Mountains in Vietnam. Vietnam. Geography, description and characteristics of the country. How to get to the Marble Mountains on your own
Having moved to live in Vietnam for 3 months, we had no idea what nature was like here, we read about everything, but not about nature. There will be palm trees, a lot of greenery, everything will be like in Thailand and the Philippines, we thought. Perhaps this will not surprise anyone, but for me it was a discovery how much the local nature resembles ours in Chelyabinsk. The owner of our house, Dao, and her friend Leia invited us to go to the mountains for a day.
We rode on 2 bikes and got lost for a long time, because... The girls traveled to those places on their own for the first time. We said that we had a map and we could show where to go (we knew that the mountains were located just west of the city of Da Nang), but Dao and Leia stubbornly stuck to their “Don’t worry.” Well, okay, as it turns out later, a map in a phone with a GPS function will still come in handy. After 2 hours, the mountains finally came into view. Am I the only one who thinks this looks very similar to Russian nature? Or I suddenly became nostalgic.
Mountains, houses and many, many flowers. The gaze rested, looking at this beauty.
After another 10 minutes, we arrived at a park that fits perfectly into the environment; it’s more like a recreation area or a sanatorium than a park. We never figured out what it was. Dao and Leia went further to meet with students (yes, Denis was surrounded by only teachers that day), and agreed to call each other when we walked around the park and saw the waterfall. Inside the park there are ponds, trees, paths. The park is very cozy, but walking through it, we couldn’t shake the feeling of abandonment. It seems that the flowers are watered and the paths are cleaned and the trees are trimmed, but it seemed to us that the park used to smell fragrant, but now it is only barely breathing.
We found several birdhouses. It's funny that there are no starlings in Vietnam, but we still call birdhouses built in this country birdhouses. It’s interesting to know what they call these houses, probably also from the name of the birds. Although, the Vietnamese language is a completely different story.
There were few visitors, and all that was there were mostly teenagers, splashing in the river, over which a charming bridge was stretched. The teenagers, seeing us, began to loudly greet us, laugh, in short, behave like ordinary Asian teenagers. For six months in Asia, we have already become accustomed to constant attention, hearing every day 30 times: “Hello!!!”, responding to this with “Hello!!!”, the Arava of teenagers, actively chanting something to us, was not so much and noise. As usual, we smiled widely and waved our hands, because... judging by our observations, Asians have an extremely positive attitude towards white tourists and if they shout something at you, it’s something like: “How are you? Come here!". We have not encountered any aggression towards us yet, so we are also behaving very friendly.
In the park, as elsewhere in Vietnam, all the signs, all the signboards are only in Vietnamese, we can only guess what is written on them. If in Thailand both local and English were often used on one poster, in the Philippines only English was used, but here only Vietnamese.
There is a small waterfall in the park, from which they caught either fish or garbage. By the way, there is very little garbage, which is good news. After wandering around a bit, we discovered a real football field. Yes, this happens in Vietnamese parks. Or was it not a park, but a sanatorium? In any case, a horse grazing on an abandoned football field among picturesque nature and mighty mountains is amazing.
But what I liked most were the small, cozy, clean gazebos where you can hide from the scorching sun and calmly enjoy nature. By the way, I thought that it would be great to do yoga in such gazebos; maybe that’s what they were created for, considering that the floor is covered with perfectly even tiles.
According to our plan with Dao and Leia, after the park we had to get to the waterfall on our own. “Oh, waterfall!” We remembered and quickly went in search of him. Along the way, however, we stopped at a party of pioneers. Seriously, children in red ties were having some kind of celebration, we tried to join, but the lively counselor started asking us what we were doing here, and we had to retreat, having only managed to take a photo of the arch made of trees. Why only a limited number of such arches are created is not clear to me; if it were up to me, I would make them a ubiquitous decoration of every city, because they are so cute. And we will definitely capture the pioneers.
In the meantime, let's capture ourselves.
If we had taken off our helmets, we probably would have died on the spot from sunstroke, so what, but the sun in Vietnam in May is just right.
And this is my favorite photo from the trip to the mountains. The glacier that came down from the mountains brought in many, many stones, which is why the entire valley and all the rivers are strewn with boulders.
Finally, hearing what we thought was the sound of a waterfall, we followed the sound, but it turned out to be only a river.
After driving around for some more time, we decided that at this time of year the waterfall turns into just a trickle and it would be extremely difficult for us to find it. We called Dao, but there was no connection. In the mountains this is not surprising. Continuing to call, we drive back to the park in the hope that there will be a connection there. Along the way we observed landscapes.
Vietnam is often called the land of fairies and dragons - according to ancient legends, all Vietnamese consider themselves descendants of the marriage of a Fairy and a Dragon. The Fairy was in charge of industry - she taught people how to produce silk, and the Dragon showed children the wisdom of agriculture. Since then, the Vietnamese have prospered in both directions.
The name of the country is translated as “the country of the Southern Vietnamese (the name of the nation), but the country was called Annam until 1945, and the name Vietnam was used only in poetic speech. The new name was immortalized by Emperor Bao Dai.
Geographical characteristics
The state, elongated in the shape of the letter “S”, is located in Southeast Asia, in the east of the Indochina Peninsula. Neighbors to the west are Laos, Cambodia and China.
The coast of Vietnam is washed from the east and south by the South China Sea and Bac Bo Bay; the small southwestern tip has access to the Gulf of Thailand.
The area of Vietnam is 329.6 thousand square meters. km. The capital of the state is Hanoi. Political system - socialist republic. The state is officially headed by the Communist Party.
Nature
More than 80% of the country is mountainous, decreasing with access to the sea. The highest point in the country is Mount Fansipan, 3143 meters high. The hill is located in the north-west of the country, in the Hoanglien Son mountain range. The Truong Son Mountains stretch along the western border of the country, separating Vietnam from Laos and China.
The central and southern parts of Vietnam are occupied by basement and basalt plateaus, on which several frozen volcanoes rise. The area between the volcanoes is covered with forest, and in the craters of some volcanoes lakes have formed, giving rise to several rivers of the Mekong River basin...
There are more than 2,000 rivers in Vietnam of varying depths and sizes (the smallest reaches only 10 meters in length). The largest rivers in Vietnam - the Mekong and Hong Ha (Red River) - flow into the South China Sea.
The Mekong Delta is one of the largest and deepest deltas in the world. On the territory of Vietnam, the area with a delta forming nine branches (“Nine of the Dragons”) even acquired special economic importance - the Vietnamese settled here for the first time, began to develop the wetlands, and began to raise fish in canals and man-made ponds.
In the Hong Ha River delta, on the Bac Bo Plain, stands the capital Hanoi. The territory is marked by the highest population density.
The country's largest lake, Hoan Kiem, is an oxbow lake formed as a result of changes in the course of the Red River. The lake has great cultural and historical significance for the people. It is also called the Lake of the Returned Sword: according to legend, one of the ancient rulers of Vietnam defeated the Chinese armies with a accidentally found sword that belonged to a magical golden turtle. After the victories, the turtle came out of the waters of the lake and took the sword.
To the north of the capital there is a chain of picturesque Ba Be lakes. Lakes Pelam, Pelu and Peleng are surrounded by waterfalls and caves...
The coast of Vietnam is washed by one sea - the South China Sea, it is semi-enclosed and belongs to the basins of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and has the properties of both oceans.
The largest island in the South China Sea is Hainan. The area is comfortable for tourist holidays, as the sea here is clean and warm. However, there are many predatory fish and dangerous sharks in the sea. The sea is also rich in commercial fish species - tuna, herring and sardines are found here in abundance...
Some unique plants of Vietnam have become national symbols of the country: for example, bamboo, red and black sandalwood.
In Vietnam there are animals listed in the Red Book, which are almost not left in the wild in other parts of the world - these are the Asian buffalo, Javan and Sumatran rhinoceroses. Endemics (animals that live exclusively in a specified territory) are several species of monkeys, rodents and bats. The Asian elephant, black gibbon, and Indochinese tiger are considered rare species preserved in Vietnam. Animals live both in the wild, in protected reserves, and on special farms...
Due to the elongation of the country from north to south, the climate of Vietnam is heterogeneous, although in general the country is located in the subequatorial monsoon climate zone. In the south, winter is dry and hot (temperatures reach 26 degrees Celsius), in the north it is colder, but humid and mild (up to 15 degrees Celsius). Summer is the monsoon season throughout the country; the end of summer is usually marked by destructive typhoons.
There are frosts in the mountains; on the borders with China, from where cool air penetrates, temperature drops of up to 1 degree Celsius have been recorded...
Resources
The industrial centers of Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang - are located in Central and Southern Vietnam. Industry is represented by metallurgical, mechanical engineering, construction, chemical fields, and light industry. Electronics and components, production of textiles and leather, glass, jewelry and cosmetics were exported to the world. A special branch of the economy is the global production of electricity thanks to an extensive network of hydroelectric power stations.
The fertile basalts of the area contribute to the successful growth of crops in tropical and temperate latitudes, so agriculture has developed greatly on the plateaus of Vietnam - this cluster employs 50% of the country's population. Mainly rice, tea and coffee are grown; the production of cashew nuts, spices, tropical fruits is highly developed...
Culture
The indigenous population of the country is the Viet (Kinh), and 54 other nationalities are recognized as related to them in the country. In the south, most of the population is Khmer (Lower Viet). There is a large proportion of Chinese, Polynesian, Malay and Thai populations.
Vietnamese has the status of the state language. More than 85% of the population professes Buddhism, and the religions of these national minorities, atheism, Christianity are also present...
The Marble Mountains are without a doubt considered the main attraction of Da Nang. They harmoniously intertwine the great creations of human hands and the vagaries of nature. In fact, the Marble Mountains site includes: beautiful gardens, mysterious underground temples and beautiful Chinese-style buildings that are located on these mountains. The mountains are located approximately 30 kilometers from Hoi An and literally a few kilometers from Da Nang, in a southerly direction, almost on the seashore.
It is not necessary to buy a tour to visit this interesting place. It is quite possible to get there on your own. There is a regular bus from both Hoi An and Da Nang that connects these two cities. It runs from Hoi An to Da Nang and vice versa. During his route in both directions, he makes a stop near the Marble Mountains. You can also get there by taxi.
For a daytime ticket you will have to pay $1 per person. Daytime ends at 17.00. You can go further for free, but keep in mind that it gets dark here early, and you are unlikely to have time to carefully examine everything. You can go upstairs by elevator or stairs. Climbing stairs is, of course, more tiring, but much more interesting. But along the entire route there are places to rest, where you can sit quietly and enjoy the surrounding landscape. 
The Marble Mountains are of natural origin. It is actually a conglomerate consisting of five marble and limestone hills. All of them are connected to each other into a single mountain range. Each hill included in the Marble Mountains has its own name, which it received in honor of one of the natural elements: water - Tui, wood - Moc, earth - Tho, metal - Kim and fire - Hoa. In former times, the inhabitants of all the surrounding villages practically lived only at the expense of the Marble Mountains. They mined valuable rocks from them, from which they subsequently made lamps, all kinds of figurines, vases and various household utensils. Today, it is prohibited to take valuable rocks from the Marble Mountains, so local residents take materials for such crafts in another province. This fishery is very old, since one of the nearby villages, Non Nuoc, was founded back in the 13th century. 
In order to explore the Marble Mountains and all the cave temples in detail, you will need at least 3 hours, and maybe more. Since the caves are very dark, be sure to take a flashlight with you. Near all the caves there are usually some grandmothers or local boys who will offer you flashlights for rent for a fee. By the way, they are usually not satisfied with the fee you offer. And the one they offer is unlikely to suit you. In principle, they sell soft drinks, cookies, and fruits, but at a very inflated price. So it’s better to stock up on everything you need before your trip. 
The Marble Mountains keep a lot of surprises; sometimes huge temples are located in the most unexpected places. There are always temples, pagodas and monks here and there on the mountain. The inside of the caves is also extremely interesting. 
Near the Marble Mountains, of course, there is a market where local souvenirs are sold. Be sure to bargain because the prices are very high. Please note that marble figurines are very heavy. Although, if you suddenly decide to purchase some grandiose large object made of marble, you may even be able to arrange delivery by sea transport to your home. You can buy a small set of postcards and a map of the caves, which you can later travel through. Don't forget to also wear comfortable, preferably fastening, shoes. Still, you will be walking through the mountains and visiting caves, and it’s not entirely convenient to do this in beach slippers.
The Marble Mountains, located eight kilometers from Da Nang, are a place where tourists can not only enjoy the unique beauty of the caves, but also get acquainted with the ancient Asian culture, Buddhist temples built in caves, the religious ideas of the ancient inhabitants of Vietnam about hell and heaven, and the purpose of man on our sinful earth. Five bizarrely colored peaks are made of limestone and, of course, marble, and hidden inside the high hills are huge caves in which stalagmites and stalactites were formed by nature. In ancient times, the ocean splashed in this area, the peaks of the Marble Mountains were small islands, and now the Vietnamese have a legend that each peak of these mountains is one of the immutable components of the vast universe: Mount Tho Son is the earth, Thu Son is the water, Hoa Son - fire, Kim Sean - metal and Mok Sean - wood. The clergy used the caves of the largest mountain, Thu Son, to organize both Buddhist and Hindu temples, which are now open to tourists.
About the caves
Climbing the stairs or elevator to Thu Son peak, you can see tiny prayer houses located on the slope and quite large temples, which are places of worship for Hindus and Buddhists.
The entrance to one of the caves, marked on the map as Hyen khong Cave, with its mysterious appearance seems to transport visitors to fabulous, legendary times, and then a gigantic space opens before their eyes, where the walls are artistically illuminated and the floor is covered with beautiful tiles. Inside the cave there is a small temple built in honor of Buddha.
At the bottom of the mountain, under the elevator, there is a cave marked on the map as Am Phu. The entrance to this cave is paid separately and the ticket costs 15,000 VND. The cave is known among tourists for its beautiful altar.
Behind this cave, on the way to which you can see stunning marble statues, for example, with the inspired face of a musician and monks frozen in the walls, a cave opens where an unforgettable journey awaits you into hell, judgment and heaven made in stone. Here stands a gloomy-looking sacrificial altar. Narrow passages lead visitors through a cave “hell”; tourists climb up and down numerous stairs, and the cave “paradise” is decorated in warm and joyful colors. And this place leads the visitor to the cave up the stairs to a small observation deck, where an impressive view of the green world stretched below opens before the eyes.
At the top of the peak, the Ong Chon Gate, scarred by bullets, will open, behind which stands the Tham Thai Pagoda and the cells of the monks with beautiful orchids growing next to them. Through the tunnels connecting the caves, you can get into the cavities inside the rock, where monumental statues of Buddha stand and carved, large stones are stored, the age of which dates back to the Cham period.
It is impossible to visit all the marble caves during a short excursion, but even if you explore the Marble Mountains on your own, you can visit three or four main places in at least three hours.
Rock climbing tourists especially need a lot of time in the Marble Mountains. A mountaineering instructor can only be found in Da Nang.
Prices for visiting the caves of the Marble Mountains are very affordable, only 30,000 dong, that is, one and a half dollars. Tourists who visit the caves are advised to wear sturdy shoes, either sneakers or sports sandals, as you will have to walk a lot, climb the mountain and wander through the caves. It is also recommended to take plenty of drinking water with you. It is best to come to the Marble Mountains from the very early morning, before a huge number of tourists appear in this famous place who want to experience the beauty of the Marble Mountains. If you intend to explore the caves without a guide, then you need to take a lighting device.
How to get to the Marble Mountains
There are two roads leading to the Marble Mountains. One road is the main route leading to Hoi An, and there are regular buses along it. Buses start their route from the northern station of Hoi An. The second road runs along the sea and its length to the mountains is eight kilometers. A round-trip taxi will cost only five dollars.
At the entrance to the mountains, in front of the gate there is a factory where marble sculptures of amazing beauty are made. These statues are very expensive, and after walking through the picturesque park where the marble figures are displayed, tourists can then confidently say that they were vacationing in a park that costs many millions of dollars.
The Marble Mountains are without a doubt considered the main attraction of Da Nang. They harmoniously intertwine the great creations of human hands and the vagaries of nature. In fact, the Marble Mountains site includes: beautiful gardens, mysterious underground temples and beautiful Chinese-style buildings that are located on these mountains. The mountains are located approximately 30 kilometers from Hoi An and literally a few kilometers from Da Nang, in a southerly direction, almost on the seashore.
It is not necessary to buy a tour to visit this interesting place. It is quite possible to get there on your own. There is a regular bus from both Hoi An and Da Nang that connects these two cities. It runs from Hoi An to Da Nang and vice versa. During his route in both directions, he makes a stop near the Marble Mountains. You can also get there by taxi.
For a daytime ticket you will have to pay $1 per person. Daytime ends at 17.00. You can go further for free, but keep in mind that it gets dark here early, and you are unlikely to have time to carefully examine everything. You can go upstairs by elevator or stairs. Climbing stairs is, of course, more tiring, but much more interesting. But along the entire route there are places to rest, where you can sit quietly and enjoy the surrounding landscape.
The Marble Mountains are of natural origin. It is actually a conglomerate consisting of five marble and limestone hills. All of them are connected to each other into a single mountain range. Each hill included in the Marble Mountains has its own name, which it received in honor of one of the natural elements: water - Tui, wood - Moc, earth - Tho, metal - Kim and fire - Hoa. In former times, the inhabitants of all the surrounding villages practically lived only at the expense of the Marble Mountains. They mined valuable rocks from them, from which they subsequently made lamps, all kinds of figurines, vases and various household utensils. Today, it is prohibited to take valuable rocks from the Marble Mountains, so local residents take materials for such crafts in another province. This fishery is very old, since one of the nearby villages, Non Nuoc, was founded back in the 13th century.
In order to explore the Marble Mountains and all the cave temples in detail, you will need at least 3 hours, and maybe more. Since the caves are very dark, be sure to take a flashlight with you. Near all the caves there are usually some grandmothers or local boys who will offer you flashlights for rent for a fee. By the way, they are usually not satisfied with the fee you offer. And the one they offer is unlikely to suit you. In principle, they sell soft drinks, cookies, and fruits, but at a very inflated price. So it’s better to stock up on everything you need before your trip.
The Marble Mountains keep a lot of surprises; sometimes huge temples are located in the most unexpected places. There are always temples, pagodas and monks here and there on the mountain. The inside of the caves is also extremely interesting.
Near the Marble Mountains, of course, there is a market where local souvenirs are sold. Be sure to bargain because the prices are very high. Please note that marble figurines are very heavy. Although, if you suddenly decide to purchase some grandiose large object made of marble, you may even be able to arrange delivery by sea transport to your home. You can buy a small set of postcards and a map of the caves, which you can later travel through. Don't forget to also wear comfortable, preferably fastening, shoes. Still, you will be walking through the mountains and visiting caves, and it’s not entirely convenient to do this in beach slippers.