After a week in Hanoi, we took an evening flight with Vietnam Airways to Da Nang. We arrived on a Saturday night in time to see the fire show at the Dragon Bridge (Cau Rong) over the Han River. At exactly 9 pm, the Dragon’s head shoots fireballs (ten times), followed by water sprays at intervals of a few minutes. Depending on the wind direction, the audience can get drenched, adding excitement to the event!

An irritating and continuous allergic cough through that night made us weigh the options of cancelling our trip. But a timely intervention by my doctor and an efficient pharmacy it got cured as quickly as it started. But it meant the cancellation of our trip to the ‘must see’ Sun world at Bana Hills. Our plan included the cableways, the iconic Golden Bridge and the French Village – A full days tour from Da Nang. Instead we set out later in the day to Hoi An, an hours drive away where we spent the next days for an interesting sartorial experience.( read about it in my post Tailors of Hoi An).

On our return from Hoi An we explored the rest of Da Nang. We gave the Marble Hills a miss as it was more limestone caves, images and pagodas and went straight to My Khe Beach located within the city itself. The waters are calm and safe for swimming. Walk the beach in pleasant weather or bask in the sun or just laze on the beach and stop by for some delectable seafood cuisine at one of the many nearby restaurants. If you are planning a longer stay in Da Nang choose one of the many resorts on the beach.

Our next stop was the Son Tra Peninsula a small hill range jutting into the sea and acting as a natural barrier for the beach. Atop these hills, called the Monkey Hills is the Linh Ung Pagoda complex, (Linh Ung – means prayers come true) is one of three such pagodas around Da Nang. Legend has it that a statute of Buddha was found washed on the sands of a peninsula and the fishermen built a shrine. Since then, it is said that the sea has been calm and protecting the people of the city. The construction of the pagoda complex is very recent ( Circa 2010) and has now become a prominent tourist and spiritual spot of the city. The most important feature of this complex is the tallest ever statue of Lady Buddha and the main pagoda. The Pagoda, statues and other features in the complex are very well maintained. Unless you take a guide or spend time reading the detailed description at the entrance ( see photo below) you will not understand the import of the many statues and structures and it will best remain in your memory as a nice tourist spot with great views of the sea and the beach.

On our way back to the hotel from Linh Ung pagoda we drove through the Son Tra Peninsula for the last evening in Danang. On our travels I always keep a look out for some odd poster or notice and I found this in Para 8 alongside in the Hotel regulations, Sadly, could not verify if this an All Vietnam regulation. Do such regulations exist anywhere else the world? Even in conservative India it is not spelt out so clearly ! Can any of my readers help.?

Vietnam has been known for its pottery over the ages and produces some fine quality products. So we set out to visit An Nhien’s home in downtown Da Nang. Known for its pottery. The home is a showcase of some fine pottery items but nothing caught our fancy. We were looking for what I called “ceramics”. The highly knowledgeable lady educated me on the finer nuances of pottery, ceramics and earthenware and directed us to the Minh Long Store, the largest ceramic manufacturers in Vietnam. The show room was a veritable delight and had products from the humble to the very expensive gold enriched. The predominant colour was blue and was informed that the designs on the ceramic ware vary by region each having a significance of its own. We picked up a fancy tea set and walked across to the nearby coffee shop and watched the peak hour traffic go by in a well regulated and disciplined manner. Malati disagreed with this and showed me pictures of scooters driving on the sidewalk.

This ended our trip to Da Nang. While we did take in a lot a notable miss was the Sun world at Bana Hills. We skipped the Marble hills and the Imperial capital of the Nguyen Dynasty at Hue and we were ready to get back home to Hyderabad after a two week long stay in North and Central Vietnam. I wonder where we will go next ? On the shortlist are Baku, Bali , Santorini or Istanbul !