Am Duoc, also known as Am Thuoc, is located on the slope of Thanh Long mountain range, in Yen Tu Relic Site, Yen Tu ward, Quang Ninh province. In the past, this was a place for ancestors to research and prepare medicine.
According to legend, King Tran Nhan Tong himself - after going to monastery in Yen Tu - fulfilled his childhood wish here: to find medicine, preserve medicine to save people, and help hundreds of families escape diseases and epidemics.
The road to Am Duoc is quite far and few people pass, but it is a beautiful route.
From the One Mai Pagoda area, turn into a small path, passing through primeval forests, with many ancient trees, each tree is hugged by a few people; through the Silver Waterfall, when the fence is roaring, when the water is pouring in during the rainy season; overcome a few more slopes to the ancient Red Pine garden area.
For a long time, tourists have only known about the ancient Red Pine - where there are dozens of Red Pine trees over 700 years old on both sides of the pilgrimage road, but only in the ancient Red Pine garden in the Yen Tu deep forest did they see much larger numbers.
Just entering the ancient Red Pine garden, you will encounter ancient stone steps hidden under the layer of forest leaves and moss.
The ruins of Am Ngu Duoc have an area of about 4,000m2 located in the ancient Red Pine garden but look painful in the distance. Ancient artifacts, including stone planks and bricks used as foundations, walls of Am Duoc are piled up or scattered in many places, but the more you learn, the more you find that there was a thriving period of traditional medicine associated with the Buddha Truc Lam festival.
A house, once a place for the construction workers of the Am Duoc restoration project to live in a dilapidated, shabby house in the middle of a mysterious, enchanting green forest.
In 2011, the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province approved the project to restore and embellish Am Duoc relic, from socialized sources. Accordingly, Am Duoc was restored on the basis of keeping the site and the remaining old stone walls.
However, during the construction process, some items were implemented incorrectly compared to the approved design, in which the entire foundation and part of the remaining ancient wall were dug up, the stone sections and ancient bricks were moved to other places, instead, the reinforced concrete foundation was expanded, the construction area was also expanded compared to the original design... The project was stopped from that time until now, causing the ruins to become a ruins, waste and grief.
Before the merger, the Yen Tu National Park and Forest Management Board also planned to restore Am Duoc in the direction of ensuring the principle of respecting old traces, in order to turn this place into a unique sightseeing and experience destination, where visitors can both worship and learn about traditional medicine, precious medicines, and the philosophy of medicine associated with Truc Lam Zen sect.
Am Duoc - an ancient medicine factory located in the middle of the great Yen Tu - is still waiting to be awakened, to contribute to increasing the beauty and values of the World Cultural Heritage.
