Hon Chong Rocks

North of Nha Trang, huge rocks rise out of the water in stacks, big ones and small ones, layer upon layer. They run from the foot of La San Hill all the way into the sea. This is Hòn Chồng, a national scenic site in Khánh Hòa.

In the heritage records of Khánh Hòa Province, the site is entered in full as Hòn Chồng and Hòn Đỏ. It was ranked a national scenic site under Decision 04 of 1998, issued by the Ministry of Culture and Information. That means this stretch of rocky coast has been recognized and protected by the state for nearly thirty years.

The main attraction here is not a large building. It is the natural landscape of stone itself. The Khánh Hòa newspaper describes the blocks, large and small, as formed by natural movements of the earth. From a distance they look like countless giant bricks laid down at random. In fact they are the product of millions of years of geology, waves, wind and sun.

A source from the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese draws a clear line between two groups of rock. The northern group, half sunk and half above the water, is Hòn Chồng. The smaller, lower group to the south is Hòn Vợ. Chồng means husband and vợ means wife. These are folk names, and they call up the picture of a married couple standing close together at the edge of the waves.

And of course, there is a story about a handprint.

On one large rock right by the sea at Hòn Chồng, there is a hollow in the shape of a hand with five fingers. A folk tale says a giant once passed along this coast. He slipped, and in his hurry to keep from falling, he grabbed at the rocky mountain. The rocks came tumbling down and left the mark of his hand. Another version tells of the handprint in the story of a fisherman and his wife.

These tales are best enjoyed as a layer of oral culture, not as verified history. The hollow in the rock may have several geological causes. But because the people of the area wove a story into it, the place became appealing in its own way.

On the way down to the rocky shore stands the Nha Trang Bay Assembly Hall. According to the Khánh Hòa newspaper, it has been in use since 2005. It was assembled from 15 old traditional folk houses of the Vietnamese people, known as nhà rường. Inside, photographs show Nha Trang Bay and some other beautiful bays of the world. Musicians also regularly perform here on traditional instruments.

The instruments include the đàn bầu and the đàn tranh. The đàn bầu is a zither with a single string. The đàn tranh is a plucked zither. They are joined by the đàn t'rưng and the đàn k'lông pút. There is also the Khánh Sơn đàn đá, along with bamboo flutes and drums.

When musicians are playing, the sound of the đàn t'rưng and the đàn k'lông pút stands out. Both are very characteristic of the Central Highlands, and they are rarely heard by the sea. Three things meet here: instruments of the mountains and forests, a seashore of rock, and a hall put together from the old roofs of nhà rường houses from the plains.

On a clear day, looking southeast from the rocky shore, you can see Hòn Đỏ. Từ Tôn Pagoda stands on the island. Hòn Đỏ lies about 300 meters from Hòn Chồng, a quiet brownish-red dot in the blue-green of the bay.

Beneath the waves that break on this rocky shore lies a whole other world. Along the shore of Hòn Chồng and Đặng Tất there is a coral reef covering 4.75 hectares. Its average coral cover is 32.4 percent, and the reef is built by 62 species of hard coral. It is decades of quiet building, just under the surface, where the eye cannot see it.

Hòn Chồng is beautiful not because it is perfect. It is beautiful because it is still rough and natural. There is the folk tale of the giant's handprint. There is the assembly hall of old houses, and the sound of the đàn t'rưng carried on the sea wind. And beneath those rugged rocks, 62 species of coral quietly breathe, quietly grow, and quietly keep Nha Trang Bay green.