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Though the Thung Lung Vang (Golden Valley) Tour-st Park in Dalat opened just some four months ago, it has already become popular among visitors to the capital of the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.
Though the Thung Lung Vang (Golden Valley) Tour-st Park in Dalat opened just some four months ago, it has already become popular among visitors to the capital of the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.
“I have visited many sites but still felt surprised when arriving here. This tourist park lures visitors with its romantic beauty,” says Sato Kohara, a Japanese fine arts student, while preparing to take photographs of the artificial waterfall at a corner of the park.
Sloping, pine tree-clad hills surround the 10-hectare tourist park near the Dankia-Suoi Vang Water Plant some 12 kilometers from downtown.
Tran Dinh Lanh, director of Lam Dong Water Supply Co., says he initially wanted to develop the area near the water plant so that his employees could relax there in their spare time.
But then company employees and officials joined hands to turn the area into a tourist park, boasting many specialized trees and precious stones.
In the middle of the Golden Valley are orchards and flower gardens, and man-made streams, lakes and waterfalls, whose set up follows the Asian philosophy to put them in harmony with the rest of the landscape.
To add to the region’s flora, the park has brought plants from elsewhere. Thus, interspersing with the immense evergreen pine forests are not only typical Highlands plants, such as peach, cherry, mimosa, red pine, dusan and p’mu, but also maple trees from Canada and many other trees.
Near the kingdom of plants is a rock garden with many types of precious stones, such as chalcedony and agate, from different parts of the Central Highlands. Looking from a distance, the valley looks like a Chinese ink painting.
After touring the park, many visitors like to lie down on the soft grass on the slopes of the hills under the pine trees. At the hills’ foot are spacious grounds where visitors can also camp.
Moreover, they can go fishing at the differently designed lakes, enjoying the tranquil atmosphere, fresh climate and picturesque landscape that rivals that of Dalat’s Doi Cu (golf hills).
For those who don’t want to set up their own tents, another solution is in sight. Lam Dong Water Supply has recently received the provincial government’s permission to build a resort inside the 170-hectare pine forest near Golden Valley in Lac Duong District.
The resort, which will also be called Golden Valley, will house 20 villas scattered under the conifers, and among vegetable gardens and decorative stone objects.
The resort will also plant conifers that only grow on the Langbian Plateau and rare native plants suited to the local climate.
A stone garden will feature rocks collected from Dinh River in Ninh Thuan Province and from rivers and springs in Lam Dong. A sculpture garden will house artworks of famous HCMC sculptor Pham Van Hang.
Construction of the resort is expected to cost VND150 billion and is due for completion by 2010.
However, before the resort’s inauguration, visitors to Dalat can visit the Golden Valley Tourist Park, which opens daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., for VND5,000 per person.
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