13 Da Nang, Vietnam

This was a wet and dreary day with a light rain falling throughout the day. So the big camera stayed tucked away and dry and I used the iPhone for photos. I think they came out quite well. The main thing lacking was the ability to do a good zoom if needed. Our first stop was to a marble statue factory/showroom. I saw several things that caught my eye but the prices were well beyond my reach. We then made a stop at the Linh Ung Pagoda before proceeding proceeded to the Marble Mountains. The five peaks correspond to the five basic elements of feng shui. During the Cham period, this marble ridge was a Hindu sanctuary. Later, Vietnamese Buddhists built pagodas on its slopes dedicated to Buddha or Confucius. Nowadays, Buddhist shrines occupy several mountain caves which were bombed during the war. Our next stop was the Cham Museum. This ethnographic facility opened in 1939, under the umbrella of the French Ecole Française d’Extrême Orient. Its collection of original sculpture works is displayed in four sections, according to each piece’s origin. The museum is situated right beside the Han River and the famous Dragon Bridge. Supposed to be quite the sight at night. Finally a quick photo stop at My Khe Beach, also known as China Beach—once a wartime recreational hangout for American GIs.