Ganh Son – Legend of a mysterious land

According to legend, over 300 years ago in Ha Bu village (Hoa Phu commune, now merged into Phan Ri Cua town), there was a man named Bon (Fourth) who was very good at fengshui. He specialized in finding land for wealthy households or officials, arranging and building houses and constructions which made their business prosperous. In his old age, he chose a burial place at the bottom of Hon Ba Mountain, about 15 km from Duong (known as Chi Cong commune) to the northwest.

He instructed his children how to bury him in that sandy terrain so that their offspring could become rich in the future. Unfortunately, at the time Mr. Bon passed away, while waiting for moving his coffin, a geographic teacher from Hue on the way to the South to find a good location suddenly appeared. When traveling through Hon Ba, he felt satisfied with the land that Mr. Bon’s family chose. No one has known how the geographic teacher said to convince Mr. Bon's descendants as they agreed to bury Mr. Bon in another location to avoid disastrous aftermaths.  

But, incidentally, when Mr. Bon’s grave was just filled with soil, a part of the land suddenly vibrated strongly, creating a big “concussion”. Such concussion woke up a mysterious animal, “Cù” while it was cultivating to become a dragon. After the noise, the animal jumped up and flew out to the sea. Consequently, the sea suddenly was covered with dark clouds, whilst thunder and lightning tore the sky. It was a bloody battle between the "the Cù animal" and marine dragons. Due to friendless, “Cù animal” was full of bloody injuries. It tried to escape from the enemies and flew toward a mountain near Hon Ba. Unluckily, it was exhausted and fell down on a white sand dune. His red blood filled and dyed the white color of the sand dunes into red color. Since then, the location was called Ganh Son. On the west side of Ganh Son is a village, named Hoi Long meaning the return of the dragon.

Currently, Ganh Son, 200-meter-long specially-red ground, positions in the middle of a pure white sand cave to the Northeast of Chi Cong Commune. The location was created by flow of rainwater, creating various peculiar shapes which look like red blood falling from above. For a long time, this place has been a tourist spot, luring many professional and amateur photographers.

Ganh Son beach is a dreamlike place as you can enjoy the most interesting to experience the daily life of hundreds of fishing households. Visitors can take a basket boat to the sea just to welcome the dawn, and spread fishing net with the fishermen. They can also walk on the red sand of Ganh Son, sit and watch the sunset along the salty sea breeze. To those who like to "hunt" the sun on the ocean, Ganh Son will become an unforgettable experience.

Translated by Ul (Source: Binh Thuan Newspaper)