Like a princess sleeping in a forest, Van Phong Bay (Khanh Hoa Province) used to be unpopular simply because the trip to Van Phong Bay or to Dam Mon (a village in Van Phong Bay) was full of hardship...
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| Van Phong Bay. |
Like a princess sleeping in a forest, Van Phong Bay (Khanh Hoa Province) used to be unpopular simply because the trip to Van Phong Bay or to Dam Mon (a village in Van Phong Bay) was full of hardship. When the construction of Co Ma-Dam Mon 18.5km Road was completed, the dream of travelling to Van Phong Bay has come true.
The trip to Van Phong used to take a lot of time as tourists had to wait to take a boat in Van Ninh District and then spend a whole day. Now, it has changed. The trip becomes quite simple. From Nha Trang, if you start at 8a.m, it will take only over 1 hour to Dam Mon in Van Phong Bay. Visitors will find out how surprisingly deserted and magnificient the scenery is!
The first impression tourists may have when coming to Van Phong Bay is the sandy hill. As soon as reaching the old cork tree forest named Tuan Le, you will find the sandy hill called Co Don (the Lonely). The path to Dam Mon also passes the sandy hill. Sitting on a boat floating in Van Phong Bay, you will see the sandy hill stretching ahead leading to wonderful rocky beaches. As soon as getting out of Dam Mon, you will wonder at the surprisingly fantastic views of the piled-up and craggy rocks. Over the time, the rocks are gradually formed in the strange nice shapes of bears, elephants, dogs, cocks,..as if having been made by skilful sculptors’ hands.
The water here is crystal-clear. Hon Ong (Ong Rock) blocks our views with mountains forming a strange rock battle plan. Rocks lie along the mountain edge, up to the peak and some look as if they were swimming. On the rock are the lines left by the tide going in and out. Reaching Hon Ong, you will have a chance to enter thatch-roofed houses of Vietnamese style. Sailing boats are available for those who are interested in water-skiing or enjoy the first lessons of diving in the water surrounded with safety limit lines.
The most attraction of the trip to Van Phong is Son Dung Beach. Even the residents here can hardly explain the meaning of the name Son Dung. Located right on Son Dung Beach, Son Dung Village is a typical village of Dang Ha Ethnic Minority group with only 11 cottages. Here you will be offered a kind of soft drink taken by digging the sea sand layer into underground water springs. The water is fresh as if it was taken from a fridge. Son Dung villagers lives on hooking squids and catching sentinel-crabs. Its inhabitants catch sentinel-crabs with cages and hook squids while drifting along the Van Phong Sea on small boats at night. These squids and sentinel-crabs are usually sold to tourists. Son Dung is a quite typical village as it has no paths. Its main path is along the sea edge. Son Dung Beach is very strange with rocks piled up in forms of tiny oases. However, it is not all for the trip to Van Phong Beach. You must have learnt about the diving in Hon Mun (Mun Island), Nha Trang City, but when diving at Bai Me (Me Beach) and Bai Lach (Lach Beach) in Van Phong Bay, you will be surely astonished at the almost deserted marine world. When the tide comes out, beneath the Van Phong sea floor expose coral reefs and fish swimming here and there. Together with the project of building Van Phong Bay into a main economic zone, Van Phong as an international resort offered so many potentials has been put into consideration by Khanh Hoa Province to be well-exploited.
KHUE VIET TRUONG (SGGP)
