We met the dawn of the first day of the New Year in Thailand, and the morning of the first day was already in Hanoi. From the plane, flying over the mountains of Laos and Cambodia, we immediately hurried to Tam Chuc Pagoda. Tam Chuc is a unique place, remembered for its magical atmosphere. Maybe, because of the amazing beauty of the marble mountains and green islets, or because of the nice sunny weather, the serenity and spaciousness, or maybe because it was the first day of the year, but Tam Chuc impressed us much more than the famous Ha Long Bay, where it was dirty and too crowded. The pagoda itself caught my eye in a review, where, after listing tourist places, there were non-tourist places, and it was decided: “we’ll go there!” I thought in the Sri Lankan pattern – Tam Chuc is a pagoda on the top of a mountain and maybe there are even stairs leading up to it, without clearly imagining what to expect! It turned out that there is so much space in Vietnam! We remembered sunny winter weather, around 20 degrees, and riverboat station with wooden ferryboats.
On arrival we found ourselves on a huge empty square, so it was unclear where to go until we were directed to an Eastern-style building – which turned to be the river station, where it all began. Furthermore – a sailing away ferryboat, friendly fellow travellers, cups in Vietnamese design, plums that look like cherry plums, fruit tea with lotus and the delicious local che lam (Vietnamese lokoumi), less sweet than the Greek one and flavoured with ginger. A school of colourful fish, voracious eaters of watermelon rinds, follows the ferry. You sail among magical green mountains, stopping along the way at various islets and getting know traditional temples, as if inhabited by elemental spirits – daimons, patrons of the place. We visited the temple of the Mother Goddess in her three hypostases as patronesses of different Elements. It is only at the end of our journey that the ferryboat docks at the multi-level complex of pagodas with the Tam Chuc on the very top.
It took us all day to visit the complex of Tam Chuc! How sweet and bright was the serenity and how rich was the setting sun. How else could one dream of meeting the first day of the New Year! In January, as soon as sun sets, immediately it gets windy and cold. It’s totally free, spacious, not crowded; in non-tourist places nobody speaks English, they use gestures. Only nature and silence speak. We met the local “guides” and accompanied by them we reached top of Tam Chuc just before the sunset (it was also good that they could ask about time of coming of electrical car to take us all back in Vietnamese). The ship sailed away and it looked like no one would be taking us back. Thanks to the amazing Tam Chuc for a wonderful first day of the New Year!
