15 câu trắc nghiệm Tiếng Anh 11 Global Success Reading đọc hiểu: Preserving our heritage có đáp án

Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is a group of offshore islands that is the best example of marine invaded limestone region in the world.  The Bay holds over 1,600 islands and islets. There are caves and grottoes, with stalactites and stalagmites. Its limestone pillars are a unique natural feature of great scenic beauty and biological interest. The great extent and the richness of its forms set it apart from many other sites.

Ha Long Bay is an extremely popular destination both for foreigners and Vietnamese: already in the early 1990s it saw over 1 million visitors a year. It is unlikely that the number has decreased over the years - so there will always be about 3,000 other people in the Bay at the same time as you!

The natural beauty of the Bay lay hidden today under a very common fog. As I had already seen the similar karst landscape in China a couple of years before, I certainly said that I was blown away by the beauty of Ha Long Bay. We went onto one of the islands to visit the Surprising Cave - an indeed surprisingly big and beautiful cave with three hollow chambers. We saw some monkeys here too, just outside the cave exit.

Part of the tour was half an hour of kayaking - enough to paddle a full circle around the main area. The views from the kayak I found much more impressive than from the larger boat: you're so tiny then and the peaks rise sharply in front of you. I had a better look at the water too, and cannot say that I saw pollution by plastic or other junk floating around.  There is a thin layer of oil on the water in some parts though.

And then it's time to get back in the bus to Ha Noi, another 3.5 hours. The tour was carried out well with good seafood for lunch and I had a satisfying day.

Hoi An Ancient Town

        Arriving in Hoi An around 9 p.m., I was really relieved when I discovered that the whole town was peacefully quiet, something I am really concerned that Hoi An at night may become crazy club scenes. In the next morning, I woke up very early, and walked around the town admiring waterfront areas where local fishermen were ready to go out for day fishing, the very lively market and extremely charming and empty streets. Since there was no tourist, only locals then and the souvenir shops were still close, I felt that Hoi An at that moment was an extremely gorgeous place to visit.

        The yellowish Chinese styled houses along the street together with decorative bushes of bougainvillea flower are lovely sights and very photogenic. The layout of houses was claimed to be unique for not strictly complied with Feng Shui but for benefit of better ventilation in tropical region. Another thing that I am really impressed is the preservation of thẹ whole town which is very amazing and very authentic, which is a thing that cannot be found in Melaka, Singapore or Macao. The Japanese Bridge is maybe the only sight that I found very interesting for its stories that the Japanese built this bridge in order to calm evil serpent spirit “Namazu” that caused earthquake in very faraway Japan since they believe Hoi An is located on the back of the serpent. I strangely found that there are still many nice temples, especially the one dedicate to Confucius which has more unique and interesting Vietnamese elements more than the preserved ones in the core zone.

         I also noted that Hoi An is not only popular with European tourists but also Korean, Japanese, Australian and New Zealander. After sunset, the whole town waterfront becomes a night market with many local foods. And at that time Hoi An is very charming with hundreds of paper and silk lanterns. Hoi An at night seems to be a very popular place for pre-wedding photo shooting, as I saw many Vietnamese couples in their traditional dresses with their photographer teams everywhere especially around the Japanese Bridge, so a great place to see local contemporary wedding cultures. All in all, I really enjoyed my time in Hoi An for its lovely atmosphere and nice townscape.

Hue Temple of Letters, popularly known as Van Thanh, was dedicated to Confucius ( 551-479 BC) and most celebrated Confucian scholars of China and Vietnam. It was also here that stone steles bearing names of successful candidates in the national examinations in the Nguyen dynasty were erected. After Hue had been made the capital of the country, the construction of a new Temple of Letters was started in 1808. It was located on the north bank of the Huong River, 500 meters west of Thien Mu Pagoda. It was once an ensemble of seven buildings and many minor constructions including 32 steles which bore names of doctors and some others. The doctors steles here are not as big as those in Hanoi. They are all put on tortoisemade from stone or marble with various poems and decorations. Hue Temple of Letter is a valuable historic remain. Visiting this temple, tourists can understand more about the tradition of knowledge appreciation and study encouragement of our ancestors from the old time.