Yesterday we traveled by car from Hoi An to Hue via the Marble Mountains and the Cham Museum. From Hoi An, we drove through Danang and along the coast passing many ocean resorts with new ones under construction. Tourism is big business for both Danang and Hoi An. As any of my generation will recall, Danang was the site of a U.S. military base and also the scene of intense American and North Vietnamese bombing during the Vietnam War. Much of Hue was destroyed although the hotel we are staying in escaped damage. It was built by the French in 1930 and is stately and elegant. About 10 years ago, two additional wings were added. Today the U.S. base in Danang is a Vietnamese army facility.
Our road trip today involved more stops with the local people selling their goods and we encountered bunches of tour buses. But you have to admire individuals who are motivated to try to make a buck. That said, we decided that buying a large marble statue and arranging to ship it home was not the best idea. The marble carving shop’s array included everything from tiny animal figurines to larger than life size smiling Buddhas (generally in yellow gold marble), tigers, zebras, swans and the like. Colors were peach, melon, gray and pure white.
In Danang itself, we admired the yellow dragon bridge and made a brief stop at the Cham Museum to view the sandstone sculptures of gods and goddesses made many centuries ago. The Cham people ruled this area of central Vietnam from the 7th century into the 19th century until they were taken over by the Vietnamese.
We then went on to the Marble Mountains which are also in Danang and a popular tourist site. We explored the Huyen Khong cave which consists of a series of altars, grottos, and sculptures depicting heaven and hell and the judges who decide where you will spend the afterlife. Animal heads like this cat line the walkway leading to the entrance.
The cave opened up on several levels with stone steps of varying depths and only spotty lighting here and there on the altars and shrines. It was very dim!
After snaking our way over and around the mountain, we had lunch at a large casual restaurant on the ocean and enjoyed the view. After dodging an earlier attempt to induce us to buy, we surrendered and purchased two packs of postcards. Good salesman that the young man was he tried to persuade us to buy the other variety packs as well.
The remainder of the drive was less scenic, some scruffy rice paddies here and there, and we happily arrived at our hotel in Hue around 2 pm. We spent the rest of the day unwinding and sampling dinner in the hotel restaurant. Today we will explore Hue, an important royal city located on the Perfume River. It is where the Nguyen family ruled under French protection from 1802 to 1945.
