Trang An Eco-tourism Complex Sight
Trang An situated in Ninh Binh province, 120 km from Hanoi, covering an area of 1,961 hectares, three main functional subdivisions: center area for welcoming visitors and festival organization; tourist area of Grottoes with 48 grottoes with limestone and caves together 31 large and small valleys and green rivers that blend harmonioursly together, all of this make romantic atmosphere for travellers.
In archealogical excavations, people discovered valuable relics like bows, dishes, pots, bricks, tiles and ancient money. Besides of nature, Trang An Grottoes Area also has old artificially architectural constructions like Vuc Vong temple, Khong residence. The Beauty of New Long trans-water grottoes will surprise tourists. Trang An Grottoes Area is considered as a great rock – garden locating in a vast lake.
Trang An has become a national and international tourism complex of Vietnam and one of main destination in Hanoi around area and the north of Vietnam with all tourism types such as historical tour, cultural tour, eco tour, festival tour, religious tour, grottoe discovery tour, adventure tour (rock climbing, trekking), entertainment tour, vacation, kayak, historical - cultural research and so on.
A boat trip along the winding, olive river lined with trees and rare orchids helps to understand the immense pride of the area’s inhabitants. Green trees, a crystal clear river, fresh air, magical caves and sweeping mountains rich with history... all will charm you at first glance. Come here, and you would never wish to leave...
Tam Coc-Bich Dong ( Halong bay on land)
Tam Coc is also called “A terrestrial Ha Long Bay”, and Bich Dong - the “North of Vietnam’s second nicest grotto”
Bich Dong – Gree Pearl Grotto is a beautiful pagoda on the nearby Ngu Nhac Mountain dated to 1428 under the Le Dynasty, comprising three structures: Lower, Middle, and Highest Pagodas, in ascending order. This picturesque landscape is added by Tam Coc - “Tam” means 3, “Coc” means cave. Tam Coc or “Three Caves” portion is of great enchanting charm and mystery, inviting tourists to come and explore!
Tam Coc – Great Destination for boat trip eco tour
Visiting Tam Coc Grotto, tourists may feel like they had just disappeared from the real world to get lost in such a hidden fairy site, which is located approximately 2km from the pagoda. Tam Coc is 3 kilometers from Van Lam Wharf. Now just take a boat from Van Lam Wharf to reach the Tam Coc Grotto, which consists of thee caves. This might take you 1 hour and 45 munites on your small boat along green river, beginning at the village of Van Lam and proceeding through a scenic landscape dominated by rice fields and karst towers. The largest of the grotto is 125m long with its ceiling about 2m high above the water. This grotto is adorned with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites of different shapes and colours that sparkle like gemstones. Now when drifting along the gentle Ngo Dong River under the Grotto, you can feel the deeply pure atmosphere with special smell of fresh rivers water and cool air from karst mountains when reaching each of the 3 caves in turns.
Among the three caves, First cave is considered the most picturesque one since it is the longest and contains most fascinating natural arts deep inside. It is around 127m long, with a cave mouth of 20m wide. When leaving First cave, just turn back to see it once again, you will feel that it were like a very old white-haired man sitting down for fishing. A Vietnamese legendary tells that this was a Heaven Land where that fishing man – a considered fairy one – lived, and flying above within the Heaven was a flock of fairies in graceful white dresses! You may be so much seduced by the beautiful fairy landscape that you do not even think of coming back at that time!
Second cave is nearly 1 kilometers far from First cave. This is the second stop-over on your waterway journey, where can be found a series of colorful sparkling stalactites falling from the cave ceiling. This cave is about 60m long. The last but not least cave is Third cave, just nearby, is about 50m long, with lower ceiling than the above two, looking like a plutonic cupola.
Now getting out the whole grotto, looking out the vast landscape, you can see that a mighty mountainous and waterways are covering the limitless land. If moving further 4 kilometers, there comes “Fairy Stream”, a pure mirror-like stream where you can even see through to the stream-bed to contemplate flocks of fish swimming and looming in the moss layers. It is said in a fairy tale that fairies used to land on here to swim, thus it was named “Fairy Stream”.
Perfume Pagoda – “North Vietnam first ranking grotto”
Perfume Pagoda is 60 km long far away from Hanoi around area, is the ancient largest and unique religious sites in Huong Son Commune, My Duc District, now Hanoi. Huge numbers of pilgrims flock to the site during Perfume Pagoda festival, which begins in the middle of the first lunar month and lasts until the middle of the third one (or from February till March) in order to pray for happiness and prosperity in the coming year. Also, it is a very popular opportunity for young couples to meet and for numerous budding romances to be formed. On this special occasion, a wide range of traditional cultural activities is incorporated. Perfume pagoda is not only a religious site, but a great sight-seeing spot in Hanoi, north Vietnam or Vietnam as well.
From Hanoi we will reach Duc wharf then Yen stream, While traveling along Yen Stream, tourists pass by stunning landscape of blazing green rice paddles studded with jagged limestone mounts to the base of Huong Mountain. If you are on a boat there, you can easily see on your left the Phoenix Mountain, and Doi Cheo Mountain, which looks like an Indian python (Tran). Also on the left are Bung and Voi, the two mountains associated with interesting legends. On your right is Ngu Nhac mountain with the Trinh Temple where visitors stop and burn incense for the God of the Mountain. Before reaching Tro Wharf where the tour begins, the boat also passes by the Deo and Phong Su Mountains, Son Thuy Huu Tinh Cave, Trau Cave, Hoi Bridge, and Dau Valley.
Heaven Pagoda
Stepping inland, there comes an interesting informal protocol for tourists! The first stop before climbing up to Huong Mount must always be a visit to Den Trinh, which means “registration shrine”. The next point of interest would be a visit to Thien Tru Pagoda (chuà Ngoài - Outer Pagoda), which was built in the 18th century under King Le Thanh Tong dynasty. “Thien Tru” means a heaven kitchen, derived from the imagination of the locals in this region, of which the rock formations in this area look like chefs busily working in the kitchen. Thien Tru Pagoda is famous for Thuy Tien tower, a granite monolith. On the right is Tien Son grotto, popular for five granite statues and various formations on the walls of the cave. Coming here, pilgrims have chances to admire the pagoda’s beauty and wonderful local landscapes.
Perfume Pagoda (Huong Tich Grotto)
After more than one hour along the stream and visiting the initial ancient pagodas from the riverbank, now pilgrims would climb up hundreds of stone steps, and then down 120 stone steps to Huong Tich Grotto, literally meaning "traces of fragrance". The path to Huong Tich winds its way through magnificently luxuriant landscapes. The moss-grown Huong Tich Grotto came to life thanks to the most venerable Van Thuy Thien Tran Dao Vien Quang Chan Nhan, the Chief monk of Thien Tru Pagoda. In front of the cave lie stone stairs. Stepping down the 120-step stairs, tourists will find the inscription "The first-ranking grotto under the Southern Sky" in Han scripts, which are traces of Lord Tinh Do Vuong Trinh Sam's calligraphy in the 3rd lunar month of the year of the Tiger (Canh Dan -1770). Getting into the grotto, you will find a purely cool atmosphere in a dim light before figuring out naturally architectural works such as Dun Gao (Rice) rock, gold and silver trees, Girl and Boy Mountains (in the shapes of a girl and a boy), and so forth. Yet, what is noteworthy is the statue of Avalokitesvara carved out of emerald stone on a rocky lotus, constructed in 1793, under the Tay Son dynasty, and a 1.24m bronze bell, moulded in the 3rd Thinh Duc Year (1655). The unique carving art together with the extremely magnificient works of Nature makes the Huong Pagoda complex the top-revenued tourism destination among others in Ha Tay, and the foremost destination of Buddhists in particular and tourists in general.
Saying goodbye to Perfume Grotto, now tourists may choose to further go up to the top Mount by climbing up hundreds of stone steps, all worn smooth by passage of countless feet, or take a short rest and complete the pilgrimage