is always ready to be with you to discover Vietnam, just contact us!
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Bach Ma National Park
Bach Ma national park
On a planet where the environment changes daily for the worse, and natural flora and fauna is destroyed mercilessly, continuously, and irreversibly by humans, Bach Ma is one of these places where biodiversity is preserved and respected.
Bach Ma National Park is located in central Vietnam in the provinces of Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam. The national park lies on a high mountain ridge that runs west-east from the Laotian border to the East Sea at the Hai Van pass. This ridge interrupts the coastal plain of Vietnam, and, therefore, forms a biographical boundary between the faunas and floras of northern and southern Vietnam. This ridge also affects the local climate at the national park, which is probably the wettest place in Vietnam.The geology of the national park is dominated by granite, with some overlying areas of sandstone, schist and gneiss. The topography is generally steep and rugged, formed by heavy dissection of the substrate by surface water. The national park is dominated by a west-east ridge, with several peaks above 1,000 m, the highest of which is Mount Bach Ma at 1,448 m. The lower slopes and hills are less steep, and are bordered by a narrow alluvial plain.
The Bach Ma area has long been noted for its rich biodiversity. One reason is that, within a relatively small area, the area supports a wide range of habitat types, from coastal lagoons to montage forest. Additionally, Bach Ma is situated at a biographical boundary between northern and southern Vietnam, and between the Annamite mountains and the coastal plain. With steep mountains and dense forests, this area is home to a wide variety of animals and plants. At the base of the mountains there is tropical monsoon forest, above 900 m sub-tropical forest. There are species from both northern and southern Vietnam, and Bach Ma is recognized as one of the areas of Indochina with high biodiversity. Bach Ma mountain peak was the highest point in the park before extension at 1450 m above sea level, and is only 18 km away from the coast.
In summer, the climate around Bach Ma Peak is cool, and this was the principal reason for establishing of Bach Ma Resort in the 1930′s. Here the French built 139 villas and guesthouses. Today we can see some of these villas still remaining in the jungle; they were destroyed in the American War and reclaimed by nature. During the war, the American Army used the summit as a helicopter-base and the area saw a lot of heavy combats, hence unfortunately destroying some parts of the forest.
Biodiversity values
The Bach Ma area has long been noted for its rich biodiversity. One reason is that, within a relatively small area, the area supports a wide range of habitat types, from coastal lagoons to montage forest. Additionally, Bach Ma is situated at a biographical boundary between northern and southern Vietnam, and between the Annamite mountains and the coastal plain. With steep mountains and dense forests, this area is home to a wide variety of animals and plants. At the base of the mountains there is tropical monsoon forest, above 900 m sub-tropical forest. There are species from both northern and southern Vietnam, and Bach Ma is recognized as one of the areas of Indochina with high biodiversity. Bach Ma mountain peak was the highest point in the park before extension at 1450 m above sea level, and is only 18 km away from the coast.In summer, the climate around Bach Ma Peak is cool, and this was the principal reason for establishing of Bach Ma Resort in the 1930′s. Here the French built 139 villas and guesthouses. Today we can see some of these villas still remaining in the jungle; they were destroyed in the American War and reclaimed by nature. During the war, the American Army used the summit as a helicopter-base and the area saw a lot of heavy combats, hence unfortunately destroying some parts of the forest.Today you can still find many interesting plants and animals; the Park is a habitat for precious species which are at risk of extinction. Bach Ma National Park on its own is reason enough to visit Vietnam.
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Hue, the Ancient Imperial Capital
Hue, the ancient imperial capital
Hue has been the capital of Vietnam, the feudal sovereignty, from 1744 when the Nguyen lords controlled all of southern Vietnam. The city is one of the most popular Vietnam destinations. It was severely damaged during the American war, in the 1968 Tet offensive, when house-to-house fighting lasted for weeks. Still, many architectural gems remain to this day and they are well worth a visit. In 1993, UNESCO acknowledged the Complex of Monuments of Hue as a World Cultural Heritage Site.
Hue is divided between the older fortified Citadel, containing most of the interesting attractions, and the new, smaller sprawl that has developed across the river. People come to Hue to see the old Imperial complex, the Citadel and the Forbidden cities, the pagodas, and the many tombs of the emperors that lie a few kilometers south of the city. Each tomb is a walled compound containing temples, palaces, and lakes.
Hue is also known for the Hue Festival, which is a major annual event. It is a nine days event to celebrate the culture, court music and the ancient traditions of this historic city. Other festivals in Hue include the Nam Gion Festival, where participants from the Royal Palace are involved in the ceremony, the Royal Palace Night, which is a three day festival, Truyen Lo and Vinh Quy Bai, both of which honor the ancestors.One major tourist attraction in Hue is shopping. The main item to shop for here is silk painting, which has been a distinct feature of Vietnam for centuries. Other items include calligraphic artwork on silk, lacquer, stone and wood.
Hue is a quiet, relaxing city, big enough to be interesting but small enough to bicycle around. The food is great, the best in Viet Nam, and the women are supposed to be the most beautiful in the country.First Choice Travel is always ready to be with you to discover Vietnam, just contact us!
Marble Mountains
Marble Mountains
The Marble Mountains are one of the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam. There are so well known that they have become a symbol of the area. The subtle, poetical ambience of the pagodas, grottoes, trees and bushes, the mixed sounds of pagoda bells, murmuring waves and mysterious legends of the sea are all not far from the city center, and they have made the mountains a fairy land for tourists for ages.
Like other landscapes, these mountains hold many different mysterious legends. The poetical ambience and the echoes of mystery give the mountains a special character difficult to find in other places. In the ancient oriental philosophy, metal, wood, water, fire and earth were five elements that created the universe. Five is a number of paramount importance in people’s thinking and lives.
The Marble Mountains are also home to quite a few Buddhist sanctuaries, which are some of the greatest attractions of the area. The mountains were used by the war lords in the past to store their wealth, and it was the responsibility of the monks to safeguard the wealth, the caves and the passengers. No one knows for sure how much wealth was hidden in these mountains. Only the monks as the custodians had the information and they were the only people who knew the various ways inside the mountains.
The natural grottoes and pagodas on the mountains combine both heaven-endowed and man-made creations to confer the place its harmonious beauty. Their attractive character keeps the tourists constantly surprised and touched during their travels.
On hot summer days, it’s easy to imagine you and your friends going up the 108 steps to Linh Ung pagoda, sitting in Vong Giang tower to look at green Truong Giang murmuring slightly in the sunset, or standing on Vong Hai tower to look far at sandy beaches flirted by the sea waves. In the late afternoons, city dwellers rush to the seaside, fishermen group by group patiently push their boats offshore, and on the greasy paths leading to the grottoes and inside pagodas the sandalwood exhales its fragrance
Beside the monasteries the area is prominent for stone sculpture making and stone cutting crafts. These are traditional practices and the ones at the Marble Mountains are renowned for their excellence. In the mountains lies the village of Dong Hai, which has around 600 families involved in the business of stone engraving. The villagers are also skilled in jewelry and art work, and Vietnam exports stones extracted from the Marble Mountains.
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Ba Na Hill
Ba Na Hill
Only thirty-eight kilometers from the centre of Da Nang, Ba Na rises to a height of 1,482 meters. Travelling to Ba Na from the suburbs of Da Nang City, tourists may experience four seasons in a day: spring in the morning, summer at noon, autumn in the afternoon and winter during night-time.
Ba Na is 1482m above sea level, and it’s surprising to find at its summit a flat terrace or small plateau. In the sultry summer heat, when the temperature of the coastal provinces often reaches 32°C, in Ba Na it is barely about 17°C to 20°C. The highest temperature is 22°C to 25°C in the daytime, and it falls to 15°C at night time.
The attractions of Ba Na are an excellent view of the city, clear skies and cool air. The land is suitable for the cultivation of ornamental plants and herbs for traditional medicine, for the construction of research centers, for universal observation, and for future tourism and services in Da Nang City.Ba Na is now populated with villas, hotels, rest houses and bungalows, and tourists can even camp out in the forest. In the hotels and villas the staff is courteous and conscientious; a wide range of food and drinks is supplied, along with recreational activities such as karaoke, billiards and electronic games.
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Museum of History and Culture
Museum of History and Culture
Containing a great number of historical relics, the redundant Museum of History and Culture in Hoi An is located in the earliest inhabited region in Hoi An. The museum is a treasure trove and is also a famous pagoda all rolled into one. The name of this pagoda is “Quan Yin”. The Museum of History and Culture in Hoi An was actually built as a religious establishment in the year 1635, and so it was set up accordingly. Traces ogf this is still clearly evident.
The Museum of History and Culture in Hoi An is the first museum to visit on your trip to Hoi An. This museum is almost like a show-and-tell summary of the entire heritage of Hoi An. So visiting other museums will benefit you more if you have gone to the Museum of History and Culture in Hoi An first. This treasure house is home to a potpourri of relics like important photographs and maps, and artifacts like statues of different materials belonging to different civilizations, porcelain and ceramic wares, traditional scales, anchor, jar-burials from the Sa Huynh culture, stelaes and family records that trace back the ancestry of the inhabitants. Also among the exhibits are bronze drums dating back to 3000 BC during the era of the Dong Son civilization.
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