When I really stop and think about it, I don’t feel like my week has been full of anything super new and interesting. Then I look through my photo album and have to admit, well, there was maybe a thing or two worth mentioning after all.

Wardrobe update

Hoi An is fairly famous for its tailors. But I’m 30 km further up the coast in Da Nang. I’ve had several recommendations to wait until Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) if I want some competitive prices. I’ve decided to get a shirt made while I’m here, though. It’s the first time I’ve been to a tailor, so just having to think in detail about how my clothes look was a pretty exciting experience. I ended up ordering a fairly basic cotton/linen shirt in beige, which I can use for a nice evening out and temple visits.
Oh yeah, and I also got a haircut. So now I can actually pass for a decent human being for a while.

The daily walk

I found the tailor on one of my daily walks. In general I experience Da Nang in small pieces. Most days I get up, point at a spot on my phone, and walk there. I try not to walk the same routes too many times.

It’s not really swimming season in Da Nang right now. The water is churned up with high waves and a strong current, so I mostly walk. My daily walks have taken me down to the resort part of the coast, into the busy city center, and to small out-of-the-way but extremely cozy cafés and shops. One of the days I visited a museum about the Cham people, a historical people from central Vietnam. The museum put a lot of emphasis on the Cham people’s stone sculptures, which — given their age — are pretty impressive. The museum visit inspired me to plan a visit to one of the more famous excavation sites, My Son Sanctuary, next week.

Weekend in Vietnam

A walk on the weekend is different from a walk on a weekday. Just like in Denmark, many people have a Monday-to-Friday work week, so when the weekend hits, there are more Vietnamese people out and about, especially young people and families. It makes sense to keep an eye on where they gather. It’s often a good indicator of something interesting.
For example, I’ve noticed a couple of times that on weekends there are small cafés that attract a lot of Vietnamese men. 20-30 birdcages with a selection of small, colorful birds create a fairly intense symphony of birdsong. The men just sit leaned back with a coffee and a cigarette. They talk only very little. They just sit and listen to the birds.

Resort escapades

One of the days I decided to walk down along the coastal route and see what I could find. The answer was resorts. Big, cut-off, fenced-in areas where a small number of holidaymakers frolic, away from the rabble. There wasn’t much to see from the outside, so I wanted to turn around and walk back along the beach. In my naivety I thought it would be easy to get down to the beach. The problem is just that there are no beach roads. The resorts have built walls and have security guards. So you lie your way through and find the fastest way down to the beach before they can check whether you’re actually staying in the room number you gave (or whether that room even exists). The first security guard got room number 203 and let me carry on down the 300 m long paved path. The second security guard came toward me with a walkie-talkie in hand. I smiled politely, but didn’t slow down. After all, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I passed him without being stopped. Down on the beach there were maybe 10 people. Some were getting ready to have their holiday or wedding photos taken. I carefully slipped past them. The only thing I wanted was just to walk 4-5 km back along the coast.

Marble and caves

I’m also experiencing a bit of the local culture and history. At Linh Ung Pagoda I was very taken with the marble sculptures. It turns out there’s a local industry around the Marble Mountains south of Da Nang. A sizeable craft tradition has grown up around these hills, where marble used to be quarried. Today the hills are protected, and marble is imported from other provinces, but the craftsmen are still here. If I ever need to decorate my garden or build a cathedral, I now know where to go. A small knee-high Buddha sculpture, though, runs to around 20,000 kroner + shipping, which apparently also comes close to 20,000 kroner to get it home to Denmark in more or less one piece.

The Marble Mountains hold large caves that have had religious significance, been used by the Vietcong, and are a tourist attraction. There are two cave systems, ‘hell’ at the foot and ‘heaven’ at the top. ‘Hell’ was a bit like an amusement park, with sculptures depicting the torments of hell. It saddens me to report that we’ve probably all got a trip through hell coming, since naughty children and liars each have their designated spots. ‘Heaven’ is a beautiful cave, where sunlight shines in through holes in the ceiling, so it looks like waterfalls are running down into the cave. That, of course, requires being there on a sunny day. The cave is still beautiful without sunshine, though.

Coming week

I still have Golden Bridge, Ba Na Hills, My Son Sanctuary, and Hoi An left to see. I’m trying to prioritize My Son or Ba Na Hills, but the weather forecast is making it hard to choose. It’ll probably end with me just setting off, packing rain gear, and then it can just piss down.

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