Danang and the Marble Mountain, Vietnam

[Forrest Walker]

This will be a short post because we briefly passed through Danang on our way to Hoi An. Hoi An will be a very long post, because we spent 4 days there enjoying a marvelous little tourist trap.

We were driven from Hue to Hoi An over some mountainous roads,but mostly along the beaches. Danang  just happens to be along the way.

We made a couple of stops before Danang. This was a view of a major oyster farm. Cultured pearls are sold everywhere in Vietnam. They of course come in various qualities. The rounder they are the better, and the black ones which come from deeper waters are the most expensive. I managed to pony up for a nice string of black pearls for Mary Ann. She deserves them, and I would not be here without her so it seemed fair.

 

This is the beach where the first elements of Marines landed in Vietnam.

 

We visited a Cham sculpture museum. The Cham people occupied the central area of Vietnam in ancient times. These are just a few of the 300 or so sculptures and statues on display.

My wife loves this elephant god which we have found in many countries.

 

I always enjoy a funky monkey.

Danang sits on the shores of what the US soldiers called China Beach. This beach goes on for miles. There are a few new hotels on the beach and more coming. Across the highway from the beach is the Danang  U.S.  Air Force base, which was the largest US airbase during the war. It sits empty behind a 10 foot wall. Too bad, it prime property for a big development, and I am sure it will be some day.

 

Then we arrived at Marble  Mountain. It rises above the south end of Danang and overlooks the city and the airfield. Amazingly there is a huge cave inside this  mountain which for many years served as a hospital for the Viet Cong.

 

Inside the cave, hospital, which is now a Buddhist shrine. The rays of light come from two bomb holes made after the USA finally found out about the hospital and bombed it.

Bomb holes in the roof.

 

The mountain contains pure marble of various colors.

This is a photo of marble quarried from the mountain.

We visited a store that sold beautiful marble carvings and statues. They were not expensive for what they were, but we could never have gotten one home! Of course they offered to ship it to us, yeah right.

From here went onto Hoi An.