Imposing Chua Mountain in Quang Nam Province

On a clear day, Chua Mountain southwest of Da Nang looks somewhat like an eagle’s beak when seen from Tay Vien Valley.

At night when the moon is full, or in the early morning when the mountainside is shrouded in mist, Chua’s twin peaks twinkle above the white clouds, especially if viewed from Khe Giao Bridge in My Son Valley.

There are many legends and myths about Chua Mountain, whose name means “lord.”

One story tells of a hunter from Trung Loc Valley in Que Son District who lost his way while chasing his prey. Hungry and thirsty, he reached the top of the mountain at dusk and chanced upon a garden where there was plenty of sweet fruit and a pool of cool water.

After slaking his thirst and filling his belly, the hunter headed home and told the villagers about his strange experience. A few days later he was stricken dumb and fell ill. He stayed that way for three months and 10 days, and then died.

After his earthly demise, the villagers decided that the hunter had been punished by the goddess who owned the garden because he had taken seeds of fruit from the mountain.

Another tale that the old people like to tell is how the god of Mount Chua and the goddess of nearby Ca Tang Mountain would meet every night in the form of rays of red light that flew between the two peaks.

There’s a mysterious sign on a 30-meter cliff near the mountain’s summit that is the source of much conjecture. It’s simple enough – a circle with a square inside – but no one knows what it means or how it came to be there.

Various myths say it was made by this or that god, others that it was drawn by a Chinese feng shui master named Cao Bien, who lived in Vietnam in the ninth century.

Tall tales aside, Chua Mountain is considered the second Da Lat of the central region thanks to the temperate weather, and is a great place for trekkers to explore.

The densely forested peak, whose summit is nearly 1,500 meters above sea level, looms over a land of ancient Cham towers and is the westernmost prominence of a range that goes east to the sea.

It can be reached by the road that connects Que Son and Nong Son districts and is situated 40 kilometers southwest of Da Nang a short way beyond Le Pass. The village of Dai Binh near the foot of the mountain is famous for its fruit.

Source:vietnamnet.vn

The Nghe Temple in Hai Phong city.

Le Chan was a widowed aristocrat, who helped the Hai Ba Trung defeat the occupying Chinese forces in 39AD. No small wonder she is still honoured today.

Located in An Bien ward of Hai Phong City’s Le Chan district, Nghe Temple is dedicated to Lady Le Chan – a widowed aristocrat who transformed herself into general and fought valiantly alongside the Hai Ba Trung (Trung Trac and Trung Nhi) in the first century AD.

The Chinese – specifically the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220AD) – had annexed Vietnam (known as Nam Viet at the time) in 111BC and for over a hundred years had sent officials to govern the “southern province”. The Vietnamese were allowed to keep their own system of feudal chiefs at lower levels but the Chinese overlords still ruled the roost – often in draconian fashion – and tension inevitably simmered overtime.

After the execution of Thi Sach, who was married to Trung Trac, the two sisters led an angry but well-organised uprising against the Chinese, ably assisted by the likes of Le Chan, who is believed to have been the Hai Ba Trung’s most crafty general and strategist.

Crucially before the battle began Le Chan had helped recruit troops. She had also built a garrison where provisions could be stored and troops could train. She named the garrison An Bien after her homeland, located in Quang Ninh province today. Le Chan was appointed chief of the garrison and Commander of Hai Tan town (Haiphong today). She was also given the honorary title of Thanh Chan Princess for founding Hai Tan Town’s Defensive Force.

After this period of secretive preparation, the Hai Ba Trung rebellion undoubtedly took the Chinese overlords by surprise. In 39AD Trung Trac and Trung Nhi first repelled a small Chinese force from their village and after assembling a large army – according to legend consisting mostly of women – they went on to seize 65 citadels back from the Chinese and just like that Nam Viet had been liberated.

It’s easy to see why the Hai Ba Trung sisters are revered to this day in Vietnam. As Louise Williams writes in her book Wives, Mistresses and Matriarchs, “The powerful vision of three women leading their men atop of the gilded seats on elephants, tumbles forward through the generations, a national source of pride and strength.” Tellingly, afterwards the Hai Ba Trung sisters were declared kings, not queens (perhaps, reflective of the times, as only a ‘king’ could rule men).

The Hai Ba Trung’s reign of power would be short lived however. In 43AD the Chinese Han King ordered his General Ma Vien to amass a huge army and invade Nam Viet. The Trung Sisters and Le Chan rallied the troops once more. Another female general Phung Thi Chinh went into battle despite being heavily pregnant. Legend has it that she gave birth on the front line and with her baby in one arm and a sword in the other, she continued to fight. But this time the Han had returned in numbers and the Viet troops were soon completely overrun.

To preserve her dignity, Le Chan took her own life, as did the Trung sisters and all the other female generals, including Phung Thi Chinh. Afterwards An Bien people set up a temple as a shrine in honour of Le Chan, where today stands Den Nghe (Nghe Temple).

The temple is not just a sacred place but also of great artistic value and well worth visiting. The main shrine has a space in the form of the Chinese character Tam (Three) with an anteroom, a middle room and a back room. The walls and ceiling are covered with sculpted reliefs depicting scenes from Vietnamese mythology. Engravings on wood depict scenes representing the four seasons.

The most valuable relic remaining there is the stone memorial stele with characters reading ‘The story of An Bien Haiphong’ that dates back to the reign of King Khai Dinh (1916- 1925). The inscription on the stele tells the story of Le Chan and lists the various titles conferred on her by the kings of different dynasties.

The tomb, recognised as a national heritage in 1975, is still regularly visited by Vietnamese people who still credit Le Chan with establishing An Bien- Haiphong township and admire her bravery in the face of adversity.

Source:vietnamnet.vn

Beautiful Mon Beach on the central coast.

Mon Beach on the central coast is largely untouched and an ideal place to spend some leisure time.

The surf can pound Mon Beach as the swell from the East Sea is forced between the headlands that bound the large expanse of sand on the coast of Phu Yen Province.

At other times the sea is placid and small waves lap idly against the gently sloping beach. That’s when the fishing boats come ashore and disgorge their hauls for visitors to buy and cook.

Mon Beach was given its rightful due only last month, when it was recognized as a national beauty spot by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

It’s an idyllic expanse of sand in Hoa Tam Commune, Dong Hoa District and is situated seven kilometers from the top of Ca Pass between Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa.

At the western end is a freshwater creek that starts back in the mountains and makes its way down many cliffs and through a primeval forest before crossing the beach and emptying into the sea.

The short walk to the obvious lighthouse on Dai Lanh Cape is well worth the effort, as is the climb up the 150 steps of the spiral staircase that leads to the top of the commanding structure.

The view is terrific, and the lighthouse keepers are only too happy to talk about the history of their building and tell tall tales and true about local characters of good and ill repute.

With the keepers’ permission, casual visitors can stay overnight and spend the evening hunting for crabs in the darkness, dining on rice porridge with crab meat, and swapping jokes and funny stories.

Daybreak should not be missed as this is where the sun’s rays first strike Vietnam every morning. Seeing the sun slowly emerge from the water and send out its light over the sea is awesome.

It’s also a pleasant diversion to watch the fishermen as they cast their nets in the early morning light while in the shrubs behind colorful insects of many species suck nectar from the flowers and frisky birds flit among the greenery.

And at the end of the day, when viewed from high above, Mon Beach looks romantic in the golden light of sunset as small waves lap against the sand as though they were embracing it.

Source:vietnamnet.vn

With its inviting beaches, blue waters and bright sun, Mui Ne has become one of Vietnam’s top tourist attractions for more than a decade.

Once an easygoing fishing village, the town is now home to some 70 beach resorts. Among them, the Coco Beach Resort was the first to reach international standards, and these days remains among the very best that the town has to offer. The site was originally found by Frenchman Daniel Arnaud quite by accident.

The story goes that during Daniel’s second trip to Phan Thiet, after persuading a local driver to take him by dirt road to Mui Ne, he reached the desired site but still couldn’t spot sand or sea. Frustrated, he walked out of the car, climbed over several sand dunes into a forest of coconut trees and was suddenly struck by the beauty of an endlessly long stretch of white sand and crystal clear water opening up in front of his eyes.

He knew immediately that he wanted to set up a resort on that deserted beach. The beginning is always difficult for pioneers, and so it was for Daniel and his wife Jutta Arnaud. There was nothing in the town but the beauty of unspoiled nature. It was just a quiet fishing village, with no clean water, no electricity and no telephone lines. There was not even a road. Luckily, through many years of managing resorts and hotels, the couple knew exactly what they were doing.

In June 1995, Coco Beach opened its doors to tourists. At first, the entire resort was powered by a generator, and the telephones and switchboards were directly linked to the Mui Ne post office. “Those were mostly technical hurdles, but on the good side, we had an opportunity to hire our staff locally, and since none of them had received any prior training, it was easier for us to include in their training our concepts for hospitality and service,” Daniel says.

When it came to marketing and “selling” Coco Beach, Jutta gave her husband a hand. Word spread quick and wide among the expat communities in Ho Chi Minh City. The idea of going to a new destination off the beaten track attracted many people, and Coco Beach gained its first guests in that way, by word of mouth.

Then a “Total Solar Eclipse” took place in Mui Ne in October 1995, and thousands of international tourists flocked to the site to see the magic moment, which happens only once every several decades. And at that time, the tourists were also taken in by Mui Ne’s stunning sea and landscape.

At Coco Beach, they managed to fit 150 guests into the 17 existing bungalows while maintaining their high levels of excellence. And after the eclipse, the resort gained a great and well-deserved reputation for its standards. After 15 years of development, Coco Beach has grown from 15 staff members to nearly 100, and has doubled in size.

The charming thatched roof bungalows on stilts and villas – discreetly reached by a series of small pathways – provide total privacy, with their own private terraced areas, and they all face out to the resort’s private strip of beach. Although of an international standard with all modern amenities provided – rooms feature air-conditioning, mini-bars, hairdryers, IDD telephones, room safes and stylish bathrooms – Coco Beach still offers a laid-back, traditional rustic charm, with tasteful ethnic décor both inside and out.

To emphasise the relaxation element, televisions are not provided in the rooms. On-site resort facilities extend to a landscaped pool with an adjoining pool bar, a white sandy beach with plenty of beach chairs, a snack bar and a thatched roof massage pavilion, two restaurants and even an English pub! As a mother of two small beautiful girls both born in Vietnam, Jutta was also successful in making Coco Beach an extremely welcoming place for families with young children.

A children’s playground, table tennis area and comfortable hammocks throughout the gardens are also available. To give young parents some time to enjoy themselves, babysitting services are also provided on request. The patience of Daniel and Jutta has obviously given way to sweet fruits.

They look young, relaxed and completely happy. Just as it is introduced by the Arnauds, as “a little paradise in Vietnam, where there is also the option of doing absolutely nothing”, Coco Beach is without a doubt the perfect place to enjoy and celebrate life with wonderful people.

Source:vietnamnet.vn