Hon Dau

Hon Dau - a new significant attraction Haiphong city

The project to build an international resort in Hon Dau, Do Son district, Haiphong city is a typical example of breakthrough in tourism development and management for not Haiphong alone.

Provided with only 96.12 ha of land with three sides facing the sea, Hon Dau International Tourism Joint-stock Company has decided to expand the project site outward to the sea that will shorten the gap between Do Son peninsula and stunning Hon Dau island.

Over a long period of construction up to date, the expanded area has reached 120 ha. Consequently, the expected resort of total VND 700 billion investment which was hard to be materialized previously has been gradually come into view. The resort model has been rated by Ministry of Construction as one of the best resorts nation wide. The land area of the project starts from historical Nghieng Wharf where the last French colonists left Vietnam and ends at K15 Pier which is a famous place where nameless ships starts their voyages transporting military provisions from the North to the South for Vietnamese soldiers in the war again the US. The pier is also the starting point of well-known Ho Chi Minh sea route. Hon Dau island with untouched natural beauty in which South Ocean Neptune Temple along with the local famous lighthouse exists is an ideal ecological resort. Bringing into full play the natural advantages, Hon Dau Resort which working round the year is expected to help local tourism overcome the difficulty of traveling seasons as the atraction is presently only known for sea travel and summer vacation. On Dau No mountain, the investor is building a small imitated Da Lat with pine trees, Love Valley, bendy paths, gardens with flowers, different kinds of birds and animals. Travelers visiting the attraction can only go up the hill on foot or by tramcar. On the top of the hill there will be a helistop and a car park for visitor’s use. Right at the hill foot is a artificial beach of 6 ha to be designed by Australian experts and built with a total investment of USD 6 million. Water of the beach will be filtered to make Do Son Beach’s existing brown-coloured water with illuvial become clearer than ever. Staying at the resort in winter, visitors can enjoy mud-bath which is warmed by hot steam system in a glasshouse.

In addition, there will be over 200 villas of different sizes to be constructed and equiped with additional facilities such as a common entertainment area, park, netted beach with white sand, multi-sport hall, music water fountain, festival square etc. In the complex, a multi-purposed international convention hall will also be built with the capacity of over 1.000 seats which is able to serve international summits. In Do Son peninsula, the owner will put up more than 400 villas coming between small green parks and facing all to receive wind from Tonkin Gulf. The villas will be accompanied with recreational areas including a sea park, underwater palace, international statue and sculpture park, underwater and on-land performance quarters, sea clubs, underwater wedding etc. Hence, upon its completion which is not long away, Hon Dau International Resort will come into operation to satisfy luxurious visitors nationally and internationally as well as local residents. It is also the all-year-round resort attracting travelers visiting the beach not only in summer but in winter as well

If tourists in Vietnam Travel have chance to visit Hai Phong city, Hon Dau Resort is a must-see place that should not be missed!

Mountain Elephant

Mountain Elephant likes huge elephant lying between paddy field and blue sky

Through Kien An district, travelers will see Mountain Elephant which is the site of a widely diverse natural landscape. The Mountain looks like a huge elephant lying between paddy field and blue sky, with an area of more 1km2, 145m high reflected in Lach Tray river.

In Mountain Elephant, there are many “fairy caves”, such as Hong Voi, Chieng, Ca Chep, and Be. To the south of the Mountain is the Nam Tao Cave, and to the north is the Bac Dau Cave. According to Chinese myth, Nam Tao and Bac Dau are the two gods who care for life and death. , there are lot of stalactites of various shapes in the cave, looking like kneeling dragons, tigers, and the head of an elephant.

On top of the mountain, there is an flat area, which is called the “Fairy Chess Board”. There are also ruins of pagodas and citadels from the 16^th century Mac Dynasty on the mountain. Speciality is the remains of the ancient Viet civilization, including stone axes and chisels, etc, which date back to over 3,000 years.

Du Hang Pagoda

Du Hang Pagoda - ancient pagoda and on the big scale in Hai Phong

Du Hang Pagoda has the ancient style and originated since Tien Le dynasty, come here tourists in Vietnam travel will have a chance to contemplate many valuable Buddha statues, horizontal lacquered board, parallel sentences bearing the art style of the Nguyen dynasty

Lying on Ho Nam Ward- Le Chan District, 2km southwest of City center, Du Hang Pagoda's nom de plume is Phuc Lam Tu, which used to be ancient pagoda and on the big scale in Hai Phong. 

Pagoda has the ancient style and originated since Tien Le dynasty (980-1009). In Le Gia Tong dynasty (1672), high-ranking bonze Nguyen Đinh Sach donated his own properties to buy land to enlarger this pagoda with full lance, ring, temple of forefathers, bonze's house with the tiled roof, and the paths were paved over with Bat Trang bricks...Up to now, the pagoda has been restored by the believers and Buddhist clergymen to make it more and more beautiful.
Du Hang Pagoda currently has magnificent architecture with seven -room Buddha's the full precinct, the3 floor- ring gate with curved roof. Right in the middle of the ring gate is hanging big bronze ring, with a written line "Phuc Lam Tu Chung", or that means the ring of Phuc Lam Pagoda.

Ancient architecture of Du Han Pagoda

Visiting the site of Du Hang pagoda, visitors will have a chance to contemplate many valuable Buddha statues, horizontal lacquered board, parallel sentences bearing the art style of the Nguyen dynasty at the end of 19th to the early 20th century and many ancient graphic fine arts are still preserved in the Buddhist temple of Pagoda
Tower garden of pagoda is quiet under the shady ancient and big trees with tower grave groups of all the progenitor bronzes who died in this Pagoda and those of progenitor contemplation school of Truc Lam Yen Tuand also those of Chan Huyen high -ranking bonzes and many bonzes who had presided Du Hang Pagoda
All the Buddha's altar rooms have architectural shape of Indian or Cambodian Pagodas; the top roofs have 43 pointed curved heads which illustrate for the Holey water bottles bringing the auspicious things to everyone. For long, Du Hang Pagoda has been drawing many tourists attention both at home and abroad

If tourists in Vietnam Travel have chance to visit Hai Phong city, Du Hang Pagoda is a must-see place that should not be missed!

Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival

 

Cat Ba National Park

Geographically, Cat Ba National Park is located in Cat Hai district, Hai Phong city. Belonging to Cat Ba island, the national park incorporates some of the small islands and marine water and covers 26,300ha, in which 17,300ha is on the main island and 9,000ha is of the adjacent inshore waters.

A pleasant feeling from physical features…

The landscape of Cat Ba National Park is dominated by karst limestone areas on the main island where there are numerous waterfalls, caves and grottoes. The rugged topography is marked by steep outcrops and bare rock areas with many seasonal streams such as Thung Luong, Treo Com, Hoi Trung Trang and Viet Hai.

Most of the rain water flows into caves and grottoes and follows underground streams to the sea. There are several small lakes and ponds in the hills; the largest is Ech Lake- a permanent water body with an area of 3ha and a depth of about 50m. Ninety percent of the main island is between 50m and 200m above sea level, for example Cao Vong (331m) and Hien Hoa (302m), while only 10% of the island is below 50m in elevation.

…to climate

Featured by tropical monsoon with pronounced wet and dry seasons, the park receives the annual rainfall from 1,700mm to 1,800mm. The annual temperature at sea level is 25^oC to 28^oC associated with the moderate annual relative humidity is 85%. The ideal time is April and October as you may encounter the rain, even typhoons and tropical storms if you come to the park from May to September as well as some drizzle during January, February and March.

Biodiversity values

Due to the abundance of suitable moist niches within the limestone forest, Cat Ba National Park has a rich and plentiful snail fauna. It supports a diversity of natural habitats, including forested hills, small freshwater lakes, freshwater swamp forest, mangroves, sandy beaches and coral reefs. In detailed, among 839 vascular plant species have been recorded at the national park, there are 25 species listed in the Red Data Book of Vietnam.

Due to the isolated nature of the island and high levels of hunting, the diversity and abundance of mammals in Cat Ba are low in comparison with other national parks in Vietnam. Among the fauna of the park, the most popular are ungulate and primate, in which monkey is between 104 and 135 individuals, including only 50 to 75 adults. Also, the limestone habitat at Cat Ba National Park is an idea environment for a number of invertebrate species.

Satisfy your knowledge with human history clues.

Not only those typical characteristics, Cat Ba National park has been considered as a cradle of culture with many traces of ancient humans. Stone tools and bones found at the sites indicate that primitive man was living in the caves and grottoes on the island between 6,000 and 7,000 years ago. The example is Cai Beo Cave which is about 1.5km south-east of Cat Ba Town, has been studied intensively.

What about conservation management?

Come to the park and take actions with the local government in conservation matters! Do you know that the forests on the island are particularly valued for maintaining the water regime as well as containing important genetic resources and support ing the food chain of economically important aquatic animals such as fish, shrimp, bivalves and arthropods? That the reason why, local government as well as local people have tried their best to appeal the awareness and help from people come here to protect this vulnerable chain for further biodiversity development. Not only stop at a certain matter, as regard the whole national park, the main purpose are to preserve natural ecosystems and genetic resources, restore the native flora and fauna through replanting, re-introduction and habitat improvement as well as promote outdoor recreation and environmental education for the general public in collaboration with the tourist industry.

Amazing, exciting, surprising…

Each year, Cat Ba Island receives large numbers of domestic and overseas tourists. A significant proportion of these tourists visit the national park, either on foot, along one of the hiking trails, or by boat through the marine component. The national park can, therefore, be considered to be making an important contribution to the island's economy.

Cat Bat is a great place for hiking and outdoor activities. However, if you are not an experienced hiker, trails at Cat Ba might be quite a challenge for you to trek. In this situation, a sophisticated tour guide is highly recommended for the purpose of safety. Exploring Cat Ba, you will see one of the most beautiful landscapes in Vietnam and the copious ecosystem. Other attractions such as limestone formations

Do Son Beach

 

Trang Kenh