Dau Go Cave

Dau Go (Driftwood) cave is a simple name between the sky and land of Halong. From the far distance, the entrance of the cave is in the shape of a jellyfish. After 90 steps up the island, the entrance is reached. The ceiling of the cave is about 25 m. Hundreds of stalactites falling down from the roof of the cave look like a waterfall. The cave is divided into three main rooms. The outer room is a room with a vault full of natural light, the dome of the cave is a giant canvas with the natural wild landscape of stalactites. Many forms may be seen in the rock formations of the chamber, depending on the imagination of the visitor. Crossing the first chamber, one enters the second chamber through a narrow passage. The light here is mysterious, and new images appear in the stone. It makes us having a fear and be inquisitive. The stone flowers appears with the shapes of similar and strange things to human, which creates the excitement as well as the curiosity. The third chamber of the cave is widely opened. At the end of the cave is a well of clear water. Looking up in the dim light we recognize that surrounded is the image of an ancient citadel and a scuffle of elephants, horses, man with bristly sword and spear. All are making a rush and be petrified suddenly. The name Driftwood Cave came from a popular story of the resistance war against the Yuan – Mongolian aggressors. In a decisive battle, Tran Hung Dao was given the order to prepare many ironwood stakes here, to be planted on the riverbed of Bach Ðang River. The remaining wooden pieces found in the cave have given it its present name. And the name Dau Go is associated with the legend that General Tran Hung Ðao (1226-1300) hid ironwood stakes in preparation for the Bach Dang battle against the Yuan-Mongolian invaders. If the Thiên Cung Cave is monumental and modern (in its natural form), then Driftwood Cave is solemn, but also grandiose. In “Marvels of the World,” published in France in 1938, the author called the cave “Grotte des merveilles” (a site of many marvels) In 1917, Emperor Khai Ðinh came to visit the cave, and amazed by the beauty of the place, ordered the erection of an engraved stone stele singing the praises of Ha Long Bay and the cave. Today, it remains to the right-hand side of the entrance.

Da Bac cave

It is said that in a time coming to the earth of the fairy girls, because of loving the nature, the fairy girls were lost in Da Bac. The beauty pulled them back and did not want to come back to the heaven. The God of heaven knew that news and was angry. He had the gate of the heaven closed and forbidden the fairy girls to be back. They stayed in that place and incarnated into the mountainsides. Since then, the Da Bac cave is also named Tien cave (fairy cave). Today, the Da Bac cave is in Lien Son commune, Hoa Binh province. It was discovered since 1990. IT is a 70m long cave with many small rooms. The entrance is not quite big with a path covered with brick for the visitors to come in. Firstly, the Co Tien cave (fairy girl cave) is separated into two rooms: the outer and inner rooms. The outer room is pure, cool, and wide. The stalactites hang down into the curling shapes, which help the room more lively. The under parts are sparkling stalactites which look like the natural ponds with full of waters. The inner room seems to be smaller. The empty range of stone hangs down to create a beautiful and strange image. Only one minute standing there would create the peace in mind and the visitors would feel like being on the fairyland. Visitors would touch those masterpieces of nature. Beside Co Tien cave is Long Tien cave where the visitors would be surprised because of its special structure. The half part of the cave is in the shape of lined in the logical order. The outside light could come into the cave through a sub-entrance. At the end of the journey, visitors would come to Mau cave, a special place, which is like the joining of the whole fairy world. The stalactites hang down with different colors. The fairy girls on the cliffs. The Thach Sach under an ancient bayan trees. God Giong on his iron horse and the yellow bamboo to defeat the evils. Such a rare wonderland on earth. Comingn to Da Bac cave, visitors would be free to discover the nature to have the most relaxing moments after the tough working days.

Bach Long Vi Island

The Bach Long vi (White dragon tails) island is 130km far from the Hai Phong northern province by sea. With the area is 3km square, Bach Long Vi is a triangle shape with the perimeter of 8 km. In the middle of island is the hillock with the figure of tortoise shells with the height of 60 m. From this very peak, there is a observatory which is like a tireless eye which witnessing the sea land of Vietnam. There is a village in the island which named Phu Thuy Chau (village floating on the water). This village is established since 1920s, due to the foundation of sweet water resource. Bach Long Vi was formerly the reside temporarily place of fishermen from Co To or Cat Ba. Now there is also people from Hai Nan (China) island coming to live and they earn a living mainly by catching abalone. Apart from abalone, Bach Long Vi also has phosphate, mange, and alfatite, which is the prospect of natural oil in the Gulf of Tonkin. In American war, the enemy destroyed the island 142 times with the total bomb released were hundreds ton. The army in this island was bravely raised against the enemy which deserved the title of “never sink battleship”.

Sapa Town

If the nature has “pre-setup” for the North West part with the limestone ranges or the green forest ranging with rivers and spring, the historical of nature also left many landmarks with the living symbols of grottoes inside the hillside with the magical stalactites. All have made the visitors being moved. One of the typical features for the tenacious creativities is located in Lai Chau province with the complex of grotto Pu Sam Cap which is newly discovered since July 2006 with more than 10 grottoes and caves. Among them, there are three main grottoes named Thien Mon, Thien Duong and Thuy Tinh which are compared with the sleepless woman in the forest. The natural beauty of Pu Sam Cap is not so less in comparison with any complex which is acknowledged to be the national and international landscape such as Phong Nha – Ke Bang (Quang Binh) or Thien Cung (Quang Ninh), etc. Pu Sam Cap means “three overlapping big mountains” in local language. This is the name for the limestone mountain range with the topography type of karst, which is shaped from the Tectonics era. Pu Sam Cap complex is along the provincial road no 129 to Sin Ho plateau. It is about 6km from the West of Lai Chau Township, and it is on the height of 1,700m above the sea level. Coming to Pu Sam Cap, visitors have to go through a rough tortuous pathway with the ancient trees being stroked down by storms lying in the middle of the road. That makes the steps of the visitors full of magic and natural power of the jungle. The interesting part of it is when visitors are hard to approach different types of stalactites; it is very easy for them to touch in Pu Sam Cap. This seems to be the advantage of this cave, but it has left many tough issues in preserving. Because it needs millions of years to create these masterpieces, but only small unawareness could harm them even in a blink of eyes. Py Sam Cap cave is still too neglected and simple. There seem only some instruction plates to instruct the visitors to the Thien Mon or Thien Duong caves. There are also some of llight bowl are set up to help the visitors to witness the inside parts. Almost no large-scale investments are made to match the beauty of the Pu Sam Cap mountain girls. It is hoped that in the near future, under the special treatment of the local authorities, Pu Sam Cap complex would become the bright point along with the latent values of the province. Pu Sam Cap will contribute to the tourism enhancement of Lai Chau to add on the unique colorful features of North West sonority.

Pu Sam Cap Cave

If the nature has “pre-setup” for the North West part with the limestone ranges or the green forest ranging with rivers and spring, the historical of nature also left many landmarks with the living symbols of grottoes inside the hillside with the magical stalactites. All have made the visitors being moved. One of the typical features for the tenacious creativities is located in Lai Chau province with the complex of grotto Pu Sam Cap which is newly discovered since July 2006 with more than 10 grottoes and caves. Among them, there are three main grottoes named Thien Mon, Thien Duong and Thuy Tinh which are compared with the sleepless woman in the forest. The natural beauty of Pu Sam Cap is not so less in comparison with any complex which is acknowledged to be the national and international landscape such as Phong Nha – Ke Bang (Quang Binh) or Thien Cung (Quang Ninh), etc. Pu Sam Cap means “three overlapping big mountains” in local language. This is the name for the limestone mountain range with the topography type of karst, which is shaped from the Tectonics era. Pu Sam Cap complex is along the provincial road no 129 to Sin Ho plateau. It is about 6km from the West of Lai Chau Township, and it is on the height of 1,700m above the sea level. Coming to Pu Sam Cap, visitors have to go through a rough tortuous pathway with the ancient trees being stroked down by storms lying in the middle of the road. That makes the steps of the visitors full of magic and natural power of the jungle. The interesting part of it is when visitors are hard to approach different types of stalactites; it is very easy for them to touch in Pu Sam Cap. This seems to be the advantage of this cave, but it has left many tough issues in preserving. Because it needs millions of years to create these masterpieces, but only small unawareness could harm them even in a blink of eyes. Py Sam Cap cave is still too neglected and simple. There seem only some instruction plates to instruct the visitors to the Thien Mon or Thien Duong caves. There are also some of llight bowl are set up to help the visitors to witness the inside parts. Almost no large-scale investments are made to match the beauty of the Pu Sam Cap mountain girls. It is hoped that in the near future, under the special treatment of the local authorities, Pu Sam Cap complex would become the bright point along with the latent values of the province. Pu Sam Cap will contribute to the tourism enhancement of Lai Chau to add on the unique colorful features of North West sonority.