Located between two hamlets of Ly Tay and Nhon Thuan in Nhon Thanh commune, An Nhon district, Mount Mo O stands out from surrounding fields. It is also known with other names: Maha, Thien But (Heaven Pen), Tien Tinh Son (Mount Fairy Top), and Ma Thien Son (Heaven Scolding Mount).
According to the ancient historical book Dai Nam nhat thong chi (Geography of the unified Dai Nam), the mountain was called Mô Ô. The name “Mo O” is probably rooted in Chinese letter phonetic transcription.
Travelling along the routes of Phu Cat – An Nhon, Dap Da – Nhon Hanh, Gom Market – Cat Tien, or Go Gang – An Loi, tourists can enjoy the beauty of the mountain from a far. It has various shapes from different angles of view. Mount Mo O isn’t high (345 metres) and is located between the southern part of An Nhon and the northern part of Phu Cat.
Many fengshui masters said the mountain received two courses of streams – one from Ky Dong and the other from Cha Rang. The later runs through the hillocks of Tan Nghi, Binh Duc and Nghia Hoa and meets the former at the edge of Phu Thanh hamlet before flowing to Mount Mo O.
The terrain, thus, looks like “Two Dragons has One Head”. Mount Mo O is the place where the dragons halt to take another breath before keeping on running to seven hillocks at Chanh Man (Phu Cat district) about 3km away and end there.
Mount Mo O has both gravel and macadam. It imposingly stands out from the surrounding fields with strange figure. At its top, there is a hole with outer circle shape and inner square shape. The hole is about 2m in width and over 1m in depth. It has only white sand. Local people call it Gieng Tien (Fairy Well). So, the mountain is also known as Tien Tinh Son (Mount Fairy Top).
On the top of the well, there are two triangle-shaped parallel blocks of rock. One stands at the west while the other locates at the east. They look like big open mouth with sharp tongue. It is said that the mountain is scolding the Heaven. For that reason, the mountain is also called Ma Thien Son (Heaven Scolding Mount).
If you view the mountain from Thap Thap Pagoda, you’ll find it looks like a sail. The mountain serves as a front screen for the pagoda and looks gentle, polite in a harmonious terrain with the pagoda as if it esteems the Buddhist sacred site.
But it will look very supercilious and ferocious from Phu Cat angle of view. It has a rugged façade like a hedgehog with its quills bristled out while the mountain’s mouth opens wide like a bear which is about to catch its prey.
Being looked from the eastern direction, the mountain looks like a sitting Buddhist with the 2 thighs set loose, the 2 legs dangle, the belly opens and the face looks down the seven hillocks at Chanh Man (Phu Cat). On the opposite site, the mountain looks like a lying tiger which is seeing its tail. So, it looks neither gentle nor cruel.
Nobody has any idea why the mountain bears the name Mo O – the homophone refers to a Bambusoideae species – because there isn’t any such of the tree at the region or on the mountain.
However, at the eastern and southern sides of the mountain, there is a special kind of tea which is called Toc Tien (Fairy Hair Tea). The tea has very pleasant smell and taste. The macadam at the northern side of the mountain is actually rock crystals in various shapes of hexagon or octagon with different sparkling colours. It is said that the quartz will become diamonds under influence of the north-easterly wind.
Mount Mo O doesn’t change much over time and the road system in the villages around it is cementized, creating favourable condition for the tourists to visit the beautiful site.
