Woolly says – It hadn’t taken us long to reach Da Nang and as our taxi from the airport drove us through the streets it seemed an awful lot quieter than we had expected. Da Nang is on the coast of the South China Sea at the mouth of the Han River and is one of Vietnam’s most important port cities. I think we had all imagined it to be a seaside town similar to Aberystwyth but without the Victorian buildings, it was very modern with absolutely nothing to look at and more importantly very few places to eat. Our first two outings for food had resulted in us asking for the food we wanted, pointing at pictures, shaking our heads a lot to the question of beef and then keeping paws crossed we got something. It seemed to work and given the lack of English the meals we had eaten had both been wonderful if not quite what we had ordered.
Not eating meat seems to be a culture shock for the Vietnamese and they seriously struggled to understand that we just wanted vegetables, the tasty offerings were great and very healthy.
Woolly says – We had spent a day resting and catching up with booking the onward travel plans, having consulted the travel guides and organised some transport with our lovely host I rose early and was ready in plenty of time to head off to the mountains. The drive back through the city showed us lots more modern living and plot after plot under construction, roads being built and karaoke bars galore, I do like a karaoke session, but Jo says she not sure that other’s like my enjoyment of it! The Marble Mountains is a cluster of five marble and limestone hills located in Ngũ Hành Sơn District, south of Da Nang city each mountain is named after one of the five elements: Kim (metal), Thuy (water), Moc (wood), Hoa (fire) and Tho (earth). During the Vietnam war the caves that are hidden there were used as a hospital for the Vietcong, which given its location to the American air facility at the time was literally hiding the patients right under the noses of the enemy. As we arrived it was difficult to get a picture of the range itself with so many shops and stone sculptures blocking the view, having paid for our tickets we set off to climb the 156 steps.
Just as I think I’m getting fitter I realise that I’m not, by the half way mark we were struggling to breathe and my small friend was struggling to climb the steep steps that although beautiful in their marble colourings were slippy to tred on.
Woolly says – Just as I thought my lungs would burst we staggered into the first of the sights to view, Tam Thai pagoda was built in 1825 and was a lovely and tranquil place to gasp for air, it also gave a viewing point across the city which I left Jo and Zoe to climb on there own as my little legs were refusing to move. Having got my second wind and been rejoined by the women we set off up the next set of stairs which lead us into the fist of the caves. Huyen Khong Buddhist grotto had a lovely carved entrance way before we reached an alter for one of Buddha’s followers, I stood admiring the statue before turning to leave, when I noticed a whole in the wall that people seemed to be climbing through, I headed towards it and found some steps leading into the larger part of the grotto. A large Buddha sat on an enclave in the wall and the huge cavernous space was filled with several shrines and lots of people as well as some very colourful demons standing on guard. Light came in from the openings in the roof, it was lovely and if there had been no one there it would be the perfect place to worship. Having tired of the pushing and shoving for photographs we climbed back out into the sunshine and headed towards Linh Nham Cave, the climb up was more like rock climbing and being the size I am I had to admit defeat and allow Jo to carry me.
Several people were attempting to go up in flip flops and as one lady slid several boulders down I was grateful for the tread on my boots.
Woolly says – Inside was small with a large red Buddha taking up a lot of the space, just behind him was another opening and as we scrambled over the loose rocks I had to question the health and safety element of the place! We popped up into a very high cave which had writing on the walls in places, one scribe had dated his work as 19.8.1970 which would have been during the war years, possibly a patient of the hospital, sadly not being able to read the script I hadn’t a clue to the message he had left, hopefully he had recovered and returned to his family safely. Have slid most of the way out of the cave we climbed further up the mountain to the Sea Tower, aptly named as it had a smashing view over the sea. Faded in colour it had plenty of character and some lovely knotted rope designs on it’s decor.
By this point our knees and thighs were screaming in pain and we had just started the descent when we spotted a sign for heavens gate, the mammoth shot off and started to climb yet another steep set of steps.
Woolly says – We stopped several times to breath and give our legs a break, at the rate we were going we would be on Heaven’s doorstep let alone the top of the mountain! The view across the sea showed more buildings under construction but did give us a closer view of the tips of the other four peaks, with no where to stand and the need to cling onto one railing we quickly took our pictures and headed back down the tricky pathway slipping and sliding all the way. I felt as though I had done a full workout by the time we reached the bottom and collapsed into the back of the car, hopefully the next days adventure might be on slightly flatter terrain!
