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Location: Bich Dao Grotto is situated in
Nga Thien Commune, Nga Son District, Thanh Hoa Province.
Characteristics: Bich Dao Grotto is also called Tu Thuc grotto, where the
scholar fell in love with the fairy.
You only need to travel about six kilometers along the north eastern route from
Nga Son's district town before you see the majestic Than Dau Mountain ahead of
you, the mountain is in Nga Thien commune. It is famous for the Bich Dao grotto,
which is located inside.
Local legend says that this is the place where the scholar Mr. Tu Thuc met a
beautiful fairy named Giang Huong. Mr. Thuc fell completely love with Miss.
Huong and decided to follow her to her fairyland. He spent his most wonderful
days in fairyland, but deep in the back of his mind he always missed his home
village. One day he decided to go back to visit his home village, unfortunately,
when he returned nobody recognized him. He didn't realize that the time on earth
passed much more quickly than time in fairyland. He had been away much longer
than he thought and all the people that he knew had long since died. Tu Thuc
left his village and has never been seen again since.
In order to reach the grotto, you must cross a large field. When you arrive
there, you will see a lot of shady trees nearby. Vines criss-cross to make
natural hammocks for you to rest in before you enter the grotto, a stone path
leads for some hundred meters from the foot of the mountain to the mouth of the
grotto. There you will see two poems inscribed in Chinese script on the rocks
outside the mouth. Le Quy Don wrote one of the poems. He was a well-known
Vietnamese scholar from the 18th century. However, Le Quy Don did not inscribe
the poem himself. A district chief inscribed the poem on the rock in 1905.
Passing through the mouth, you will enter the outer section of the grotto. It
looks like a huge upside down bowl. It houses many twinkling colorful
stalagmites and stalactites. People have given them different names such as
silver store, rice store, salt store and coin store. Some 10 meters further, you
will step on a dragon-shaped stalagmite coiling on the ground. In the center of
the coil are egg-shaped pebbles. People call this image, "The dragon brooding
golden eggs". The stalactites drop from the roof like leaves. If you beat them
with a piece of wood, each one will produce a different sound. They sound very
much like traditional musical instruments such as gongs, drums and bells. This
area of the grotto is called, "the orchestra."
The middle section of the grotto is not so large, but long. It is almost round
with a diameter of 35m and height of 20m. The stalagmites and stalactites here
have all sorts of shapes and sizes. One looks like a chessboard. Another looks
like shoes. Standing in this area you can see the images of flowery carpets,
seals, caps and gowns. These objects make you believe that they must have
belonged to the scholar Tu Thuc from the legend. This section has a path leading
upward. The incline is called "the way to heaven." It has another path leading
downward which is called "the way to hell." Here there is also a pool of clear
and cool water. You can see clearly the pebbles at the bottom. The stalactites
hang like a loose curtain, from which water can be heard dripping continuously.
This scene makes you think of the bathroom of the beautiful fairy Giang Huong.
The inner section is smaller. It is 12m wide and 8m high. Looking at the bottom
of this section, you will see the rock form itself into an altar. The
stalagmites look like candles and ancestral tablets. A huge rock in this section
represents the grave of Tu Thuc.
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