Hanoi, May 30, 2022 – A mountain resort in Vietnam has opened a bridge with a bottom made of glass over a gorge 150m below to attract thrill-seeking tourists, the third such bridge in the country.
The Bach Long suspension bridge, which translates to “White Dragon”, is in Son La province, northwest of the capital Hanoi, and borders Laos.
“I dared not look down as I am afraid of heights,” said one visitor, Vi Thi Thu, 22, who ventured onto the bridge after attending the opening ceremony on the weekend, which included dragon dancing and ribbon cutting.
The reinforced glass used for the bridge has three layers, each 40mm thick, and can hold up to 450 people at a time, according to a statement from the facility’s owner.
The bridge is 290m long between two peaks on either side of a gorge, and has a 342m pathway on the cliffside.
Guinness World Records lists a 562m glass-bottomed bridge in Qingyuan, in China’s Guangdong province, as the world’s longest.
“The engineering required to build that into the side of a cliff but maintain all the features of nature, the greenery, the rocks… it’s been an amazing project,” said Glen Pollard, a representative of Guinness World Records, who attended the opening ceremony.
Another visitor at the ceremony said he quickly overcame initial nerves when walking on the bridge.
“At first it makes you panic, but then if you walk over around 10 glass panels, that feeling is gone,” said 72-year-old Tran Xuan Tinh.
