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Featured Attractions |
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 Mekong Delta to Become a Friendly Destination
“Mekong Delta can be seen as one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Asia with beautiful natural landscapes, but it may soon lose this advantage due to rapid infrastructure development. And it take years to reinstate those precious values,” said Prof. Ernst Sagemueller, general director of the Europe-Indochina Institute for Tourism, at a recent conference entitled “Potential and Development Opportunity in Mekong Delta” in the city of Can Tho.
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One-Pillar Pagoda
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29 May 2007
In Ba Dinh District of Hanoi, there is a pagoda whose whole structure rests on a stone pillar and its main material is ironwood. So, it is called Chua Mot Cot, One-Pillar Pagoda. However, many people do not know that this is not the real name of the architecturally-unique example of Vietnam’s pagodas, which was first built in 1049 during the Ly Dynasty.
There was a story that one night, in a dream, King Ly Thai Tong saw the Goddess of Mercy sitting on a lotus flower offering him a male child. Shortly after that the queen got pregnant and she gave birth to a son. The king thanked the goddess by ordering the construction of this pagoda in the form of a lotus and named it Dien Huu, meaning long lasting happiness and good luck.
According to a stele inscription composed by a venerable monk, the pagoda was overhauled and expanded in 1121, and it took 16 years to complete. Since then, the One-Pillar Pagoda has undergone many repairs so that it does not retain its original appearance.
Today, the One-Pillar Pagoda is the destination of many tourists, including pilgrims.
When visiting HCMC, you also can see a second One-Pillar Pagoda on Dang Van Bi St, Thu Duc Dist. It has the shape of a lotus bud and is in the middle of a pond.
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