The uphill journey
This season, Anh Vu Son is draped in a green cloak of forest trees, looking wild and tranquil. After climbing a short distance, I stopped at a roadside stall to buy a chilled bottle of mineral water to quench my thirst. As I was about to pay for the entrance ticket to the mountain, Mr. Tran Hoang, an employee there, said that journalists could climb the mountain and enjoy the scenery at their leisure. Mr. Hoang said that during and after the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Horse, the number of tourists coming to admire Anh Vu Son increased significantly. It takes more than two hours to walk from the foot of the mountain to the summit.
Monkeys are often seen on the summit of Anh Vu Mountain. Photo: THANH CHINH
Seeing us hesitantly looking up the slope, Mr. Hoang encouraged us to take our time, and if we got tired, we could sit and rest by a rock before continuing. After chatting with Hoang for quite a while, we took a deep breath and began climbing the mountain. After climbing about 100 meters, my back was drenched in sweat. Looking back down the mountain, I saw many groups of tourists following each other, trudging towards the summit.
Anh Vu Son, nestled in the mystical That Son mountain range, is not as high as Mount Cam, but visitors can only ascend it via a single, winding staircase. For a long time, this mountain has been shrouded in legends from the time of its founding. These stories are still passed down orally among the people today. Sitting on a stone bench to rest, we looked up and saw many large and small rocks piled on top of each other, in strange shapes. After climbing two slopes, there was one more steep incline to reach the summit. Suddenly, a middle-aged man carrying a block of ice climbed the mountain with nimble steps. Everyone was astonished, then encouraged each other to continue climbing the slope. But after climbing a few dozen more steps, everyone was exhausted, due to the harsh mountain sun. A breeze blew through, dispelling the fatigue. The higher we climbed, the cooler the weather became at Anh Vu Son.
Interesting scenery
At the mountaintop lies a vast complex of rocky mountains, with colossal boulders scattered across the landscape, inscribed with Buddhist scriptures. Here, visitors can explore numerous pilgrimage sites such as the Fairy Well, the Fairy Courtyard, the Amitabha Temple, and the Yama Temple. From these locations, visitors can enjoy panoramic views of the vast and majestic Thất Sơn mountain range. To the west, opposite Anh Vũ Sơn, lies the Long Five Wells Mountain, also part of the Thất Sơn range.
At midday, under the scorching sun, a gentle breeze blew coolly over the mountaintop. Many people visited the shrines and temples, offering prayers and sightseeing before sharing fruit and cakes and eating together. After about an hour, a large troop of monkeys, sensing the food, emerged from the forest. The large alpha monkey climbed into the temple, stole cakes and fruit, and calmly ate as if no one was around.
Mr. Nguyen Van Son (74 years old), a monk who has lived on the mountain for many years, recounts that in ancient times, the Bay Nui region was teeming with wildlife, mainly tigers, leopards, and pythons... Anh Vu Son (also known as Ket Mountain) in particular had a significant number of wild monkeys. Whenever they saw tourists climbing the mountain, the monkeys would leap down from the trees and chase after them. "The wild monkeys on this mountain are very bold! They'll follow and snatch any fruit tourists carry," Mr. Son said.
Decades ago, Mr. Son was a woodcutter living in this area who often went up the mountain to chop firewood. Every day, he would see monkeys playing in the trees. “In the old days, the wild mountains and forests were home to tigers, leopards, and large snakes… Now they’re all gone, only monkeys, birds, and mountain lizards remain,” Mr. Son said slowly. Mr. Son affirmed that this mountain once bore the mark of enlightened masters who came here to practice asceticism, then cleared the land and established villages. Today, tourists come to Anh Vu Mountain to admire the scenery and listen to stories of their ancestors' pioneering work.
THANH CHINH
Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/thuong-ngoan-anh-vu-son-a475836.html
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