Mommy and Daddy have seen this so many times it is somewhat
ho-hum, but the wind made this one a little more exciting. We got off the boat and separated ways. Mommy
went to the ancient city of Hue and Daddy and I went to Da Nang. Daddy and I saw the Cham museum, which houses
archeological artifacts from a dig begun by the French at the turn of the XX
century and continued for a few decades.
The artifacts were most interesting to me because of the similarities I
saw with Mesoamerican artifacts from the Aztecs and Mayan cultures. The facial features of the sculptures were
also varied and included full lips and noses, as well thinner features more
easily associated with Asian heritage.
Cham? Aztec? Inca?
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| Facial Features |
We re-boarded the bus to go to the Da Nang market, and were
dropped off at an ocean front plaza where there were impressive marble
sculptures. Daddy, still smarting from a
remark by the Colleton River architectural review board, threatened to buy the
below and put him at the entrance to 14 Inverness drive. I am partial to the standing warrior behind
him. Either one though, will get their
attention.
From there we went to the Da Nang Market, a space crammed with
goods of all sorts side by side. The
butcher was within yelling distance of the open air hair salon, which was right
behind the lady selling… um, well, I don’t really know WHAT she was selling,
but she WAS selling it! The upstairs
space had dry goods (clothes, shoes, bags, household goods) and when we walked
through we must have hit the Da Nang version of siesta as many vendors were
simple asleep in, on, over, under or around their stalls.
We walked from the market to a store where we saw the
Vietnamese silk embroidery, which is at times lovely and at times reminiscent of
Elvis on velvet. We didn’t buy anything. I DID however, love the roof tiles, which I
have not seen up close anywhere else.
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| Roof Tiles in Da Nang |
We then got back on the bus and drove two minutes to Marble
Mountain – which was really a street with lots of shops where there were marble
sculptors, selling marble sculptures.
This could have been ho hum,
but noooooo, I think I hear a click when we got off the bus and Daddy started
to walk around. Marble Mountain is
adjacent to Marble Beach, which meant nothing to me until the guide said “you
might know this place as China Beach.
When the Marines landed here in the mid 60’s they found pieces of
pottery and called it China Beach.
Vietnamese have always called it Marble Beach.
Marble sculptures, and above, sculptors
The guys doing the hard work were impressive to watch. Notice
the fisherman peeking over the top above, more on him later. The girls doing the selling were equally
impressive.
Because I am dense as dirt, and not a good shill, I did not
catch on. Daddy saw the fisherman, and asked
me if thought he would be good for the fish pond in front of 14 Inverness. I almost did a happy dance, which would have
made it even MORE difficult to bargain.
Note to self – learn to better bargain.
 |
| Fisherman |
Luckily Daddy put on his best “I drive a hard bargain little lady” face and finally got the piece. Of course, there was more…
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| Measuring the catch |
So there are an additional two white marble fish to flank
the spa, as well as jade and marble bowls that are mine all mine I tell you, as
long as mommy does not appropriate them when they get through customs. It’s all really good looking stuff and it is
going to be fun to see how the Colleton River Architectural Review Board
reacts. Film at 11.
 |
| Sealing the deal |
We took so long with the marble transactions that our tour
bus left us. Happily, though, they
representative from the cruise had arranged for us to get a ride from the
marble store people, and we then met them at a resort on what we know as China
Beach. Of course, we could have been
delivered anywhere, but then they would have had to deal with my whining, and
we KNOW they would have thrown (at least me) back happily.
The beach is amazing.
It could have been South Beach, it could have been Palmas, it could have
been any gorgeous, tropical, sunny, uncrowded, turquoise blue water beach. I would have loved to spend more time there,
but we moved on quickly to return to the ship.
+Beach.JPG)
Marble Beach 
Marble Beach
We then went on the bus back to the ship. Past a fishing village that is overseen by
the tallest female Buddha in Vietnam.
The small fishing
vessels are the cutest thing! They are
about 10 feet across, 3 foot deep baskets that are water proofed and hold one or
two people and they nest. In some places
they are everywhere, drive a few more miles and they are now where to be
found. This image is of a guy, sitting
in his basket/boat, fixing his net.
There is a Hyatt, a Crowne Plaza, and some 5 star Chinese resort a mile
away. The juxtaposition is impressive.
 |
| Female Buddha and the boats |
Driving back to the ship we see all sorts of thing to
include whole families on mopeds. The
youngest sandwiched between protective parents, no one wearing a helmet; many
traveling too fast for me to capture digitally.
 |
Hanging On
|
As we arrived back at the ship in Chan May we saw
immigration packing it in. Still no sure
WHAT they were supposed to do cause they never looked at our landing cards or
any other thing. All the same they
looked official, until they just rolled themselves off the dock. I guess we can all be glad they are mobile,
so they can immigrate you anywhere you need immigrating. If nothing else, the sunset was wonderful. While we were in Da Nang mommy went to
Hue. Those pics are subject of another
post. We now move on to Thailand
Immigration has left the dock
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