Take in the romantic scenery of Quang Tri maple forest

Khe Sanh town has a completely different climate, this place is considered by many as "miniature Da Lat". Coming here, visitors will experience all four seasons in one day: foggy morning, warm noon, chilly afternoon and cold night.

Khe Sanh has a pristine, poetic beauty but is no less majestic because of the image of the mountains and hills. In addition to the cool weather, the scenery and hidden beauty here are also worth exploring. In particular, recently, the charming picture of the fragrant maple forest in Khe Sanh has been causing a stir on social networking sites.

As a native of Quang Tri, travel blogger Nguyen Duc Hieu fell in love with the scenery here from the first moment he met them: “By chance, during a walk on the Truong Son route, a few friends and I saw a rather different forest from afar. My curiosity led me deep inside. At first, looking from the outside, I didn’t think the forest was that beautiful. After about an hour of searching, I had the opportunity to admire a whole forest of fragrant maple trees located right in the middle of the lake.”

It is known that Khe Sanh maple forest is located in Huong Linh and Huong Phung communes of Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri province. This place possesses a wild landscape with clear blue water, ancient trees submerged in water, most notably the maple forest or also known as sau sau and bach giao huong...

The maple tree is tall and big, with a milky white bark and gray spots. On winter days, the forest resembles a birch forest in Europe. The scenery of the forest suddenly becomes so poetic and unreal that it seems to come out of a painting, making everyone stare in awe.

In particular, the leaves of the maple tree are heart-shaped but smaller than normal maple leaves. In spring, the maple forest is adorned with the gentle red color of young leaves that are budding. When summer comes, the straight white tree trunks are dotted with the green color of millions of leaves. In autumn, the leaves turn dark green, then yellow, and by late autumn, they are bright red like the maple forest of temperate regions. In winter, all the leaves fall, creating a cold, ghostly but also attractive scene. Perhaps, because of such characteristics, the maple forest in Quang Tri has a prominent, irresistibly beautiful landscape among the myriad flowers and leaves of the mountains and forests.

Through Duc Hieu's lens, the maple forest scenery becomes especially charming and unusually lyrical. Talking to Travellive, the travel blogger confided: "I took this photo series within three days. On the first day, I surveyed the beautiful scenery around there and found the maple forest. The next day, I prepared more carefully and moved the boat out to the lake to take photos, but unfortunately, there was no sun yet. The last day was similar to the second day, but I captured more moments."

Seen from above, the scenery of the changing leaves of the Sau Sau forest in Quang Tri makes people surprised by the brilliant colors of yellow, red, green and the gray-white of the bare tree trunks. All create a beauty that is both wild and romantic, not inferior to the real European maple forests.

According to Duc Hieu, if you want to take beautiful photos in the maple forest, you should choose sunny days, early morning or late afternoon, to avoid the sun setting behind the mountains and being covered by clouds. More importantly, you have to go in the right season, otherwise you will only see bare trees. Duc Hieu also shared that the ideal time to visit the maple forest in Quang Tri is from December to January every year.

Phuong Mai is a reporter for Travellive Magazine in Hanoi.

Phuong Mai