Pleiku Lake's eyes are full of

Musician Nguyen Cuong wrote about Pleiku: “Pleiku’s eyes are full of Bien Ho”. And the last time I returned in June 2020, I met a different face at Bien Ho.

If before, cars could go all the way inside, now you have to leave your car on the street, buy a ticket and walk in. There is also a reason for the tourism operators here, because walking down the slope and climbing up the pine trees with a distance equal to that of Namsan Tower in Seoul, Korea, tourists can see the beauty of "Pleiku's eyes".

Bien Ho Tea Hill

Photo: Khue Viet Truong

Exploiting destinations to attract tourists has another point, also in Bien Ho and this place is very popular, which is Bien Ho Che - called Bien Ho Che because this place is a tea farm located right in the Bien Ho area, if counting the distance, it is 10 km from the center of Pleiku city. The previous times I came to Pleiku, I did not pay much attention to the place name Bien Ho Che, because if it is called a tea hill, Cau Dat (Lam Dong) with its undulating hills and winding roads is what really attracts visitors. At Cau Dat, there is also a sightseeing tour, after the tour, you will be given 2 kg of vegetables and there is also a cafe for visitors to enjoy the scenery.

But when we heard the Gia Lai tourism guys introduce the tour route to the land where musician Nguyen Cuong created such a beautiful song, they introduced the "Hundred-year-old pine trees" next to the Tea Sea Lake which was really attractive. So the next morning we decided to visit the hundred-year-old pine trees in Pleiku and the Tea Sea Lake.

The pine branches reach far...

Photo: Khue Viet Truong

There are some very interesting things when visiting the hundred-year-old pine trees and the Tea Sea Lake, not because of the magical photos taken by photographers and jokingly saying that it is as beautiful as the road with two rows of ginkgo trees on Nami Island (Korea). Actually, I have been to Nami Island in the fall when the ginkgo leaves are yellow, so comparing a place that has become famous all over the world like that sometimes just creates curiosity.

But I am really curious. In tourism, creating curiosity for visitors to come and then making them fall in love with that place is important. For example, pine trees are a special type of tree in the highlands, and the place with the most is Da Lat, the fact that two rows of hundred-year-old pine trees create an impression on visitors is a true story.

The road from the main road is small enough for a car. The scenery is beautiful and poetic. During the work of reclaiming the Central Highlands, the tea hills here were planted by the French in the early 20th century, which means a hundred years ago. The land here is flat, so the tea gardens are also horizontal to the ground, different from the tea hills in Bao Loc and Cau Dat. However, the highlight is the small trails leading in, the rows of trees and the green tea leaves in the warm sunshine of the Central Highlands.

Passing the tea hill, I curiously found the hundred-year-old pine trees. According to the geographical explanation, this pine tree was planted by the French when building the coffee plantation in 1917 with 101 trees. Until now, when we arrived, perhaps after many ups and downs, the number of pine trees planted originally was not enough, but thanks to the individual development and parallel growth on both sides of the path, nestled on one side is Nghia Hung Primary School, on the other side is a green tea field, creating a very strange feeling.

It cannot be compared to the romantic love road with ginkgo trees on Nami Island (Korea), but in the morning or afternoon sunlight, the hundred-year-old pine trees in Pleiku can be said to be a beautiful tourist attraction, a place worthy of being called the most romantic road in Pleiku. Walking under two rows of tall pine trees, the long red dirt road, the tree canopies stretching far... you can take magical photos here.

Coffee shop next to hundred-year-old pine trees

Photo: Khue Viet Truong

In the area of the hundred-year-old pine trees, there is also a rather impressive beverage selling area. These are old cars repainted with attractive colors, inside are seats just enough to sip a cup of coffee or any drink and can watch the outside space through the car window. The seats are used from discarded materials, to lean against the magical space to create a cute coffee table.

Bien Ho tea and hundred-year-old pine trees have now become an attractive destination for locals and tourists, after stopping at Bien Ho to see the "Full eyes of Pleiku Bien Ho".