WELCOME TO LAN ANH HOTEL - LAI CHAU
HUE CITADEL
Today's HUE is the provincial capital of THUA THIEN - HUE.
The melancholy beauty of HUE, capital of the last Vietnamese feudal
regime, derives from the quiet SONG HUONG (Perfume River) weaving its
course between rolling hills housing the temples and tombs of the NGUYEN
Kings. This feature of HUE has been enhanced by the recent addition
of many modern hotels and offices on the banks of the river.On the southern
bank of Perfume River, construction has started beside the HUONG GIANG
Hotel for the new, three-star, 138-room HUE Hotel. Director of the THUA THIEN - HUE
Tourist Company NGUYEN THANH DAN, said that the hotel has been partly put
into operation and all the hotel rooms under his charge had been booked
for June by tourists from France, United States, Norway, Australia and Germany.
There will be 600 Germans, 350 French and so on. In July, the company will welcome
more than 300 American tourists, most of them veterans of the Vietnam War,
who had visited HUE at least once during the war.
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TOURISM
HUE is one of the three biggest tourist centres of Vietnam. Its attraction lies first of all in the many temples, palaces and mausoleums of NGUYEN (NGUYEN Dynasty) built between 1805 and 1832. The old citadel measures 11 kilometres in circumference with a 21-metre thick wall and a flagpole standing 54.4 metres high. The NGUYEN kings, from Tù §øc and MINH MANG to DONG KHANH and THIEU TRI were buried in mausoleums of different architectural styles. HUE also boasts nearly one hundred Buddhist pagodas and temples. Visitors should not miss THIEN MU Pagoda built in 1601 on a very poetic site on the bank of Perfume River, or the TU DAM pagoda.Among HUE's many tourist attractions are Perfume River, NGU Mountain, TRANG TIEN and PHU XUAN bridges, VONG CANH (Belvedere) Hill, BACH MA (White Horse) Mountain, HAI VAN Pass, TAM GIANG Lagoon, THUAN AN and CANH DUONG beaches and further north, the CUA TUNG and CUA VIET estuaries. HUE also boasts the National College which was attended by HO CHI MINH in his young age, DUONG MO village with fascinating records from the fight against the French, and the museum devoted to PHAN BOI CHAU, a prominent patriot during the early years of French domination. From HUE, you can rent a car from the THUA THIEN - HUE tourist company to visit the system of tunnels in Vinh Moc village dug during the US air war of destruction against North- Vietnam and HIEN LUONG bridge at the demarcation line established between North and South Vietnam following the 1954 Geneva Conference. Then you can proceed to CON TIEN and DOC MIEU, famous battle sites where vestiges of the US defence line are till visible, and further west, the HO CHI MINH Trail.
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Song Huong
Visitors will never be bored by monotony or repetition during a ten-day or five-day package tour of HUE.If you are an admirer of antiquities, you may order a "royal feast" at the HUONG GIANG Hotel or sit on a "dragon" rowboat (which used to cater for the royal family only) and listen to the mellow song of young girls rowing. If you want to watch the quiet glory of dusk over the Huong River you can hire a room at the HUONG GIANG or HUE hotels. If you like to listen to the lapping of sea waves, go to TAN MY Hotel on the beach at THUAN AN. If you want a completely still night, you may choose THUAN HOA or Morin hotels. Wherever you go you will be treated to the most varied traditional dishes of HUE, prepared and served by lovely girls dressed in the violet "AO DAI" (long gown) which is also a typical feature of HUE.From HA NOI or HO CHI MINH City, you can reach HUE by air, land and water. A twice weekly air service has just been inaugurated between PHU BAI airport in HUE and TAN SAN NHAT airport in HO CHI MINH City. A similar service will soon operate between HUE and HA NOI, and arrangements are being made with THAI Airlines to link PHU BAI with Bangkok. In 1991 the THUA THIEN - HUE tourist company received 60,000 guests including 10,000 foreigners. Investment on infrastructure will increase from 4.2 billion dong in 1991 to 10.5 billion this year.With its present capacity, HUE can receive at any one time 1,100 guests at both state-owned hotels which have more than 500 rooms, plus at private mini-hotels and homes.
QUANG NAM DA NANG
Situated in the middle of Vietnam, the province of Quang Nam-Da Nang is 760 kilometres from Ha Noi. Its provincial capital is Da Nang City. Quang Nam-Da Nang has an important position on the north-south communication line, and is the economic and cultural centre of Central Vietnam. These are some of Quang Nam-Da Nang's tourist attractions :
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Mt NGU HANH SON
NGU HANH SON (Marble Mount) or HON NON NUOC : This is a cluster of five marble mountains lying close to the sea. That is why it is dubbed HON NON NUOC, which means Mountain and Water in Vietnamese. In the early 19th century, King GIA LONG - the founder of NHA NGUYEN (NGUYEN Dynasty) - passed by and named the five mountains NGU HANH SON. He also named each of them according to one of the five elements of the universe : KIM SON (metal or gold), MOC SON (wood), HOA SON (fire), THO SON (earth) and THUY SON (water). The latter is both the largest and the most beautiful. THUY SON covering an area of 15ha has three peaks named THUONG THAI, TRUNG THAI and HA THAI. Consequently, TAM THAI Pagoda on the mountain side is in dedication to Buddha Mattreya and 18 Arhats. Also on the cliff of the mountain are such beautiful grottoes as LINH NHAM, VAN THONG , TANG CHON and HUYEN KHONG. The latter was initially in dedication to Hinduist deities, then to Buddhas. The atmosphere inside it is always dry and cool. Close to TAM THAI Pagoda stand the PHO DONG Tower, TU TAM Pagoda and VONG GIANG DAI (River-Viewing Pavilion). The LINH UNG Pagoda houses a set of Arhats' statues in white stone. On the right of this pagoda is VONG HAI DAI (Sea-Viewing Pavilion) which offers a clear view of NON NUOC Beach. TANG CHON Grotto (Truth-Storing Grotto) lies behind LINH UNG Pagoda. At the foot of NGU HANH SON are the masons' villages of KOAN KHOAI and HOA KHUE, which boast traditional marble carving.
B EACH NON NUOC stretches for several kilometres north and south of Ngò Hµnh Sn. This fine sandy beach with sunshine all the year round makes it suitable for tourism in all four seasons.
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HOI AN ANCIENT TOWN
PHO CO HOI AN (Hoi An Ancient Town) : Situated 30 km south of DA NANG and known as Faifo to early Western traders, HOI AN was one of the major trading centres in Southeast Asia in the 16th-19th centuries. HOI AN was also an important port of call for Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and other merchant vessels in the Far East. In the town, there are one or two streets whose original structures remain almost intact. All the houses were made of rare wood and are decorated with horizontal lacquered boards and vertical parallel panels engraved with Chinese characters. HOI AN is highly attractive for historical, geographic, artistic, architectural, plastic.... aspects.
SON TRA Penisular
In the old days, SON TRA Peninsula was a big island with three mountain peaks (NGHE, MO DIEU, CO NGUA). Step by step, the streams of East Sea brought alluvium to form the mushroom-shaped SON TRA peninsula that together with HAI VAN Pass bent sea into a bay called DA NANG. On SON TRA mountain with 693m in height, the forests are luxuriantly green with many monkeys, deer.... Son Tra peninsula is classified among the prohibited forests with paradisaical landscapes. Legend has it that the mountain was called TIEN SA because the fairies had often landed in this area. SON TRA mountain projects into the sea and overlooks a coastal stretch of the centre of Central Vietnam, so DA NANG plays an important role in military and economic fields. The crescent-shaped sandy expanse named NAM O spreads from the SON TRA mountain foot towards the south, with such even sections as MY KHE BAC, MY AN leading to NGU HANH SON before projecting into the sea. Especially, any beach is good with green casuarina-trees behind it and immense sea in front of it. In the dawn mist, the peninsula is not unlike a tortoise's shell in the middle of the high sea.
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MY SON
THanh Dia MY SON (MY SON Sanctuary) was once the capital of CHAM PA Kingdom (5th to 12th century). French historians called it "MY SON Sanctuary" or "Valley of Kings". Most of its architectural works had fallen into ruin either through war or over the passage of time. The vestiges of 25 structures remain to this day.
"The first-rank imposing landscape in the world", DEO HAI VAN(HAI VAN Pass) situates 496m above sea level with 20km of National Highway 1 on it and 7 railway tunnels inside it. As a branch of Northern TRUONG SON mountain chain, it has many high peaks of which the highest is HAI VAN with 1,172m in height. The mountain peak covered with clouds and the mountain foot plunged in sea, maybe the col was called HAI VAN (Sea and Clouds) for this reason. Along the mountain side are five streams running down and offering an imposing view with thousands of granite rocks eroded for thousands of years. Considered the most imposing pass below the blue firmament, HAI VAN lies unsteadily on the surface of the sea. Standing on the col, you can view LANG CO to north, the panorama of DA NANG to south, the rolling forests and mountains to west and boundless sea to east. At the foot of the col is the sandy expanse - both clean and beautiful - with the quiet framework intermingling sea, forests and mountains
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CLUSTER OF ISLANDS
A mong a cluster of islands located 35km from DA NANG rolling like tortoises in waves, the largest itself is called Cï lao Chµm (CHAM island). With the area of 1,535ha, it includes three rocky mountains (NGAO LONG, TIEM BUT,and BAT LAO). Legend has it that it was the execution ground to CHAM PA Kingdom's prisoners. Nowadays, it is home to fishermen. The clean and beautiful beaches are CHONG and HUONG. The noticeable animals are yellow monkeys, yellow-legged squirrels. The valuable speciality resides in salangane with such well-known grottoes as CHA CA, CA, TAI and KHO. This island is abundant in coral, shellfish and lobsters.
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