It is a pleasant enough city without many attractions. It has a new dragon bridge that spits fire on the weekend nights (we didn't get to witness). It has the preeminent Cham museum (we opted to only go to the archaeological site). Its pink cathedral (See photo way below) might as well be the biggest tourist draw of all Vietnam. Then we noticed a lot of tourists are Koreans, many businesses have signs in Korean. I looked it up. There are direct flights from four different cities in Korea. This is not unlike Americans flocking to Cancun to enjoy the warm weather, tasty cuisine, and cheap price tags.
From Danang, we took a shared transfer to visit the Cham archeological site of My Son, since we couldn't find a local bus. Since most of the independent tourists are based in Hoi An, we were first taken to Hoi An. The van took the beach road. It's now continuous resort development all the way to Hoi An, and it all happened in the last 20 years.
We were fascinated with My Son, learning about the Chams. The Chams were an Hindunized people, originally from Borneo. They used Sanskrit to encode their Malay language. The religion and architecture are all Hindu. They reminded me of the Nabataeans that built Petra. Seeing how modern day Vietnamese people look distinctly different from their Malay neighbors, I surmise that the Chams were settlers, but not colonists. They co-existed alongside local people in the south of modern day Vietnam, with occasional skirmishes, until they were driven out by Vietnamese after a millenium. How oblivious we had been about this history!
Our Danang-bound train pulls into Hue Station.
Our coach and Sun-Ling.
Countryside.
Hugging the coast at sea level, and then up 200 meters.
A very short video taken through the train window on the way from Hue to Danang. A link is here.
Back to beach level, and soon we arrive in Danang, just in time to have a vegan lunch. The steamed-in-bamboo-leaves sticky rice "things" with dofu gan (dry tofu) inside were new to us and an instant fav.
View from Mitisa Hotel Pool - You can sort of see the yellow Dragon Bridge in the center of the frame.
Crossing the Dragon Bridge on our way to Hoi An. And cruising down the beach road.
Hoi An gets loads of tourists. US Army jeep tour anyone?
Tending the Rice Paddies
Just a few photos from My Son to show the Hindu Temple ruins, some like 2nd below are unexcavated.
This lingam, a phallic-shaped symbol of Shiva, is a Vietnamese National Monument.
Nandi the Bull.
Inner Sanctum (1st below). A modest version of ones we've seen in India (2nd below - in Trichy).
The site is well-signed, not only with info on the architure and functions of the Hindu temples, but of the 100 years of archaeological digs at the site.
Reliefs of Shiva.
Image of a lion with an elephant's head
There was a well attended, free, song and dance performance inside the site.
We were back in Danang in time for a tasty vegan late lunch.
Architecture in the streets of Danang. First below is the pink Cathedral SL mentioned above.
Dragon Bridge at Night
We have a beer and a cold water near the hotel swimming pool and enjoy the night view. So far, the beers I've tried in Vietnam are, well, terrible.
Finally, I think this is a mobile gas station. Agree?
1 comment:
Great views! The dragon bridge looks cool.
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