Ba Den (Bà Đen) Mountain is 986 meters high. It is in a plain of Hoa Thanh (Hòa Thành) district - 10 kilometers from the southwest of Tay Ninh (Tây Ninh) town. From a distance, Ba Den looks like a broad-brimmed hat on a plain. There are a lot of ancient pagodas, beautiful, wild caves and many kinds of century-old tree.
The legend of Ba Den Mountain
The mythical story of Ba Den is that: in the late 18th century, there were many fights between Lord Trinh (Trịnh) and Lord Nguyen (Nguyễn) which made people miserable. Nguyen Hue (Nguyễn Huệ) (a hero of Vietnam's history) led the Tay Son (Tây Sơn) movement to clear away the internal foes and external invaders. At that time, a young guy Le Sy Triet (Lê Sỹ Triệt) from Quang Hoa (Quang Hóa) (now is Trang Bang (Trảng Bàng) district, Tay Ninh province) was very talent and ambitious. He said good bye to his girlfriend Miss Ly Thi Thien Huong (Lý Thị Thiên Hương) to save the country as Nguyen Hues inferior. Ly Thi Thien Huong was a beautiful, virtue girl with brown skin. Her boyfriend said farewell to her because of great ambition. Although stayed home in the blockade of many village bullies and tyrants, she was still very faithful. Didn't want to be a concubine for the government officials, she decided to go to a mountain to become a nun and was killed by a tiger. After the dead, she had a supernatural power and helped many people in the area. So, her body was taken back to be buried and worshipped. The pagoda when she was in made her altar for people to worship. Nowadays, people everywhere come to this place to make offering and worship every springs.
Climbing Ba Den Mountain
The access to the top of Ba Den Mountain is very bendy. There are also many beautiful sites. On the mountain, tourists have a chance to look at the panorama of this place and the surroundings. There is an altar of Ba Den and a pagoda of Buddha. Behind the pagoda, there is an access to the statue of the Buddha attained Nirvana, to the wind cave, Son Than (Sơn Thần) (The god of the mountain) cavern with the Thien (Thiên) stone.
There is a historical, cultural vestiges tourist zone on the foot of the mountain. This Ba (Bà) Mountain tourist zone is tens of square hectares with many other entertainments, services areas. The road to the mountain is very easy to walk, but the tourist zone has made a telpher system with the length of 1200 meters to carry the tourists to visit the mountain.
The Ba Den Mountain has been a long time a place of pilgrimage and an attractive area of Tay Ninh province as well as Dong Nam Bo (Đông Nam Bộ) (The Southeast of Vietnam).