This morning we were picked up shortly after breakfast by our two new "easy riders". Once the bikes were loaded with all our bags we headed down to the main road and North towards Da Nang and our first stop - Marble Mountain. A mountain just outside Da Nang town which used to be a quarry but has been converted into a holy mountain with temples of various sizes.
Being Sunday morning the place was already busy when we got there at 9 AM. Then we spent the next hour walking up and down stairs looking at the temples, Buddhas, caves and the pretty nature. We climbed "the highest peak" and got a good look at how Da Nang is growing towards Marble Mountain filling up the land around the mountain with houses and buildings.
Back at our drivers the next stop was the main beach in Da Nang where the US troops during the war had their R&R located. Today it looked like any beach we've come across in Vietnam - busy and commercial. We left after a few minutes, continued up the beach and turned off towards Ba Na Hills - our next stop.
The parking lot was super busy when we got there at 11 AM - clearly a popular Sunday spot. Not having researched too much we basically knew that there was some kind of tacky resort up the mountains at the end of a very long cable car. We paid the entrance fee - an astonishing 600.000 Dong per person - and queued for the cable car for a short while. Then we boarded the cable car and spent the next 10 minutes going up on the 5000 metre long cable car. One of the longest in the world.
We bought tickets for the funicular going to the "love garden" and walked around the area for some time looking at flower beds and Asians doing selfies realising that we were the only Westerners there. Another cable car took us to the top of Ba Na Hills and what a scenery. A made up version of a small French village, complete with "castle", "church" and small houses and shops - all looking like they came directly from France. All bundled with games and a few amusement rides. We tried the roller coaster before walking around the area where there was still a lot of construction going on. Then we boarded the even longer cable car to go down to meet with our friends again and continue our drive towards Prao village - our stop for the night.
First though was the stop for the lunch since it was 2 PM and our drivers looked hungry - like us. As usual we stopped at a local restaurant in the middle of nowhere and the local version of noodle soup -Pho.
Just around the corner was a waterfall where we could have a swim, so we went there and cooled down for a while, the afternoon heat being really intense today. Then we went a bit further, stopped a couple of times along the way, doing a short walk in a minority village and at a place where they were drying cinnamon, before finally making it to Prao village just before sunset. We rested a short time in our room, had a much needed shower and then had a big dinner at the homestay with our drivers - including some local rice wine. They seem to love it all over Vietnam. We decided to do a short walk around town to see if there was anything going on. Nothing. Back to the homestay and rest some more to get ready for our drive tomorrow. A long day but so good.
Being Sunday morning the place was already busy when we got there at 9 AM. Then we spent the next hour walking up and down stairs looking at the temples, Buddhas, caves and the pretty nature. We climbed "the highest peak" and got a good look at how Da Nang is growing towards Marble Mountain filling up the land around the mountain with houses and buildings.
Back at our drivers the next stop was the main beach in Da Nang where the US troops during the war had their R&R located. Today it looked like any beach we've come across in Vietnam - busy and commercial. We left after a few minutes, continued up the beach and turned off towards Ba Na Hills - our next stop.
The parking lot was super busy when we got there at 11 AM - clearly a popular Sunday spot. Not having researched too much we basically knew that there was some kind of tacky resort up the mountains at the end of a very long cable car. We paid the entrance fee - an astonishing 600.000 Dong per person - and queued for the cable car for a short while. Then we boarded the cable car and spent the next 10 minutes going up on the 5000 metre long cable car. One of the longest in the world.
We bought tickets for the funicular going to the "love garden" and walked around the area for some time looking at flower beds and Asians doing selfies realising that we were the only Westerners there. Another cable car took us to the top of Ba Na Hills and what a scenery. A made up version of a small French village, complete with "castle", "church" and small houses and shops - all looking like they came directly from France. All bundled with games and a few amusement rides. We tried the roller coaster before walking around the area where there was still a lot of construction going on. Then we boarded the even longer cable car to go down to meet with our friends again and continue our drive towards Prao village - our stop for the night.
First though was the stop for the lunch since it was 2 PM and our drivers looked hungry - like us. As usual we stopped at a local restaurant in the middle of nowhere and the local version of noodle soup -Pho.
Just around the corner was a waterfall where we could have a swim, so we went there and cooled down for a while, the afternoon heat being really intense today. Then we went a bit further, stopped a couple of times along the way, doing a short walk in a minority village and at a place where they were drying cinnamon, before finally making it to Prao village just before sunset. We rested a short time in our room, had a much needed shower and then had a big dinner at the homestay with our drivers - including some local rice wine. They seem to love it all over Vietnam. We decided to do a short walk around town to see if there was anything going on. Nothing. Back to the homestay and rest some more to get ready for our drive tomorrow. A long day but so good.
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| Morning pick up by our easy riders |
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| Approaching marble mountain |
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| Marble mountain |
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| Cave |
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| Sweaty hiker - so hot in the morning |
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| Why not ! |
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| View from the highest peak |
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| The big cave |
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| Posing for photos at Da Nang beach |
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| Ba Na Hills ahead |
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| Long cable car |
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| Funicular to the flower garden |
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| Arriving in the centre of kitsch |
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| More kitsch |
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| Fake French village with Vietnamese flavour |
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| A Mexican, In France, in Vietnam??? |
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| Bye bye, fake France |
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| Relaxing in the pool at the waterfall |
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| Impressive scenery |
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| Cinnamon |
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| Dinner with our drivers in Prao |
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