Quynh sea heart
Loving the sea and the forest, photographer Ho Xuan Thanh - Head of the Quynh Art and Journalism Photography Club has traveled to all the famous landscapes in Nghe An to create his works. For him, there is no place as beautiful as Quynh beach.
Quynh Beach is the common name for all 7 beaches stretching across 7 communes of Quynh Luu district and Hoang Mai town. Quynh Luu beach is 19.5 km long, with a terrain that combines mountains, sea, rivers and creeks. This beach has many beautiful flat sandy beaches, many unexplored pristine beaches. And the "core", "heart" of Quynh beach is Long Son (Dragon Mountain).
Taking us to visit Dragon Mountain on a day in early April, through the story of Photographer Ho Xuan Thanh, we learned: The image of the dragon has become familiar in the spiritual life of the people. Our ancestors used the word Long or Dragon to name rivers, mountains, lakes, and seas. Dragon Mountain in Quynh Luu is such a place name... Dragon Mountain in Quynh Luu district is a system of many low coastal mountains, spanning many communes. Among them, there is a mountain located between the two communes of Quynh Nghia and Tien Thuy, shaped like a sacred dragon stretching its head out to suck in the ocean water.
The beauty of Dragon Mountain is completely natural. Taking a boat from Lach Quen to the sea around the “dragon cape”, we saw many “masterpieces” created by water, waves and wind. That is Vung Tau beach - an ideal beach with flat, golden sand, clear blue water; “Con cho” island - a small island shaped like a dog lying guarding the sea gate... and especially a cave system formed by geological formation, seawater erosion and weathering. Among them are closed caves, open caves, shallow caves, deep caves.
Looking from the sea, Mui Trau Cave looks like a buffalo’s nose with 2 “nostrils” which are 2 cave doors breathing heavily. Not far from Mui Trau Cave is Mat Rong Cave (also known as Doi Cave, Xuong Cave or Vung Troi). Mat Rong Cave is only revealed when the tide is low (when the tide is high, the cave is sealed), you can go by boat into the cave.
The name Dragon Eye was recently given by some photographers who discovered that the view from inside the cave is exactly like a pair of eyes looking out to sea. The names Bat Cave and Bone Cave have been around for a long time because there are many bats living in the cave and on the ceiling of the entrance there is an ancient fossil skeleton. The origin of the name Vung Troi is because Dragon Eye Cave is an open-air cave. From the top down to the cave, the height is about 40m. Many tourists have climbed ropes to explore from the top down to the cave... Dragon Eye Cave is very large, with fine, white sand beaches, and many passages leading in different directions.
Exploring Long Son “Cape”, it is easy to see orphaned rocks, cliffs with beautiful geological layers. When the tide recedes, the rocks rise from the sea in a myriad of shapes, very majestic.
From another perspective, exploring Dragon Mountain by climbing the mountain is ideal this season. Dragon Mountain has forests of purple sim flowers (flowers bloom in March, April, and May) and poetic pine hills. Dragon Mountain has a rich ecosystem. Sim is the most common plant. The sim trees here are all ancient trees, producing very large and sweet fruits. During the fruiting season (July and August), local people go up the mountain to harvest the fruit. Tons of harvested fruit are quickly purchased by traders and tourist establishments.
On the highest peak of Dragon Mountain is a vast grassland with a gentle slope. The ground is quite flat, with a thick, even layer of grass. Very suitable for camping (with dozens, hundreds of people), paragliding, cloud hunting, taking pictures of the stars...
It can be said that Dragon Mountain is a very suitable landscape for tourism development when it fully converges the elements of sea, mountains, and caves. According to local statistics, this landscape has up to 46 beautiful miniature landscapes. Anywhere in Dragon Mountain can become a check-in point.
Legend of hidden gold
To better understand Dragon Mountain, photographer Ho Xuan Thanh took us to meet poet Ho Dinh Xich - Vice President of the Literature and Arts Association of Quynh Luu district, former Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Nghia commune. At the age of 65, Mr. Xich has now "retired" and become an "old fisherman", every day with the elderly pulling nets at Quynh Nghia beach and researching the culture of the village and commune.
Poet Ho Dinh Xich said: Quynh Luu does not have majestic mountains and rivers, but it has four sacred animals: Kim Quy Son (Oi mountain), Dragon Mountain, Ky Lan Mountain and Phuong Hoang Mountain. No one knows when these places were born, but they all have legends attached to them. As for the Dragon Mountain landscape, there is no general legend, but each miniature landscape has a very interesting story.
For example, the story of Hon Ong and Hon Ba - Two stone pillars standing next to each other on Dragon Mountain, the ancients named the two stone pillars like that to indicate the faithfulness of husband and wife, no matter how many storms and turbulences they went through, they were still together. Another version is the story of a father and mother who turned into stone after many days of waiting for their children to go fishing and never return.
Among the many stories of Dragon Mountain, the most interesting must be the story of the lid stone at the end of Quynh Nghia beach. This is a pillar that has the shape of a kettle lid. The ancients said that: There is a gold mark on the lid stone. If a family has 5 sons, 5 daughters, 5 daughters-in-law, 5 sons-in-law coming here, they can open the lid of the kettle to get gold. There was once such a family but the last son was an adopted son, not a biological son. In the process of opening the lid to get gold, the father accidentally called out the name of this son "nuoi oi" so the magic stone was startled and closed. Fortunately, no accident happened... Another version, because the shape of the lid stone resembles a man's penis, it is very effective in praying for children. Many infertile families have come here to burn incense and pray and their wishes have come true.
According to poet Ho Dinh Xich, tourism in Dragon Mountain in particular and Quynh Luu in general has developed in recent years but has not been commensurate with the local potential. The reason why tourism here has not developed as expected is due to the underdeveloped transport infrastructure, especially the roads connecting the coastal road to tourist destinations are still narrow and have not been properly invested. Destination promotion has not met requirements due to lack of resources. In particular, this place still lacks investors with enough heart and capacity to invest in building transport infrastructure and tourism infrastructure. Tourism is still developing at a slow, fragmented, small-scale pace... in a state of "deep sleep".
However, Dragon Mountain tourism has great potential to develop and take off. Because Quynh Nghia has been planned as one of the centers of Quynh Beach Tourist Area (along with Quynh Bang). Dragon Mountain has a beautiful landscape, a rare gentle sea. Quynh Nghia - Tien Thuy people are hospitable. In Quynh Nghia commune, there are many traditional industries. In Tien Thuy commune, people have a commercial mindset, there is a fishing port. In particular, when the coastal road project is completed, the North - South expressway is completed, Dragon Mountain will be known by many people, "awakened". The problem is that all levels and sectors need to pay attention and attract many investors to do business and develop together.
Dragon Mountain has a legend of “hidden gold”, we hope that 20 “children” and maybe more will join forces to get the gold out!
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