Da Nang's Dragon Bridge

After a short flight from Nha Trang to Da Nang, further up the coast, we took a (relatively) short drive south again, to Hoi An. Since Ken and I were here 8 years ago, Da Nang and its surrounding area has grown immensely. Da Nang is now the third largest city in the country, with two new bridges, and a staggering number of resorts under development on the East Sea coast both north and south of the city proper.

Hoi An's riverfront

Hoi An itself is much smaller, with a population between 100-150,000. According to one restaurant owner we were talking to, the city received about 2.3 million tourists last year. The old city of Hoi An is a UNESCO world heritage site. Before the late 18th century, Hoi An was a major trading port. Vietnamese ceramics shipped from Hoi An have been found in archaeological sites in other parts of Asia, as well as ports in Europe. Lage numbers of Japanese, Chinese, and Dutch traders settled in the city; many of the Japanese and Chinese community stayed permanently.

Hoi An's full moon celebration - everyone who is anyone is there!

Hoi An’s days as a major trading port ended by the late 18th century, partially due to a change in international relations (rulers’ isolationist policies), and partially for a very practical reason: the river silted up and the city was no longer accessible to sea-going vessels. The building of a modern deep-sea harbour at Da Nang sealed Hoi An’s decrease in status. Like Da Lat, Hoi An wan’t bombed at any point during Viet Nam’s conflicted history, so the old buildings, homes, and assembly halls in the old city have remained intact.

Model of Vietnamese trading vessel

Today, many of the old houses and businesses have been restored, and contain museums, restaurants, and hotels. The architecture in the town centre is a mixture of traditional Vietnamese and Chinese, as well as French colonial. Though busy, the old section is peaceful - for certain hours of the day, no motorised traffic is allowed, and cars are not allowed at all. In spite of this, both Ken and I came the closest to being hit by motor bikes as we ever have! Part of the problem is that since Hoi An is so quiet and peaceful, tourists feel comfortable renting motorbikes. However, they don’t know how to drive properly here, so all the crossing the street rules go right out the window!

Tiled floor of restored house, now the Museum of Trade Ceramics

Apart from the history of the old section, the other major tourist attraction in Hoi An is the innumerable cloth shops (tailors and dressmakers). At least every second storefront is filled with examples of the latest fashions, whipped up by that particular tailor. Custom-made clothes are inexpensive and can be ready in a few hours. Almost everyone in the group had at least one garment made - we all used the same tailor, and kept running into each other in her shop. Common conversation: “I saw your shirts - they look nice!” “Really? I haven’t seen them yet -but I saw your jacket!”

Delicious, delicious chocolate tart

Most of our time in Hoi An was spent visiting the various historic buildings, eating at a delicious French-style bakery, going back to our cloth shop for fittings, and standing in the hotel pool. Our first full day in Hoi An was cooler than usual - only 34 C (with humidity). The other days were much closer to normals of 39 C; you don’t really have energy to do much more than stand in the pool.

One morning, we made a trip into Da Nang to visit the Marble Mountains and the Cham Museum. The Marble Mountains can be seen from all over the Da Nang area; the area is absolutely flat, with 5 short (as mountains go), but craggy peaks rising out of the sand. Da Nang is surrounded by a mountain belt, but I’ve not been able to locate any specific information on the formation of the Marble Mountains. The 5 peaks, each named for an element (wood, wind, fire, water, metal), are composed of limestone and marble. The surrounding area is composed, not surprisingly, of marble carving shops. The mountains are no longer quarried (eventually, they’d disappear), so the marble sold is imported from other parts of the country.

The largest mountain, Thuy Son (Water Mountain), is the only one open to the public. You can walk up steep and uneven steps to a pagoda partway up, OR - you can take an elevator (new since our last trip). Once there, you can climb more steep and uneven stairs to natural caves, many of which contain large altars and statues, carved out of the marble itself. During the American War, Da Nang was one of the largest military bases in the country; nearby China Beach is famous as an r and r site for American troops. 

The Viet Cong hid in the Marble Mountains, practically under the noses of the Americans. Again, the juxtaposition of religious site and war zone is obvious. Bullet holes are still present in some walls; in the caves, some of the inscriptions carved into the walls are related to the caves’ religious use, while others are carved by VC soldiers. The largest cave, containing a huge carved Buddha statue, was used by the VC as a field hospital. The cave has a number of skylights, allowing enough natural light for the altar to be used as an operating table.

View of the large cave

More (again, steep and uneven) steps lead to the top of the mountain and a spectacular view of the ocean and city of Da Nang, including the area which was the US airstrip. The staircase is new in the past few years; previously, you could reach the top by going through a cave and climbing through a narrow crawlspace. When we crawled through 8 years ago, Ken barely fitting through the space with his daypack, we did so with a group of Vietnamese people who were planning to picnic at the top. They enthusiastically passed food through the narrow spaces, and then skipped nimbly through themselves, the women in high-heeled flip flops.

View from the top of Thuy Son - another of the mountains can be seen in the distance

Detail on an altar

The Cham Museum displays artifacts from the Champa Kingdom. This regime, heavily influenced by Hinduism and later Buddhism,  controlled the central-south portion of present-day Viet Nam from about 200-1600 C.E. They built huge brick temples, some of which still survive and are in use as Buddhist worship spaces. My Son, near Da Nang, was a major site - unfortunately, the American Air Force used the site as target practise during the American War, so many of the surviving structures were damaged or destroyed. The quality of carving in the statues and temples themselves is astounding - archaeologists believe that the buildings were built with dried bricks, mortared with a kind of plant resin, then fired in situ. The carving was done after the firing process. The museum displays well-preserved artifacts collected from My Son and other nearby sites. As far as I know, the Cham remains are limited to temple-related artifacts, and some pottery. No domestic or residential sites have been excavated at this point.

Elephant god, Ganesh

Remainder of peacock statue

Cow statue from a Cham site

What's left of a temple statue

Someone we met at the Cham Museum

A rare empty street (almost) in the old section of Hoi An

Currently, we’re en route to Hue, our next stop. We’re on a local bus, which has had to make a number of stops in Hoi An and Da Nang to pick up other passengers. The AC doesn’t work well; the speedometer, oil pressure, and temperature gauges don’t seem to work at all. And we’ve encountered road construction, just after leaving a rest stop which wins the prize for the worst bathroom in Viet Nam.  3 hours on the road so far! I may have to burn the shirt I’m wearing, but I suspect it is too sweaty to catch fire.