Published:  01:38 Sunday - November 12, 2017

Besides Hung King Temple, coming to Phu Tho Province, the Vietnamese birthplace, visitors will have opportunity to explore many interesting and amazing things that make the province be the special place to visit.

Phu Tho is a located in the northeastern of Vietnam, it is characterized by monsoon tropical climate with 4 specific seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. The location and climate made Phu Tho a special place with unspoiled sceneries, dreamlike waterfalls, mysterious caves, and other interesting things that tourists hardly forget after the trip here. Besides, it is considered as ancestral land of Vietnam, a home for many festivals as well as a bright culture by historical monuments and long-standing traditional festivals which are held annually. 

Hung Kings Temple

Located on Nghia Linh Mountain, Hung Kings Temple is an important historic-cultural monument of the country with majesty architectures including Ha Temple, Trung Temple, Gieng Temple and Thuong Temple.  

Ha Temple is a place where Au Co gave birth to a pouch of 100 eggs and then hatched to become 100 children. Half of them follow Lac Long Quan, Au Co’s husband down to the coastal region and the other follow Au Co up to the mountainous area. Ha Temple is also location late President Ho Chi Minh talked “the Hung Kings had the merit of founding the country. You and I must stick together to safeguard it” to soldiers on the visit Hung Kings Temple in 1954

Climbing 168 stones stairs from Ha Temple, tourists can see Trung Temple which was said to be the place for rest as well as attending royal courts of Hung Kings and his courtiers. It was in Trung Temple, Lang Lieu prince, the 18^th prince of Hung King, offered banh chung (square sticky rice cake) and banh giay to his father on Tet holiday. 

Thuong Temple is 102 stones stairs distance from Trung Temple. This is where Hung Kings and the Royal Court worshiped the King of Heaven, the God of Mountain, the God of Rice and other Gods to wish a clement weather, bumper crop for the country. 

Gieng Temple is in the southeast of the mountain Nghia Linh. It is famous for Gieng Ngoc which is always full of clear water. It was said that two princesses Tien Dung and Ngoc Hoa, 18^th Hung King’s daughters usually combed hair and looked themselves in the well

Xuan Son National Park

Xuan Son National Park is believed to be one of the most prominent natural tourist potential of Phu Tho. It is home for more than 300 animal species like langurs, gibbons, civets, bears, leopards, peacock pheasants and so on, 45 of them are listed in Vietnam Red Book and other 18 species in the World Red Book. Moreover, the park has over 300 species of vascular plants divided into 115 families, 52 species of them belong to conifer branches. Besides rich flora and fauna, Xuan Son National Park also has numerous natural landscapes such as Lap Stream, Thang Stream, waterfalls, caves, etc. which will leave good impressive on tourists coming here. 

Xoan singing (hát xoan)

Xoan singing is one type of Vietnamese folk music that is only performed in Phu Tho. This kind of song consists chant, acting, dancing, drumming and singing, it was traditionally performed in temples, commune homes, shrines,.... in spring during the first two months of the Lunar New Year. Three types of Xoan singing are honoring Hung Kings and village guardian spirits, wishing for good crop, health, prosperity; and sing courtship song mutually male and female. Xoan singing has been written on List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding  since 2011. 

Cuisine

Coming to Phu Tho, tourists cannot ignore trying sour meat or ‘thịt chua’ in Vietnamese which is famous for special taste and incredible recipe. Combine leaves like fig leaf, guava leaf, .. and chili sauce will make ‘thịt chua’ perfect that is Phu Tho cuisine’s feature.  Other special foods in this place are palm tree fruit, banh tai (ear cake), Doan Hung grape-fruit, etc.