2019 Christmas in Vietnam Day 4

27 December 2019: Marble Mountains & Bana Hill

The Marble Mountains are a cluster of five hills made from limestone and marble in Da Nang.  The caves within the mountains hold many secrets including bullet holes from when troops used to spy on the US soldiers relaxing on My Khe Beach below and buildings standing within the caves and grottoes. There are also Buddhist sanctuaries and places of worship dotted across the mountains which are a much-visited spiritual site.

       

 

Sun World’s Ba Na Hills resort is located nearly 1,500 meters above sea level. We supposed to visit this place on the second day but it was rescheduled to the only rainy day we had throughout entire trip. What a luck we had.

The Ba Na Hills Cable Car network is not only the world’s longest cable car. It is also the only way to visit the now-famous Golden Bridge.

The Golden Bridge is a 500-foot long arced pedestrian bridge that appears to be held up over the world far below by two giant stone hands. It makes for stunning photos, especially on a clear day but we came on a foggy day.

We headed for our buffet lunch before we explored French Village. It was definitely our best meal in Vietnam. The spread was impressive, with over 90+ dishes to choose from. The food was tasty.

Among all, I love the vermecilli most. The texture was smooth and fine. The stuffed pancakes which is similar to Chee Cheong Fun was nice too, except being a little oily.

Ba Na Hills was originally built by French colonists in 1919 as a leisure destination for French tourists, but today it has visitors from all around the globe. This explains why more than half of its stations have seemingly random French references. It also explains why the streets are filled with various European buskers and street food stalls.

  

There is a massive indoor amusement park, dubbed Fantasy Park, which features not only rides, but arcade games, 3D cinemas, a climbing wall, and a wax museum. All rides are inclusive in the entrance fee.

    

In line with the whole theme of Ba Na Hills being extremely excessive, the Le Jardin d’Amour Flower Garden consists of 12 small gardens, each expressing a different emotion and with a different layout. 

There is also a maze garden which is quite fun. Make sure you do not get lost and find your way out. To get to this maze, enter through the “Secret Garden” located near the flower garden.

 

 

2019 Christmas in Vietnam Day 3

26 December 2019 Hue & Danang

I always love to eat vietnamese sandwich (Bánh mì bì), a type of crispy baguette stuffed with shredded pork in Vietnamese dressing. Tour guide recommended this portable sandwich stall just opposite of our hotel. I took away one piece and brought it back to our hotel restaurant, because I still wanted to enjoy the hotel buffet breakfast.

 

Our breakfast was not done yet. We walked to Santo Cafe, also recommended by our tour guide to grab our first Egg Coffee and Coconut Coffee. 

An egg coffee (Vietnamese: Cà phê trứng) is a Vietnamese drink traditionally prepared with egg yolks, sugar, condensed milk and robusta coffee. Adding the egg helps clarify the coffee, allowing the grounds to separate from the water easily. The egg white extracts the bitterness from the grounds, as well as enhancing the caffeine. I found it too creamy and sweet, something like custard.

Vietnamese Coconut Coffee is an interesting drink that has the intensity and aroma of coffee and the subtle richness of coconut milk. This strong and velvety coffee is definitely a must-try. I found it a little bit jelak after taking a few more sips.

      

After breakfast, we were told by our tour leader that one of our senior tour members fell in the bathroom in early morning. Her family members, together with tour guide, sent her to the hospital. The rest of us headed to the harbour where our tour guide joined us for the dragon boat ride. We took the boat ride to visit Thien Mu Pagoda. Built on a small hill overlooking the Song Huong (Perfume River), 4km southwest of the Citadel, this seven-storey pagoda is an icon of Vietnam and as potent a symbol of Hue as the Citadel.

Beyond the pagoda tower is a gateway, on the upper floor of which sits an effigy of the Celestial Lady (Thien Mu) that the pagoda is named after. Above the central portal is a board with the Chinese characters 靈姥寺 (literally 'Divine Old Woman Temple'), in honour of the presiding deity of this plot of land.

The Imperial City of Hue was once an enormous complex full of all the executive and bureaucracy you would expect from a country’s capital. It was enclosed within a square fortress (also known as the Hue Citadel), with each of the four walls about 2 kilometres long and a wide moat on the outside.

The Hue Citadel site was chosen by experts in ‘geomancy’ a spiritual science that looks for good omens in the natural landscapes. It was decided that the Perfume River and the mountains here would protect the city, because they looked like snakes and lions.

All through this huge city were temples, palaces, offices, gardens, and residences. The most important bit was in the middle. It was called the Purple Forbidden City and it was where the emperor and his closest confidants lived and worked. Once, it would have been inaccessible to most people. Now, of course, we can all walk through it and see what remains.  

It was my second time being here actually. Few years back I visited this palace as a performer for Hue Festival. We ride on rickshaw from the citadel to a meeting point where our bus was parked. There we were given an hour free time to shop in market.

Along the way to Danang, we stopped at a beautiful lake called Lang Co. We only had limited 30 minutes. Most of the members chose to shop, but I decided to walk along the lakeside as I was very impressed by its remarkable view.

It was late evening when we reached Linh Ung Pagoda. We were first welcomed by a beautiful sunset at the coastal stripe of Danang, with magnificient city view. Visiting the pagoda is quite a treat for everyone, as we passed through the main gate of the pagoda, we stumbled upon 18 stone statues of the 18 Arhats which are believed to be the original followers of the Buddha. Linh Ung Pagoda is also famous for the huge statue of Lady Buddha. The statue stands in a perfect position that visitors can see it from every corner of Danang. It is the highest statue in Vietnam, measuring 67 meters in height and 35 meters in diameter at its base.

 

Our day ended with an optional Da Nang river cruise. Our tour guide claimed that it must no be missed. The cruise brought us to explore along the Han River in the city centre, where we got to look at many gorgeous bridges. I found the night view not that fantastic, but the complimentary coconut jelly was awesome.