‘Don’t Look Down’: Vietnam Glass-Bottomed Bridge Targets Thrill-Seekers

People walk on the Bach Long glass bridge during the opening ceremony at Moc Chau district in Son La province, Vietnam, May 28, 2022. Picture taken May 28, 2022. (Reuters)
People walk on the Bach Long glass bridge during the opening ceremony at Moc Chau district in Son La province, Vietnam, May 28, 2022. Picture taken May 28, 2022. (Reuters)
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‘Don’t Look Down’: Vietnam Glass-Bottomed Bridge Targets Thrill-Seekers

People walk on the Bach Long glass bridge during the opening ceremony at Moc Chau district in Son La province, Vietnam, May 28, 2022. Picture taken May 28, 2022. (Reuters)
People walk on the Bach Long glass bridge during the opening ceremony at Moc Chau district in Son La province, Vietnam, May 28, 2022. Picture taken May 28, 2022. (Reuters)

A mountain resort in Vietnam has opened a bridge with a bottom made of glass over a gorge 150 meters (492.13 ft) below to attract thrill-seeking tourists, the third such bridge in the Southeast Asian country.

The Bach Long suspension bridge, which translates as "White Dragon", is in Son La province, northwest of the capital, Hanoi, and bordering 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 Saturday's opening ceremony, 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 290 meters long between two peaks on either side of a gorge, plus a 342-meter pathway on the cliffside.

Guinness World Records lists a 562-meter 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 Record, who attended the opening ceremony.

The World Record Association, also a record-certifying body, has listed the two-part Vietnamese bridge as the world's longest at 632 meters.

Another visitor at the opening ceremony said he quickly overcame initial nerves when walking on the bridge.

"At first it makes you panic, but then if you walked over around 10 glass panels, that feeling is gone," said Tran Xuan Tinh, 72.



How Alcatraz Became America’s Most Notorious Prison

One of three cell tiers of individual cells at the main block of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 15, 1956. (AP)
One of three cell tiers of individual cells at the main block of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 15, 1956. (AP)
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How Alcatraz Became America’s Most Notorious Prison

One of three cell tiers of individual cells at the main block of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 15, 1956. (AP)
One of three cell tiers of individual cells at the main block of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 15, 1956. (AP)

President Donald Trump wants to turn Alcatraz, a popular US tourist destination, into a federal prison again, more than 60 years after the California island fortress was shut down as too costly.

Trump says Alcatraz, now part of the National Park Service, suddenly is needed to house America’s “most ruthless and violent” criminals. It's where the government sent notorious gangsters Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly as well as lesser-known men who were considered too dangerous to lock up elsewhere.

“When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Trump said Sunday on his Truth Social site.

What is Alcatraz? Alcatraz is in San Francisco Bay off the coast of San Francisco and visible from the Golden Gate Bridge. It is best known for its years as a federal prison, from 1934-63, but its history is much longer.

President Millard Fillmore in 1850 declared the island for public purposes, according to the park service, and it soon became a military site. Confederates were housed there during the Civil War.

By the 1930s, the government decided that it needed a place to hold the worst criminals, and Alcatraz became the choice for a prison.

“A remote site was sought, one that would prohibit constant communication with the outside world by those confined within its walls,” the park service said. “Although land in Alaska was being considered, the availability of Alcatraz Island conveniently coincided with the government’s perceived need for a high security prison.”

Why did it close? The remoteness eventually made it impractical. Everything from food to fuel had to arrive by boat.

“The island had no source of fresh water,” according to the US Bureau of Prisons, “so nearly one million gallons of water had to be barged to the island each week.”

The cost to house someone there in 1959 was $10.10 a day compared with $3 at a federal prison in Atlanta, the government said. It was cheaper to build a new prison from scratch.

Why is Alcatraz notorious? Despite the location, many prisoners tried to get out: 36 men attempted 14 separate escapes into the bay, according to the FBI. Nearly all were caught or didn’t survive the cold water and swift current.

“Escape from Alcatraz,” a 1979 movie starring Clint Eastwood, told the story of John Anglin, his brother Clarence and Frank Morris, who all escaped in 1962, leaving behind handmade plaster heads with real hair in their beds to fool guards.

“For the 17 years we worked on the case, no credible evidence emerged to suggest the men were still alive, either in the US or overseas,” the FBI said.

A national park Alcatraz became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and was opened to the public in 1973, a decade after it was closed as a prison.

The park service says the island gets more than 1 million visitors a year who arrive by ferry. A ticket for an adult costs $47.95. Visitors can see the cells where prisoners were held.