Pilgrimage to Cau Mountain

The statue of Bodhisattva at Thai Son Pagoda at the foot of Cau Mountain- Photo: Dang Hoang Tham

The traditional practice of taking pilgrimages in Vietnam has become a popular tourism product. The stillness of sacred places, while the smoke from burning incense curls upwards, brings the focus back to the rudiments of life, easing daily stresses and woes and instilling peace and reverence for the soul.

Cau Mountain in Dinh Thanh Commune, Dau Tieng District, Binh Duong Province, is one of the popular destinations for pilgrims near HCMC.

When you first arrive at the base of the mountain, you will see Thai Son Pagoda that was built in 1998 on five hectares. The pagoda has a tower and a 12-meter-high statue of Bodhisattva. It is extremely busy during festival times.

After seeing the pagoda, visitors should head to the rear where the stairs to the mountain top begin. The 1,000 stone steps zigzag upwards, shaded by trees and lined by flowers and boulders. Halfway up the mountain is a shop selling snacks and water and some hammocks where tourists can take a rest and recharge for the next 500 steps.

On the top is a 300 year old tree and a small temple dedicated to the worship of “Cau Bay” who locals believe can protect them and bring them luck.

Looking down is the 27,000 hectare Dau Tieng Lake. The lake, located in Phuoc Minh Commune in Tay Ninh Province’s, Duong Minh Chau District, is the largest irrigation reservoir in Vietnam with a capacity of 1.6 billion cubic meters, enough for 63,000 hectares of farmland in Tay Ninh and HCMC plus 40, 000 hectares in the provinces of Binh Duong and Long An.

Near the foot of the mountain is a thundering waterfall that crashes into Than Tho Lake below.

To reach the lake, tourists can follow National Highway No.13 to Thu Dau Mot Town in Binh Duong Province. At the second highway toll station on Binh Duong Boulevard, turn right on Nguyen Chi Thanh Street (744 Street) and follow it for 30 kilometers then go right at the T-junction of Thanh Tuyen Commune in Ben Cat District. This will take you through Dau Tieng Town of Dau Tieng District and keep going straight for another seven kilometers.

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Duong Lam Ancient Village

A tractor crosses the temple square where farmers have stacked their rice straw

Duong Lam Ancient Village is only 50 kilometers from Hanoi. From the city take Duong Lang- Hoa Lac highway past the Hoa Lac – Son Tay crossroad heading to Bat Bat and turn left to Duong Lam Ancient Village. It is typical of an old rice farming village in northern Vietnam with 200 year old houses made from laterite. The village still relies mainly on rice cultivation.

The owner of this house, Ms Hong, renovated it using traditional materials such as laterit - Photos: Thai Hang

About 50 meters from the main road, the Mong Phu ancient gate, under shadow of 300 year-old tree, welcomes tourists to Duong Lam. The dirt road leads to the village, passing a lotus lake. Some houses on the edge of the village used to be built with laterite that was quarried at the site or brought from neighboring Thach That Commune; but they have been repaired or rebuilt with modern building materials.

Also rebuilt only thee years ago, the house of Ms. Hong caught our eye from a distance thanks to its new renovations. The red-brown dirt house is built from laterite and wood that cost the owner about US$100,000. Hong said she was willing to pay that money as the old house was passed down through the generations to her and it was badly damaged was got it. She wanted to restore it to to its original condition.

One of the old lanes in Duong Lam village

Hong told stories while she gave tourists traditional candy made from peanuts and served tea made from the flowers and leaves of Voi, a tree only found in the north.

We then continued up the dirt road to an old temple in the center of the village, where villagers gather on special occasions. In front of the temple was a small square that was covered with of stacks of harvested rice stalks. It was noon and we sat at a street side stall run by an old woman who told us some of the village history and about some of the national heroes who came from Duong Lam such as Ngo Quyen and Phung Hung. The deeper into the quiet village we walked, the lanes got narrower and the houses seemed to be older.

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Wade into a special experience

While most eco-tourism sites in Vietnam host a variety of flora and fauna, Co (Stork) Island in Chi Lang Nam Commune of the northern province of Hai Duong boasts 20,000 wading birds.

A boat ride on An Duong Lake is a special experience, as thousands of storks and night-herons take turns in flying back and forth for food, covering the expanse above the lake.

The best time to see this is early in the morning when the night-herons are back and storks set out on their hunting forays, and late in the afternoon when the two species exchange their “working shifts” again.

If you happen to take a trip to the island between September and April, don’t forget to bring along a camera with a zoom lens or a pair of binoculars to see hundreds of eggs in the nests built by the birds on trees and in shrubs, or to watch baby storks practice flying.

Residents say during eight months of the year, thousands of storks from other places fly to the island and lay eggs.

At least 12 species of water-walking birds have been spotted on the island, which is some 70 kilometers from Hanoi. These include the storks, night-herons and rare cinnamon bitterns.

The island, covering nearly 3,000 square meters, also houses another 170 animal species like otters. The An Duong Lake, which is up to 25 meters deep, has fish weighing up to several dozen kilograms each.

Visitors to the island will no doubt hear legends about it from local residents. It is said that during the 15th century, three deluges struck a big dyke along the Red River, breaking it into pieces. The island was formed after the second disaster.

In 1994, authorities of Thanh Mien District, where the island is located, invested in a project to turn the island into a tourism site, which now attracts some 40,000 visitors annually.

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Get fired up about pottery at Ceramic Festival

Visitors at the booth of Thanh Ha pottery

The “Ceramic Festival of Vietnam – Binh Duong in 2010” is underway at Go Dau Stadium in Thu Dau Mot Town in Binh Duong Province till September 8.

Artisans join a ceramic making contest- Photos: Uyen Vien

The festival has 600 booths of ceramics and fine arts from about 70 enterprises around the country. Twenty one traditional ceramics and pottery villages which have been making ceramics for hundreds of years are also represented. The villages include Bat Trang in Hanoi, Phu Lang in Bac Ninh, Chu Dau in Hai Duong, Phuoc Tich in Thua Thien-Hue, Thanh Ha in Quang Nam, Hoa Vinh in Phu Yen, Bau Truc in Ninh Thuan, Bien Hoa in Dong Nai, Lai Thieu in Binh Duong and Mang Thit in Vinh Long.

Ceramic makers are promoting their products to local and foreign customers at the festival, while discussing the balance between traditional pottery making and using modern technology.

At the festival, there will be a ceramic making contest, seminar and exhibitions on ceramics.

Seven pottery works have been registered for Vietnamese records, of which three works by Minh Long 1 Company including Cup Hon Viet (Vietnamese soul’s cup), Chen Ngoc Van Lang (Van Lang pearl bowl) and Cup Sen Vang (Golden Lotus Cup), the work Quoc Binh Thang Long (Thang Long peaceful nation) by Cuong Phat Company, Lu Thien Dia (Jar of heaven and earth) by Thanh Trung pottery firm, Den Gom (Pottery lamp) by Thuong Nguyen pottery company and Dia Cau (Globe) by Tan Toan Phat Company. All works are made by traditional methods.

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