Marble Mountain, Da Nang

The white sands of Hoi An's An Banh beach continue for 30km up the coast to Da Nang, Vietnam's third biggest city. We caught the local bus to a hotel 4km out of the city center and spent two nights there.

During our time in Da Nang we had a constant battle with the number 1 bus. First we paid 20,000VND each ($1/£0.60) to travel all the way from Hoi An to our hotel (approximately 25km). The next day the same bus tried to charge us 35,000VND each to travel 3km to Marble Mountain (more than the cost of a private taxi), but after some arguing, accepted just 5,000 per pax. The following evening the same bus tried charging us 35,000VND to travel 5km into Da Nang city center. It seems different bus drivers have a different idea of how much the 'tourist tax' should be!

The highlight of our trip to Da Nang was Marble Mountain (Ngũ Hành Sơn), half way between Hoi An and Da Nang. From the road it looks like a giant rock rising out of the ground, adorned with an ugly elevator that is quite at odds with the ornate 6 level pagoda over looking the coastline. As the name suggests, the mountain, along with a scattering of others in the area, is made of marble, and the streets surrounding its base are lined with sculptors carving out huge statues Buddha and Ho Chi Min, the two Gods worshiped in Vietnam. 

Pagoda, Marble Mountain.

After paying the entrance fee of 15,000VND ($0.75/£0.45) we climbed the stone steps up the mountain and were amazed to discover an enchanting maze of caves, grottos and hidden temples. At first glance I would never have guessed that Marble Mountain contained so many hidden wonders. Narrow staircases carved into the rock lead us around tight corners, through hidden passageways to reveal vast caves decorated with beautiful carvings of Buddha. Each cave was different, one lead us up a vertical tunnel onto the top of the mountain for a 365 degrees view of the area, with Da Nang to the North and Hoi An to the South. The final cave was as big as a cathedral, with a huge Buddha statue lit from above with natural light filtering in through a gap in the top of a cave. It was impressive, a great spot to pass a morning exploring.

View West from Marble Mountain.

View North, towards Da Nang.

Spot Ric? Buddha carved into the rock at Marble Mountain.

During our time in Hoi An and Da Nang we've been constantly followed by groups of young boys banging drums and dancing around in dragon costumes. Our hotel receptionist tells us it's part of a festival that lasts for two weeks, terminating on the first full moon in September. The children dressed as dragons are said to bring good luck to the homes, hotels and restaurants that they enter, as long as the proprietor offers them a generous donation. Over the past two weeks the drum banging has escalated from small groups of children making a racket to full on parades displaying some impressive gymnastics. Below is a video taken from a display outside our hotel in Da Nang.

Hoi An

We took a most uncomfortable night bus from Nha Trang to Hoi An (12 hours). The seats on the bus were clearly made to fit tiny Vietnamese people and not six feet tall Mancunians.

Hoi An is an ancient coastal town and UNESCO World Heritage Site. The streets running parallel to the Thu Bon River are lined with 200 year old, wooden-fronted, merchants' houses from the days when Hoi An was a world renown trading port. The low-rise, fading yellow houses are at their most beautiful at night, twinkling with colourful, paper lanterns.

The heat was pretty much unbearable during the day and we only emerged from our air-conditioned sanctuary each day at about 4pm, to drink iced coffee and watch the sun set over the river.

Although super touristy - countless silk and souvenir shops - the town has maintained its charm and we were happy to spend three days walking through the quaint streets and drinking cheap beers on the many restaurant balconies that line the palm fringed river front.

We discovered some amazing food in Hoi An that made us upgrade our rating of Vietnamese from ok to very good. Down a small alley we found a family-run restaurant called Ba Le Well, serving a set meal of Nem nướng: pork kebabs, satay pork skewers, prawn spring rolls, salad, kim chi, rice and bamboo shoot pancakes, all wrapped up in rice paper and dipped into homemade satay and chili sauce. Dessert was chocolate mousse and fresh fruit. It's the best thing we've even here, we ate there two out of three nights! 

Hoi An street food by the river.

We took an organised tour out to My Son, an overgrown temple complex built by the Cham people who settled in Vietnam from India in the fourth century. The site contains temples and tombs of Cham kings. The temples of My Son are all that remain of a vast ancient empire that was razed to the ground by the American bombs during the war.

Tomb at My Son

We went with 'My Son Tours' and were probably the only people in the group that could understand our guide's heavily accented English; the German, Spanish and Korean tourists looked at him bewildered before wandering off to explore on their own.

My Son temple ruins.

To top off a lovely stay in Hoi An we cycled around one of the near-by river islands and then out to An Banh beach, the most idyllic beach I've ever seen. The ocean was crystal clear and the sand squeaky and white. Best of all, we had it almost to ourselves.

How To Get To...

My Son: For $7.50/£4.60  we decided it was cheap enough and easy enough to take an organised tour. The price included: water, guide, hotel pick up (bus), boat trip back to Hoi An, lunch. 

We Stayed At...

Hoi Pho Hotel: Leaky air conditioning, cockroaches and an overbearing, bossy owner - not worth the $13 we paid!