MAR. 10th -- DA NANG, VIETNAM

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!

♫♩Da Nang me, Da Nang me...why don't they get a rope and hang me...♫♩

                                       (quote by Robin Williams from the movie Good Morning Vietnam)





Sorry, but I had to do it.

We are in Da Nang, Vietnam and our excursion is "Da Nang and Marble Beach" and it leaves at 8:30 AM.
Our first stop is the Cham Museum.  There are all kinds of sculptures made out of sandstone here, from different periods of their history.  We are getting a lot of Vietnam history for our tour guide.

Cham Museum

Interesting sculptures

Peek-a-boo!!!

Our next stop is the Han Market.  This is an outdoor market where the locals shop twice a day!! ... not once or twice a week like us.  Everything is bought and then made & eaten.
So have a look.

I don't know what this is but the front ones had tomato sauce on them....Pizza?

I have no words.

This was not my favourite thing to do but Barry was fascinated.  He was up and down the aisles and checking out the meat and fish.
Across the street from the market was a "photo op" for pictures of the "Dragon Bridge".  So, bear with me.  For some reason it fascinated me and a had to get the GREAT picture.

It's bright yellow, spans the river & has a head like a dragon.

Dragon Bridge...way in the background

Here is the head of the Dragon.....anyway.

Now we go to Marble Mountain and see all the marble sculptures.  Not sure why we're here...I think they were just trying to sell us stuff.

These look tiny but are all 3, 4 & 5 ft. high

Next we are on our way to Marble Beach.  This was called China Beach during the Vietnam War and American & Australian soldiers and marines used to go here for their R&R.  Our tour guide told us that the name was changed to Marble Beach because the South Vietnamese hate the Chinese so much they will not have anything with the name "China" in it.  The South Vietnamese refer to the South China Sea as the "East Sea".
So we went there and saw all the fishing boats.  What he wanted to show us were the "basket boats".  These boats are used to bring the fish from the big fishing boats to shore.

Basket Boat -- the round ones

They're made of bamboo

Here's a guy coming in, in a "basket boat"

Our final stop is to see the Lady Buddha of Da Nang.  She was beautiful and the grounds and other statuary were spectacular.  This was the best part of the tour.

Here she is...she is holding a bottle of holy water.

The grounds were beautiful

The pagoda...there is a Buddhist temple inside.

We headed back to the ship from here.  We got back about 1:00 PM and went to the Compass Rose fo lunch.

Tonight at 6:00 PM is the "Block Party"... at the sound of the ship's gong, you take a glass from your room, step out into the corridor and meet your new neighbours.  It's fun.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HIRSCHMANN'S YOU MIGHT BE ASKING????
Well, they went on a 9-hour tour and left at 6:00 AM this morning.
They should be back on board by 3:30....as the boat leaves at 4:00 PM!!!
We will hook up with them somewhere tonight.