T'Nung Lake, also known as Bien Ho Lake, meaning "Eyes of Pleiku", is considered a treasure given to the Gia Lai mountain city with its large lake area, fresh air and surrounding green pines. But only local people know that Bien Ho Lake is still divided into two parts, separated by a small suspension bridge, with one side called "Bien Ho Lake" (T’Nung Lake), the other side is tea fields located around a hundred-year-old road, called Bien Ho Tea.

The stunning beauty of Bien Ho Tea Road.

Starting from Pho Duc Chinh Road, Bien Ho Tea Road runs around the lake, located 10km from Pleiku city center, this is also the boundary between Pleiku City and Nghia Hung Commune, Chu Pah District, of Gia Lai Province.

The entrance to tea hills passes through two rows of ancient pine trees that are over 100 years old. Gia Lai youth call this the "Korean road" because of its romantic beauty.

Students of Nghia Hung Commune Primary School go to school under the giant pine trees in the morning. The early morning is also the best time to visit the romantic pine road, in the chilly air and the morning dew.

In the early years of the 20th century, the French began to appear in Pleiku to exploit the northern land of the province, they built the first tea plantations of Gia Lai Province, the precursor of Bien Ho Tea now.

The cool climate of the Gia Lai plateau provides extremely favourable conditions for tea cultivation.

The tea hill in Bien Ho now has an area of over 1,000 hectares, everywhere is green tea, stretching to the foot of the mountains.

The tea hills are considered as a green lung to regulate the air for the whole region, attracting a lot of tourists, as well as famous photographers, and becoming the famous checking-in place of Gia Lai's youth.

A special destination not to be missed when coming to Bien Ho Tea is Buu Minh Pagoda, which is one of the first Buddhist temples to have been built in Gia Lai.

Buu Minh Pagoda’s roof was designed to be like a communal house’s roof in the Central Highlands, with the architecture combining the northern and central areas with the Japanese temple style. The front of the temple faces Bien Ho Lake.

At the start and the end of the hundred-year-old-pine road are coffee fields. Every year in November and December, depending on the weather conditions, is the time when farmers in Nghia Hung Commune enter the coffee-harvesting season.

This is also the time when wild sunflowers grow everywhere in the Central Highlands, simultaneously kneeling in bloom underneath the coffee trees, creating a beautiful countryside picture in this season.

Ha Du (Nhan Dan)