DA NANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - In the mountains of central Vietnam, a colossal pair of hands lifts a golden thread of walkway high above the clifftops, as if the mountain itself has sprouted limbs. 
 
 “I feel like I’m walking on clouds,” said Vuong Thuy Linh, a tourist from Hanoi. “It’s so unique”. 
 
 Tourists walk past giant hand structure on Gold Bridge on Ba Na hill near Danang city, Vietnam August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Kham 
 
 Cau Vang or the “Golden Bridge” in Vietnam’s Ba Na Hills has attracted scores of tourists since it opened in June, eager to see a novel piece of architecture famed for its unusual design. 
 
 The pedestrian walkway, designed by TA Landscape Architecture in Ho Chi Minh City, sits at over 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) above sea level and extends over the treetops from the edge of a leafy cliff face, offering tourists uninterrupted views of the majestic landscape beneath. 
 
 The bridge was designed to evoke the image of the “giant hands of Gods, pulling a strip of gold out of the land,” said Vu Viet Anh, Design Principal at TA Landscape Architecture. 
 
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 “It creates a walkway in the sky, among the foggy and fairy-like lands of Ba Na mountain,” said Anh, who added that he had been surprised at the level of attention his firm’s design had attracted both locally and internationally. 
 
 The Ba Na Hills, a popular getaway for the French during the colonial occupation of Vietnam, received over 2.7 million visitors last year, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. 
 
 But it is the Golden Bridge and its supports - two huge stone-colored human hands styled in such a way that it looks as if the jungle is struggling to reclaim them - which have garnered the most attention from visitors. 
 
 “The two, smooth, giant hands look real,” said Truong Hoang Linh Thuy, another tourist. 
 
 “It makes me feel like humans can do anything”. ||||| A new footbridge held up by two giant hands has just opened near Da Nang in Vietnam, the latest in a line of weird and wonderful structures around the world 
 
 A golden bridge held up by two enormous stone-coloured hands has opened in the Ba Na hills, near Da Nang in central Vietnam. It is the latest in a series of statement footbridges around the world. Cau Vang (meaning gold bridge) opened in June, is 150 metres long and 1,400 metres above sea level, with views across the green mountainscape. It took just under a year to construct, with initial designs by TA Landscape Architecture. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cau Vang (Golden Bridge), Ba Na Hills, Vietnam. Photograph: Amazing Things in Vietnam 
 
 The Ba Na hills mountain retreat was a favourite holiday location for the ruling French authorities in the early 20th century but fell into ruin after the revolution against colonial rule in 1945. The area is now home to a replica French village and gardens, along with a 5.8km cable car track – once the world’s longest and highest – as well as a cavernous concrete amusement complex, hidden beneath the kitsch-looking village. Remnants of the original villas have been spotted by travellers riding the cable car. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Courtesy of Amazing Things in Vietnam. 
 
 Cau Vang follows in a line of unusual footbridges, seen everywhere from Iowa to India: structures that are noteworthy as architectural statements in themselves, rather than accessories for an already popular location. 
 
 In 2014, the Fan Bridge was unveiled in Paddington Basin in London. It currently only operates Wednesdays and Fridays at noon and Saturdays at 2pm, leaving it somewhere between the practical and the artistic. The hydraulic structure, designed by Knight Architects, positions its five steel beams 20 metres across the water, rising in a similar way to a traditional Japanese fan. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fan Bridge at dusk, Paddington Basin, London. Photograph: Alamy 
 
 The nearby Rolling Bridge (operating Wednesdays and Fridays at noon and 4pm) unfolds its octagonal structure on one side of the canal towpath to form a walkway 12 metres across the water. It was created by Heatherwick Studio and installed in 2004 as a “sculptural object”. 
 
 A 185-metre loop of three interconnected red footbridges form Lucky Knot bridge in Changsha, China, which opened in 2006. Designers Next Architects, were inspired by Chinese knotting folk art and the infinite structure of the Möbius strip. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lucky Knot bridge in Changsha, China. Photograph: Imaginechina/Rex/Shutterstock 
 
 At the opposite end of the technology scale are the sustainable footbridges made by the Khasi people from living, natural resources in the gorges of Meghalaya, north-west India. The living root bridges are deep in the tropical forest, close to village of Mawsynram, the wettest place on earth. The most famous, the Umshiang Double Decker Living Root Bridge, took 15 years to craft into its current form. The practice itself is thought to be 180 years old, with the bridges built from rubber tree roots nurtured for years to hold human weight. This material is a preferable alternative to wood here, which decays during the monsoon season. 
 
 Parting the sea might sound like an impossible act but how about building a permanent pathway through water? The Moses Bridge in the village of Halsteren, in North Brabant, Netherlands, acts like a dam under the waterline, holding the moat on either side. The “sunken” bridge, crafted from pre-treated, rot-resistant wood, was designed by Ro & Ad Architects to provide access to a 17th-century Dutch fort. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Moses Bridge, Halsteren, the Netherlands. Photograph: Alamy 
 
 Decades of lovers have transformed a once relatively unremarkable-looking bridge in Serbia, now known as Most Ljubavi – one of the earliest versions of a love bridge. Legend has it that Nada, a teacher, would meet her army officer lover Relja on the bridge to pledge their love – but he left her during the first world war and she subsequently died of a broken heart. It is thought to have become famous thanks to a poem, Prayer for Love, written by Desanka Maksimović in the 1990s. Couples now visit the “Bridge of Love” to attach inscribed padlocks to it. The practice for good luck in love now takes place on bridges around the world. 
 
 The modern, tubular Webb Bridge connects in Melbourne’s South Wharf with the Docklands area, and was designed by sculptor Robert Owen and engineered in 2003 by Arup – the company behind the Sydney Opera House. Also by Arup, the Helix Bridge in Singapore is a spiralling 300-metre DNA-inspired design from Cox architecture, which completed the Marina Bay walkway in 2010. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Helix Bridge, Singapore. Photograph: Phung Huynh Vu Qui/Getty Images 
 
 Best visited after dark to see its glowworm appearance, Henderson Waves, undulates through Singapore, connecting Mount Faber Park to Telok Blangah Hill Park. The 274-metre snake-like structure is made up of Balau wood and curved steel “ribs” which form shelters in its upward curves. 
 
 Another delight for dusk, is the High Trestle Trail Bridge in Iowa, which runs half a mile over the Des Moines River Valley. As part of a “rails to trails” project, it helps connect the 25-mile trail from Woodward to Ankeny. The illuminated steel beams represent a view through a mine shaft, reflecting the coal mining history of the local area. ||||| A new bridge in Vietnam is causing quite a stir for its unusual design. Located outside of Danang at the Bà Nà Hills mountain resort, the golden bridge is seemingly suspended in the air by a pair of giant hands that lift it toward the heavens. The nearly 500-foot-long bridge opened in June as part of the continuing development of the Thien Thai Garden within the resort. 
 
 The bridge is suspended almost 4,600 feet above sea level and its path is lined with purple Lobelia Chrysanthemums to give a punch of color. Ho Chi Mihn-based TA Corporation appears to be responsible for the landscape concept, though no designer has been attached to the finished piece. Now, the 1.5 million visitors that flock to Bà Nà Hills will be able to take in this new attraction, which adds to their impressive list of sites. 
 
 Visitors can already visit the Fantasy Park, which was inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and impressive French Gardens. The bridge itself was the recent location of a bridal fashion show and will surely attract selfie-lovers from around the world. The structure is reportedly part of a $2 billion investment to bring more tourists to the area. 
 
 An unusual bridge at Bà Nà Hills in Vietnam appears to be held up by a pair of giant hands. 
 
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 h/t: [designboom, Arch Daily] 
 
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 Incredibly Steep Bridge in Japan Looks Like a Thrilling Roller Coaster for Drivers ||||| Hong Kong (CNN) A $20-billion bridge connecting Hong Kong and Macau to the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai is set to finally open this week, marking the completion of the longest sea-crossing bridge ever built, nine years after construction began. 
 
 Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend a ceremony in Zhuhai on Tuesday, along with top officials from Hong Kong and Macau, with the bridge opening to public traffic Wednesday. 
 
 The 55-kilometer (34-mile) bridge was originally due to open in 2016, but repeated delays pushed that to this year. 
 
 It is a key element of China's plan for a Greater Bay Area covering 56,500 square kilometers (21,800 square miles) across southern China, and encompassing 11 cities, including Hong Kong and Macau, that are home to a combined 68 million people. 
 
 Proponents of the idea say the bridge will cut journey times between the cities from three hours to 30 minutes, which they say will enable commuters and tourists to easily move around the region. 
 
 "With the bridge, the traveling time between Hong Kong and the Western Pearl River Delta region will be shortened significantly, thereby bringing the Western Pearl River Delta region within three hours' drive from Hong Kong," the city's transport secretary, Frank Chan, said Friday 
 
 Despite the focus on drive time however, private car owners in Hong Kong will not be able to cross the bridge without a special permit. Most drivers will have to park at the Hong Kong port, switching to shuttle bus or special hire cars once they are through immigration. Shuttle buses cost $8-$10 for a single trip depending on the time of day. 
 
 In this photo taken on October 7, 2018, a section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HKZMB) is seen from Lantau island in Hong Kong. 
 
 Fierce criticism 
 
 The bridge project has come in for fierce criticism in Hong Kong, where there was little public demand or appetite for greater links to either Macau or Zhuhai, and fears the city will be swamped by tourists from mainland China. 
 
 In 2016, Hong Kong saw 56.7 million tourist arrivals, compared to 37.6 million for the UK, a much larger country. 
 
 For critics of the Chinese government, the bridge is seen as a tool to drag the city -- which boasts a semi-democratic legislature and independent judiciary and has seen numerous mass protests in recent years -- closer into Beijing's grip. 
 
 The world's longest sea bridge, connecting Hong Kong, Macau and the Chinese mainland will open to traffic on October 24, 2018 officials said, after complaints about the secrecy surrounding the project. 
 
 "You can't see the existing transport connections -- in a literal way. But this bridge is very visible ... you can see it from the plane when you fly in to Hong Kong, and it's breathtaking," lawmaker Claudia Mo told CNN earlier in the year. 
 
 "It links Hong Kong to China almost like an umbilical cord. You see it, and you know you're linked up to the motherland." 
 
 Mo and other critics also point to the huge amount of money spent by Hong Kong -- upwards of $9 billion -- while the city is dealing with an acute lack of public housing and widespread poverty. 
 
 "Hong Kong has had to fund a lot of the bridge, but we won't see many benefits here," Mo said. 
 
 A general view shows a barrier on the Hong Kong side of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HKZM) on October 19, 2018, five days ahead of its opening ceremony. 
 
 Huge engineering effort 
 
 Built to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake, a super typhoon and strikes by super-sized cargo vessels, the bridge incorporates 400,000 tons of steel -- 4.5 times the amount in San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. 
 
 It also includes a 6.7-kilometer (4-mile) submerged tunnel to help it avoid the busy shipping paths over the Pearl River Delta. The tunnel runs between two artificial islands, each measuring 100,000 square meters (1 million square feet) and situated in relatively shallow waters. 
 
 While an impressive engineering feat, the building of the bridge brought its own controversies. The Pearl River Delta is home to an endangered Chinese white dolphin population that has been buffeted by massive land reclamation efforts in Hong Kong and other cities. 
 
 Photos: Spectacular bridges around the world Lucky Knot Bridge by NEXT Architects, in progress (Changsha, China) – Scroll through the gallery to see some of the world's most spectacular bridges. The name and shape of NEXT Architects ' Lucky Knot Bridge refers to the Chinese art of decorative knotting, which is associated with good luck. Hide Caption 1 of 9 Photos: Spectacular bridges around the world Danjiang Bridge by Zaha Hadid Architects, in progress (Taipei, Taiwan) – 
 
 
 
 The subtle design is meant to have visual impact without obscuring the Taipei sunset. At just over 3,000 ft, the Danjiang Bridge -- one of the last commissions awarded to the late Zaha Hadid -- will be the world's longest single-tower, asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, according to the firm The subtle design is meant to have visual impact without obscuring the Taipei sunset. Hide Caption 2 of 9 Photos: Spectacular bridges around the world Sölvesborg Bridge by Ljusarkitektur, 2013 (Sölvesborg, Sweden) – In a rare twist, the Sölvesborg Bridge -- Europe's longest pedestrian bridge at 2480 feet -- was specially enhanced by a lighting design firm rather than an architect. Ljusarkitektur mounted the structure with color-change LED lights. Hide Caption 3 of 9 Photos: Spectacular bridges around the world Helix Bridge by Cox Architecture, 2010 (Marina Bay, Singapore) – When it opened in 2010, Singapore's Helix Bridge was the first to incorporate the shape of a double-helix. The structure is meant to symbolize life, renewal and growth, and sits near Moshe Safdie's $5.7 billion Marina Bay Sands casino Hide Caption 4 of 9 Photos: Spectacular bridges around the world Køge North Station by COBE, in progress (Køge, Denmark) – There's more than meets the eye with this structure. The bridge, designed collaboratively by COBE Architects Dissing + Weitling and COWI , includes passageways for both trains and cars, as well as a full station and park-and-ride facilities. It's set to open in 2018. Hide Caption 5 of 9 Photos: Spectacular bridges around the world Puente Laguna Garzon by Rafael Viñoly Architects, 2015 (Garzón, Uruguay) – Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly's circular bridge can only be truly appreciated from above. The circular bridge, which replaced a raft crossing, creates the effect of a lagoon within a lagoon. Hide Caption 6 of 9 Photos: Spectacular bridges around the world Sarajevo Bridge by BCQ Arquitectura Barcelona, in progress (Barcelona, Spain) – 
 
 
 
 As of now, there is no set completion date. BCQ Arquitectura Barcelona's plant-covered bridge takes Heatherwick's green concept one step further. Their proposed upgrades to the existing Sarajevo Bridge include photoluminescent stones to light the pathway without electricity and concrete that converts pollution into harmless substances.As of now, there is no set completion date. Hide Caption 7 of 9 Photos: Spectacular bridges around the world Cirkelbroen by Olafur Eliasson, 2015 (Copenhagen, Denmark) – Artist Olafur Eliasson was inspired by the city's history as a port town when he designed Cirkelbroen. The five round platforms and wired masts give the illusion of boats floating on the harbor. Hide Caption 8 of 9 Photos: Spectacular bridges around the world Zhangjiajie Canyon Bridge by Haim Dotan, in progress (Zhangjiajie City, China) – Haim Dotan's Zhangjiajie Canyon Bridge is the largest glass-bottomed bridge in the world. Aside from supporting visitors, the bridge, which is 69 feet long and 718 feet high, will be also be used for bungee jumps and fashion shows. Hide Caption 9 of 9 
 
 Conservation experts previously told CNN they feared the bridge, as well as ongoing expansion of Hong Kong airport, could be the final nail in the dolphins' coffin, sending the local population into terminal decline 
 
 In response to environmental concerns over the bridge, the Hong Kong government has provided for the creation of extra marine parks to protect dolphins and other aquatic life, but some experts say this may be too late to reduce the effect of the construction already carried out. 
 
 The bridge has also faced considerable public criticism over safety standards. Seven workers died in constructing the bridge, and another 275 were injured. Hong Kong officials have previously blamed the death toll on lack of manpower, and earlier this year a court fined several subcontractors over the issue.
– Emerging from a mountainside 4,600 feet above sea level, two giant hands appear to hold a thin gold thread. Only it's not a thread at all, but a nearly 500-foot-long bridge. Cau Vang or the Golden Bridge, which recently opened in Vietnam's Ba Na Hills after about a year of construction, is the latest architectural feat to make waves around the world. As Reuters reports, it's "as if the mountain itself has sprouted limbs" of weathered stone, dotted with what appears to be green moss. They were designed to mimic the "hands of Gods, pulling a strip of gold out of the land," says Vu Viet Anh of TA Landscape Architecture in Ho Chi Minh City, which designed the new pedestrian bridge in Thien Thai Garden. Per the BBC, a second, connecting bridge of silver, to resemble a god's strand of hair, is also in the works. The stone-colored hands made of steel mesh and fiberglass appear to hold the golden pedestrian bridge, whose supports are painted green to blend in with the treetops. "It creates a walkway in the sky, among the foggy and fairy-like lands of Ba Na mountain," says Anh, who was nonetheless surprised by the international response. Per Reuters and My Modern Met, the bridge lined with purple flowers has already hosted "scores of tourists" and a bridal fashion show since opening in June. Many more visitors are expected, as the Ba Na Hills area drew more than 2.7 million visitors last year. The attraction, which offers majestic views of Da Nang, is apparently worth the trip. "It makes me feel like humans can do anything," one tourist tells Reuters. The Guardian has photos of other unusual pedestrian walkways. (Another modern marvel: the largest cruise ship to ever set sail.)