Explore Unique Caves at Ngu Hanh Son Mountain - Da Nang

Hello, my Hiver friends! How are you today? I hope all good things come to you. My today's article will write about the caves of Ngu Hanh Son mountain, as everyone knows Ngu Hanh Son is a low limestone mountain complex located between the Han River and the East Sea. Ngu Hanh Son consists of 5 mountains. Kim Son, Moc Son, Thuy Son, Duong Hoa Son, Am Hoa Son and Tho Son. According to geological documents, these mountains were originally islands in the East Sea, due to the action of wind and water, which penetrated the caves. After the process of time, the seawater recedes away from these islands, which are connected to the mainland and become 6 mountains. There is also a legend that: Once here was a deserted sea, only an old man lived alone in a thatched hut. One day, when it suddenly turned dark, a storm arose from the sea. A large dragon appeared above and laid a large egg, which slowly rolled out from under its belly. Then the dragon turned and disappeared. After a while, a golden turtle appeared and called himself Kim Quy god, Kim Quy god gave the old man one of his nails. The Golden Turtle taught the old man how to protect the egg. Thanks to the miraculous claws of the turtle, the old man was able to avoid hawks and other wild animals. After a while, the egg hatched into a beautiful girl, and the shell of the egg broke into five pieces, these 5 pieces formed the 5 Marble Mountains. The young woman was married by the king of Champa, and the old man was taken to heaven by the god Kim Quy, which is the legendary story of the 5 Ngu Hanh Son mountains.

Ngu Hanh Son mountain is not as high as other mountains of Da Nang city. Of the 5 mountains, Thuy Son is the highest, only 106 m, steep, densely grassy. The foot of the mountain has an oval shape, the length is in the east-west direction. Although Ngu Hanh Son has 5 mountains. They are of different sizes, but the shape is similar. The stone here is marble, opaque, milky white, Pink, gray with red veins, dark brown, dark blue... the stone is not very hard, local stoneworkers have used the stone here to sculpt statues and furniture. fine arts, decoration ... In 1837, during a visit to the mountain, King Minh Mang named this place "Ngu Hanh Son", King Minh Mang ordered the construction of Tam Thai pagoda and Hoa Nghiem cave. In 1826, King Minh Mang had 9 Buddha statues and 3 large bells recast for Tam Thai pagoda and Hoa Nghiem cave. Explore all 5 Ngu Hanh Son mountains, which will take you quite a bit of time, but in today's article, I will write one of the 5 tops of Ngu Hanh Son, this mountain is named Thuy Son.

Thuy Son mountain is the largest and highest mountain of the famous Ngu Hanh Son (Non-Nuoc) relic complex in Da Nang. Thuy Son brings the beauty of the convergence of sea and sky, lyrical mountains, and many profound values ​​of spirituality, culture, and history. Thuy Son Mountain is located about 8 km southeast of Da Nang city center, in Hoa Hai ward, Ngu Hanh Son district, Da Nang city. Thuy Son Mountain is located on the tourist sea route of Da Nang and Hoi An in Quang Nam. Thuy Son mountain is the largest, highest, and most beautiful mountain in the Ngu Hanh Son (Non-Nuoc) relic complex. Thuy Son mountain is 106 meters high and 7 hectares wide. Like other mountains in the Marble Mountains, Thuy Son has a unique beauty in terms of location, shape, stone material, temples and caves. Thuy Son top has 3 peaks and 3 floors. 3 stars in the constellation Dai Hung (also known as Tam Thai). Thuy Son possesses the convergence beauty of the sea, sky, lyrical mountains, and many profound spiritual, cultural, and historical values. Most of the temples and caves of the Marble Mountains are located on this Thuy Son mountain. The entrance fee for Thuy Son mountain is 40,000 Vnd/for 1 visitor. Children under 1.3 meters will be completely free. There are 2 ways to get to the pagoda and caveat Thuy Son mountain: The East is the 108-step gate leading to Linh Ung Pagoda, the West is the 156-step gate leading to Tam Thai Pagoda. Visitors often follow the east gate to go up the mountain and down the mountain at the west gate, because the east gate has now been installed by the management of the Marble Mountains with 2 elevators, the elevator will have two ways up and down. in 2 cabins, with a maximum capacity of 20 people each time, if you go by elevator, it will cost you an additional 15 thousand Vnd for a one-way trip. Today I will follow the west gate of Thuy Son mountain, this gate does not have an elevator, it will be much more difficult, but will help you have a complete discovery of Thuy Son mountain. In front of the gate area, there are much jewelry, made of stone, and souvenirs for visitors to give as gifts to their loved ones.

The west gate will have longer steps than the west gate, with 156 steps. The path to the mountain is planted with many rows of bamboo trees, winding together, creating a highlight for the relic. The steps are chiseled by people to create stairs, if it rains, the stone slabs here will be very easy to slip. Every 70 steps, there will be a stop for visitors to rest, after a long way of climbing on steep slopes.

After going through almost all the steps, there will be a gate to welcome visitors. The first place I want to introduce in Thuy Son mountain is Hoa Nghiem cave. Located at Thuy Son mountain of Ngu Hanh Son, east of Hoa Nghiem is behind Tam Thai pagoda, follow the road on the side of the temple, turn left you will enter Hoa Nghiem Cave. The path in front of the cave entrance is a green space of tall trees and caves. This is a small cave with ancient and quiet Huyen Khong Quan covered with moss. Inside the cave is a large statue of Avalokitesvara Buddha, made of stone. The Buddha statue's compassionate eyes look towards the cave entrance, this Buddha statue was cast by Artisan Nguyen Chat of Fine Arts Village in 1960. To the left of the Buddha statue, on the cave wall is an ancient stele Linh Trung Phat, by monk Hue. Dao Minh was erected in the year of the Dragon, 1640. The stele records the restoration and reverence for the merits of Buddhists, including many Japanese families from the ancient city of Hoi An who came to do business and those people came to contemplate. worship and have merit in building the temple.

On the left-hand side of Hoa Nghiem cave is Huyen Khong cave. Hoa Nghiem Cave and Huyen Khong Cave share the same entrance, Hoa Nghiem Cave is located on the ground and Huyen Khong Cave is located 5 to 6 m underground. Huyen Khong Cave is a place where people return to their magical spiritual roots among sacred rocks. Huyen Khong Cave is like a natural air conditioner of nature, on hot summer days the temperature in the cave only fluctuates around 24 degrees. To get to Huyen Khong cave, visitors have to go down 5m deep behind Hoa Nghiem Cave with more than 20 steps to enter Huyen Khong Cave. The cave resembles a giant upside-down bell, the circumference of Huyen Khong cave is about 25 m, the cave is valuable in terms of spirituality geoscience, archeology. Huyen Khong cave is an open-air, semicircular, flat-bottomed cave with 5 arc-shaped holes on the top of the cave, connecting to the outside allowing sunlight to enter and making the whole cave bright. and strange. The cave has an arch with 3 words Huyen Khong Quan, The path leading to the cave will have high stairs leading down to the cave, on the stairs, there are statues of gatekeepers, with faces of Good and Evil opposing each other, this is a reminder for everyone to live honestly. Wrong thoughts when coming to the Buddha Gate will be resolved. The special thing between Huyen Khong cave and other caves such as Thien Cung cave, Sung Sot cave (Ha Long), Phong Nha cave, Tien Son cave, Thien Duong cave (Phong Nha - Ke Bang) is that the cave has a cool temperature. Due to the cold and sunlight coming in, the cave is not humid and must be installed with electric lights. Although there is no electric light installed, Huyen Khong cave can still see the fanciful light of stalactites. The tallest in the cave is the statue of Shakyamuni Buddha carved in 1960 by artist Nguyen Chat, a famous craftsman in Non-Nuoc stone carving village, the statue was carved in 1960. Below the statue of Shakyamuni Buddha is the Earth altar. Tibetan Bodhisattva. On the left side of the cave is the statue of Buddha, the shrine of Ngoc Phi (Ba Chua Tien), visitors can come to pray for good luck; and Mrs. Loi Phi (Mrs. Thuong Ngan), bless you with peace and health. On the right is Trang Nghiem Tu, built-in 1825, with ancient and sacred features. Trang Nghiem Tu is a house with 3 compartments: in the middle is worshiping the Goddess of Mercy, the left compartment is worshiping the three saints Quan Cong, Quan Binh, and Chau Xuong, symbolizing virtue, wisdom, and loyalty; Especially on the right side, there is a place to worship Ong To and Ba Nguyet, couples often go to Nguyet Lao to pray for a hundred years of happiness.

After visiting two caves Hoa Nghiem and Huyen Khong, I continued to go to another famous cave in the complex of Thuy Son mountain relics, is Van Thong cave, the road leading to Van Thong cave is planted a lot. Green trees and shade cover the entire space here. There are many handicrafts made of Non-Nuoc stone here, many shops are selling soft drinks, the price of jewelry here is also very affordable, on the way to Van Thong cave you will pass. A stone cave gate is very similar to a Chinese Tianmen Mountain gate, but many times smaller than the Tianmen Mountain gate. Van Thong cave is also known as "the way to heaven", the cave is located inside the mountain, the entrance to the cave is very dark, the deeper the row is narrower and in Van Thong cave there is a way to the top of Ngu Hanh Son mountain. In the middle of Van Thong cave is a statue of Buddha Shakyamuni, made of stone. 205 cm high, 50 cm wide, this statue is placed in a standing position, squeezing the fingertips. In the cave, there is also a small cave leading to the top of the mountain, but this cave is quite small, only one person can crawl up at a time. During the epidemic, to limit visitors from going this route, the top of the cave was closed. I have been to Ngu Hanh Son mountain many times, but every time I go is a different experience, and I think that even if I go more, I will never discover all the interesting things here.

I will have a second article about the Ngu Hanh Son tourist destination, in today's article I only write about 3 caves of Thuy Son mountain. In the next article, I will continue to write about the peaks of Thuy Son and the ancient temples of the Marble Mountains. Thank you all for reading my travel introduction article, wish everyone a happy start to the week and good luck at work.