Ba Danh Pagoda

Chua Ba Danh stands on the bank of the Day river in Ha Nam, a walled complex of the seventeenth century and later, and it is known nationally through a phrase: vang nhu chua Ba Danh, empty as Ba Danh pagoda, used across Vietnam for anywhere deserted. The usual explanation is position - the pagoda stood away from the villages, on ground that people avoided for the spirits believed to be there, so it went unvisited. Its main image is of a female deity associated with rain and weather rather than a standard Buddhist figure. Ngoc hill beside it holds a stone monument, and the setting on the river is quiet, appropriately.

What you actually see

• A seventeenth century riverside complex - walled, on the Day river.
• A proverb about emptiness - the pagoda that named it.
• A female weather deity - the main image, not a standard Buddha.
• Ngoc hill beside it - with a stone monument.

When to go

Year round; the festival is in the second lunar month. Half a day.

Honest expectations

It is genuinely quiet, which is the point. Interpretation is in Vietnamese and there is no visitor infrastructure. The road along the river is rural. It is a short visit.

Nearby

Phu Ly is north-east; Tam Chuc is south.