Part 71: Marble mountain....
The emergence of Da Nang as a major happening place was clearly evident so far; it really has the feel of a new up and coming destination. For me it offers way more than just a bus change over point, or fly through to the more popular backpackers destination Hoi An, and I'm glad we decided on spending a few days here to see it first hand.
Other than just sightseeing, we were busy eating our way around the city, tasting all the regional dishes Leon's wife from the hostel recommended to us - so far all were delicious.
Even if at one place we tried a particular dish that needed a bit of thought to put together consisting of sticky glutinous rice, freshly cut vegetables, thin steamed rice paper, pork belly, shrimp and several different sauces all laid out in separate dishes with salad.
This all had to be constructed in a specific way, and well basically me and Jack didn't have a clue what we were doing, so the chef was kind enough to show us. Albeit after a few puzzled looks and laughs at our expense; he Intricately rolled it to combine all the flavours, which made such a difference to the taste. We also ordered a dish called Banh cuon (translated to rolled cake).
This was minced pork in a steamed rice batter with yet more sauces and vegetables.
I think we probably went a little over the top because there was so much food left on the table after. But with drinks included, it only cost us both less than 200,000 don (less than £5) between us.
The next place of interest we would visit was the regions most famous land mark; 'marble mountain'
Approximately 14Km from Danang on the way to Hoi An. It's a cluster of five mountains that are actually marble; named after the five elements of earth, water, metal, fire and wood. The mountains have active temples, pagodas, caves, Buddhist statues and a sweeping 360 panoramic view's from the lookout point - I was very much looking forward to seeing them.
So once more we opted for the white knuckle motorbike taxi ride there, and the same two drivers showed up to take us in the opposite direction on the coastline through the congested city, then a neighbouring village towards the mountain.
Carvings and sculptures made from the famous white marble lined the dusty road all the way through the small village.
We were told to be careful as this area was plagued by touts, that have garnered an unfavourable reputation among visitors. And sure enough, soon as our motor bikes stopped, dozens of over enthusiastic vendors did their absolute best, with their sales pitches to sell us 5ft brilliant gleaming white statues of Buddha, that again shone so brightly we could barely look at them.
To be fair the local people around the marble mountains are famed for their delicate carving, and there were plenty of bargains to be made at the numerous shops. Although where exactly we were supposed to put these huge ornaments didn't seem to occur to them at all, but try they did - non stop!
We continued walking, with the intrusive vendors constantly in close pursuit, till we reached a steep set of steps leading upwards, heading up as quickly as possible just to get away from them.
It was a scorching hot day with the sun bearing down on us so we took our time, realising to late that we could have taken an air conditioned lift up instead, saving us the tiring walk up.
When we eventually reached the top, drenched in sweat, there were peaceful gardens and another captivating view of the shorelines and city from a different angle. The whole area was filled with caves and more marble statues depicting mystical creatures and images of Buddha.
Each of the separate mountains had further cave entrances and numerous tunnels with the sounds of bells and chimes set against the rugged terrain with the sea serving as a background. Its so easy to see why this area is Da Nang's major visiting site.
Thuy Mountain was the biggest of the five formations and apparently home to the oldest pagoda here, rich in so much history and dating back to the 17th century, I was frantically taking blog notes to keep a track of all the sites as the place had so many monuments and places of interest.
Equally impressive was the 5-tier tower that has two marble dragons sitting at both sides.
We continued walking down a winding maze like path leading us through the caves and one in particular reminded me of a scene from an Indiana Jones film which housed a beautiful Buddha carved from the rocks, that sat under a natural shaft of sunlight gleaming through two holes in the ceiling - it was fantastic with my imagination running wild as it always does at ancient sites like this.
Once inside, thankfully the temperature dropped a bit giving us some much needed relief from the humid afternoon.
After absorbing all the views it was time to head back down through the still insistent pushy vendors, before escaping on the back of the waiting motor bikes to the hostel.
I was wondering how the peninsula and giant lady Buddha we visited the previous day could be topped but this place was even more impressive.
The few days we spent in Da Nang were great, and everything from the food through to the hostel and scenery was a thoroughly memorable experience.
I was sad to leave, but we were now ready to move on to the next leg of our destination, which would be the coastal city of Nha Trang.
There were several ways to reach there, and we were half tempted for the train, but instead decided to continue our adventure south by road, so another long 11 hour trip beckoned.
We waited with bated breath to see what kind of bus awaited us; but sadly for me and Jack, it wasn't good news. The vision of this old cramped sleeper bus pulling up filled us both with dread!
All around were gleaming brand new busses but typically ours just had to be the worse one - oh well.
We slowly made our way on board at the very least hoping we had good seats; and nope!! That wasn't much better either, with even less leg room than the the Hue bus from hell - and to make matters worse, we were sat right at the back on the floor in front of the smelly toilet cubicle. Meaning as well as being thrown about more, and being squashed, we had to contend with the pungent toilet smell too!! Oh the rigours of a budget backpacker.
The very second the bus pulled away leaving Da Nang behind, the driver beeped his ridiculously loud horn, giving us a brief taste of things to come, here we go again.
Next stop, Nha Trang......