DANANG

Danang is Viet Nam’s 4th largest city and is the place where the first US Marines landed for the American War. There is not much there to see. It serves mostly as a transit stop for people going to and from Hue and Hoi An which are two towns that are very close. Even so, there were a couple of things in Danang that were worth mentioning. 1) The Lady Budda was built on a hillside near the main town area. We don’t really know the full story but it goes something like a woman was enlightened back in the day. She became a god and eventually was worshipped, even to this day she is. She is supposedly the guardian of all sea goers in some way shape or form. The statue of her kind of reminds me of the Statue of Liberty only on a smaller scale and built in white marble instead of green whatever. A very elegant structure. As we visited we noted that they are spending loads of money to refurbish the entire area and make it a big tourist destination eventually. They were building houses and churches and I believe even a monastery where monks will eventually live once it is done. It was quite obvious that in maybe a year or two years time this place would be a very special place. 2) The other place in Danang that was cool was Marble Mountain. This is the most unassuming mountain I have ever seen. At first glance it just looks like a couple of peaks with a few statues scattered about it. What we found out was that there was much more than meets the eye. After purchasing a ticket and gaining access to a map we soon realized that the entire mountain is a series of caves. Each peak on the mountain contained a huge cavern filled with Buddhas and other types of shrines that extended all the way up to the top of the mountain. Some of them had openings at the top. The best part is that if you stood in the right place you could see the entire spectrum of light emanating from up above, brilliantly! So cool! To my surprise, we ended up spending half the day here just relaxing on the mountain side, soaking it all in.

The other fun part of Danang was a very special tour of a textile factory thanks to Katie’s parents. We were given a VIP tour of one of the factory’s that Katie’s father worked at few years ago. Lucky for us some of the people her father knew were still working here and they graciously gave us an all out tour. Very educational, indeed. Let me just say that I will never look at a pair of pants the same way ever again now that I know exactly how a pair goes from nothing at all but a stained fabric to a complex system of cuts, angles, and zippers all intertwined and pieced together to form a tightly knitted clothing item. There is a station for every part of the pants or shirt or whatever is being made. Such a massive undertaking just to produce one single clothing item. Very neat to learn about. Thanks Bill and Margie. Much appreciated.