The weather is warm, but the sky is overcast. I decide to walk to the beach and was not disappointed. The waves were crashing in. I had dinner on the beach. I think because the beach is more touristy, there are lots of restaurants that serve food other than Vietnamese (BBQ, pizza, Indian food, etc.)
The 2nd day was much nicer, so after some time spent on travel planning, I headed for the beach again. Beautiful!
On the 3rd day, I booked a tour to see the Lady Buddha, Marble Mountain and the Am Phu Caves. It was a small group, and our guide was a hoot!
Lady Buddha is the Goddess of Mercy who is believed to see, hear and sympathize with the cries of the world’s people. She is 67 meters tall and houses 17 floors and 27 Buddha statues for worship. Since she was built in 2004, no typhoons have hit Da Nang (evidently they used to hit every year), so locals believe that she is responsible for keeping them safe. The area is filled with gardens, lots of bonsai trees, amazing views of Da Nang and mischievous monkeys. The views are stunning!
From there we sent to the Marble Mountains. There is a beautiful myth surrounding the Marble Mountains: according to this myth, when a dragon came out of the ocean at Non Nuoc beach it laid an egg. This egg hatched after a thousand days and nights, and a girl came out of it. The fragments of the shell were left behind, and these were what became the hills of the five mountains.
We went to the Am Phu Cave (Hell Cave) in one of the Marble Mountain. Am Phu cave is Da Nang’s longest natural cave (300 meters). Its entrance is at the foot of Hon Thuy Son (the Water mountain) – the largest of the Marble mountains. It is famous for its extensive chambers and its historic role in the Vietnam war. In addition, this marvel connects with Buddhist culture about life after death, and karma. Locals explain that it’s dark, mysterious and scary, so call it the hell cave.
From hell, we went to heaven. The peak of the mountain. The climb to the top is quite steep. It was a tough walk to get up, a total of 200 uneven steps, pretty much straight up the mountain. I was pretty impressed with my ability to keep up with the rest of the group who were much older than me. I was huffing and puffing…but I made it in good time.
I finished the day having dinner in Da Nang, at the Brewhaha brewery with a couple from Vancouver, BC that I met on the Ha Long cruise. It was fun to catch up.