Leaves pictures

Rai Cave is located in the south of Vinh Hy Bay, Nui Chua National Park, Vinh Hai commune, Ninh Hai district, Ninh Thuan province.

It is only about 35 km from Phan Rang city, about 40 km from Cam Ranh city (Khanh Hoa province) and about 90 km from Nha Trang city (Khanh Hoa), very convenient for visitors.

The road to Rai Cave is beautiful, winding between the magnificent blue sea and romantic green meadows.

According to local people, the reason it is called Rai Cave because it used to be inhabited by sea otters and many dipterocarpus alatus, which were used to extract oil to paint ships and boats to help make them more waterproof.

Coming to Rai Cave, tourists are captivated by the magical natural scenery. Just taking a photo at any angle produce a quality shot, for anyone. Rai Cave is not a large cave but in fact a rocky cliff protruding into the sea with many niches and compartments with strange shapes.

Enjoying the pictures full of a hauntingly eerie blend of moss and waves, you’ll have endless pleasure admiring this masterpiece of nature. The moss grows on the coral under the clear waters, looking from afar like giant green jade boulders.

Because of the geological tectonics millions of years ago, the ancient coral reefs have grown into a large area that tourists call “Mars”. At the bottom of the coral reef is an ancient coral block, about the same height as sea level. This is also one of the characteristics which attract many visitors to Rai Cave. When the waves hit the rocks, the water pours in, the slope of the rock makes the water flow back into the sea, creating a strange waterfall effect. Many people call this amazing phenomenon “the waterfall on the sea” and Rai cave is the only place to have this phenomenon.

Rai Cave at dawn or dusk can offer one of the most unique experiences.

Not long ago, a 300 m long wooden bridge through the steep cliffs was erected so that visitors can visit and admire the impressive panoramic beauty of Rai Cave.

If visitors want to “check-in” here gently, they just need to immerse themselves, place their bare feet on the white sand strip and dip their hands in the cool seawater to feel the freshness of nature.

In order to have a deeper experience at Rai Cave, guests can stay overnight to catch the most beautiful moments of this wonder, with coral diving or moon snail catching among the rocks.

Rai Cave is currently a destination serviced by many tour operators, combined with other attractive destinations along the same route such as Suoi Tien sheep field, Thai An vineyard and Vinh Hy bay, adding even more interesting tours and activities.

The list was made by British journalist and travel writer Monisha Rajesh based on her book ‘Around the World in 80 Trains: A 45,000-Mile Adventure’.

According to the author, starting in Hanoi, the Reunification Express runs the length of the country right down to Ho Chi Minh City in the south, of which the finest segment is the first half of the journey to Da Nang.

Threading deep into the capital city, the train offers voyeuristic views into the backs of houses as families unwind for the night, before emerging into glorious sunshine the following morning, she wrote.

Climbing for miles through the jungle, banana leaves flapping against the windows, the train comes within inches of villagers’ walls and gardens, so close that you can make eye contact and wave.

At the final stretch, the train curls around the clifftops overlooking the sea where a finger of golden sand runs along the edge of the water in Lang Co Bay, before finally pulling into Da Nang Station.

Other train journeys in Asia are also named in the list, including Tokyo to Osaka, Japan, by Tokaido Shinkansen; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to Beijing, China, by the Trans-Mongolian Express; Bangkok to Nam Tok by Thailand’s Death Railway; Xining to Lhasa, China, by Qinghai-Tibet Railway; and Mumbai to Madgaon, India, by the Mondovi Express.

However, the boy later said he was overloaded and tired of online learning.

The same thing happened with her older son.

“It was easier to study online last year, when by sons were in fourth and eighth grades. They prefer online study because they did not have to get up early to go to school. But things are different now,” she said.

“As the kids are in the final grades of primary and secondary levels, they have to do more exercises and feel stressful,” she explained.

As schools have closed amid the new Covid-19 outbreak and organized online classes, Thu has had to buy one more laptop for the younger son. They also need a smartphone, in case of computer troubles.

Thu’s older son plans to take the entrance exam to the high school for the gifted, majoring in foreign languages. He has three learning periods in the morning and another three in the afternoon. He also has two English, one mathematics and one literature lessons with private tutors a week.

“My son complains that he feels tired and suffers from eyestrain as he has to sit too long in front of computer. However, he has no other choice than studying hard because he will have to take one of the two most important exams in his life this summer,” she said.

Thu hopes that the teachers at school will re-design their lesson plans so students don’t have to look at computer screen intently for too long.

La Mai Huyen, a mother in Hanoi, also is embarrassed as her children have to study online.

“My daughter is in second grade and she could not study online without the parents’ help. I have to leave a laptop at home for my son, a seventh grader, to study online and I am insecure about that. I am afraid that he would use the laptop to access the websites with bad content,” she explained.

Huyen also complained that she has become busier since the children have shifted to study online.

“I have to check notices from teachers sent to my phone regularly and I have to print documents that serve my children’s lessons,” she complained.

“This puts pressure on me. My mother urges me to study harder and harder all the time,“ he said.

Thuy Nga