Having visited the Marmara Mountains, I was first surprised that tourists from many cities of Vietnam come there. They are brought there in tours, on buses, even from afar.
You can read the first part here.
But, as it turned out, the Marble Mountains are also a real place of pilgrimage.
That is, many people go to these mountains not for walking, but to temples, like pilgrims.
Let me remind you that the Marble Mountains consist of five stone hills. The largest of the mountains is a popular place among pilgrims. In Vietnamese, the mountains sound like Nui Ngu Hanh Son, which means “Mountains of the Five Elements”. Each hill is called one of the five elements of traditional Chinese philosophy: Nui Kim Song (Mountain of Metal), Nui Mok Song (Mountain of Tree), Nui Thi Song (Mountain of Water), Nui Hoa Son (Mountain of Fire) and Nui Tho Song (Mountain of Earth )
Inside the "mountains" there are several caves, most of them revered Buddhist temples, small and very small.
And only in one cave is a large temple, and the cave is also very impressive in size.
Entrance to this cave and large halls.
Inside are several halls and many different nooks where you need to climb or go down. The cave is really big enough.
I don’t know what deities are there, but the Indians, who at that moment were in the cave with us, were very confidently and consistently photographed near each statue throughout the cave.
Yes, the cave is twilight, so, of course, the photos turned out to be dark, a lot of lamps from different angles illuminate the cave, different lights, so I did not get many photos.
Throughout the cave figures and figures. We followed the Indians. :)
Wear comfortable shoes for walking and walking inside the cave.
In the cave there are steep stairs up, there are manholes, there are uncomfortable slopes to make it convenient for you.
There are many pagodas and temples in the park.
It is believed that the Vietnamese emperors built pagodas and loved to hide gold and jewelry in the mountains.
They say that the treasures are still inside, since the guardian monks have taken away the secret of the location of the caches with them to the grave.
Xa Loi Tower is the hallmark of the mountain and the most photographed part of the complex.
In the park, we also visited two churches, in one of which only women prayed, and in the other - only men.
We got into a woman’s room twice, when there were many tourists, they all took pictures and photographs, and the women prayed inside, and then, when they walked back, they passed by again, there was no one else in the temple, but the music continued to play.
You can watch short videos at the end of the post.
Here is another pagoda.
What I want to say as a whole.
For pilgrims, this place is likely to be something important and valuable, it is undoubtedly.
But for me, all the pagodas, temples and caves have a purely tourist and excursion interest.
It is interesting to be there, it is necessary to be there, but I would warn that you did not have any special expectations.
To visit, walk, walk, see is a wonderful place.
Some videos:
The temple, which is not crowded, a lot of tourists, everyone takes pictures and photographs.
A temple in which only women.
A temple in which only men.
To be continued....
All photos are copyright.
Read previous articles about Vietnam here:
Vietnam 2019.
Vietnamese coffee.
Halloween in Vietnam.
Halloween in Vietnam, part 2.
Ba Na Hills Park in Da Nang.Golden Bridge "In the Hands of God" in Ba Na Hills Park, Danang.
Cable way in Ba Na Hills Park, Da Nang.
Ba Na Hills is not an amusement park, but a food court tour.
And we have a ramp for dinner.
Danang, Marble Mountains, Part 1.