February 25, 2019 - Da Nang, Vietnam - Monday, Day 50

This is a port that we visited in 2016. Alice injured her left tibia on tour on the first day here. As a result she stayed onboard for the second day. I did a tour that day with our her.

Today we dd a repeat or the tour that I did. Our first stop was at the beach where we could photograph the round boats that are used by local fisherman. These bamboo boats are very sturdy and the fishermen row them out to sea every evening. They can earn the equivalent of $25 a day from their catch. They work hard, but live very comfortably.

Next we drove to the Lady Buddha. She overlooks the sea with a pagoda nearby. The large  grounds around her are dotted with flowers and bonsai trees.

Next door is a very large pagoda that was just finished this year. When I visited this sight in 2016 the pagoda was still under construction.

Now we headed to the Cham Museum. This marvelous museum is home to objects excavated locally that date back to the 15th century. They are remarkably intact. The many galleries that house them are well lit and marked. It seemed to be even brighter inside than my last visit. Alice really enjoyed this.

After a short drive we arrived at The Marble Mountains. These spires of marble rising from the plains west of Saigon were home to Viet Kong during the Vietnam War. Most of the people we met here were not even alive during the war. To them it is known as the American War. They hold no ill feelings toward us even though it was devastating to them.

We took the elevator up to a level in the middle of the mountain. Here we could visit some temples and view the ornamentation along the stairway up to them. We also entered some of the many caves in the mountain.

I made sure that Alice got to see the many intricate carvings along the way up. I had shunned the elevator and taken the stairs in 2016. This enabled me to realize how much this current tour was omitting. Time was a factor along with the mobility issues os some of the participants. 

When the guide explained that the last and tallest cave we entered was the one used by the Viet Song as a hospital, I knew she was wrong. That cave was actually many stairs higher. She did not have time to take us up there. It would have been too hard for most of the passengers. Alice and I would have handled it in fine shape.

As we waited to take the elevator down, we met Jennifer and her mother, Barbara. They were with us on the World Cruise last year. While Barbara waited at a coffee house, Jennifer climbed up to the cave that was the actual hospital. She acknowledged that it was difficult. I could tell that it was no easier than what I had experienced by how wet with sweat she was. Barbara was happy to have let Jennifer experience this on her own. Alice and I were happy to have recognized our limitations. These have not been too limiting, but here they offered us an opportunity to enjoy what we could without risking future enjoyment.

Back on the bus we motored to, would you believe it, a marble factory. Marble mining is no longe permitted in the five mountains here, but marble is brought down from interior locations farther north in Vietnam. This is the same factory I had visited without Alice. She got to see the vast areas of sculpted marble as well as the lot out back where raw marble was stored. Unfortunately the marble carvers were out to lunch.

We used the restrooms. They were very clean and they were free. This required a walk through the retail salesroom. The clerk assigned to us followed us through the lake space and accepted our frequent rejections of things she thought we should buy. Clearly the restrooms and the sales room were the primary reasons for stopping here. 

On the way back to the ship we stopped at the beach that became famous in the US TV series China Beach. This beautiful beach was one of the premier R&R beaches for our troops during the war. It offers comfortable swimming and a beautiful view with fine sand under foot.

We returned to Maasdam in comfort without spending anything.

Dragon Bridge - Da Nang

It was very nice for us to visit here again, especially since Alice was able to participate in and enjoy the experience as well. In the three years since my last visit much has changed. The city has become more crowded, but the people remain very friendly. Tourism dollars do wonders for acceptance.