After our Road Scholar trip ended, Mike and I started Part Three of our Asian Adventure, this time just the two of us, traveling through Central Vietnam with a guide and driver, arranged by Ann Tours.
We flew from Hanoi to DaNang, where our guide Ahn met us. Although the buses were comfortable, and air conditioned, it still felt rather luxurious to have a Mercedes all to ourselves.
The Cham Museum contains sculptures from My Son, a religious sanctuary dating back to the 4th century. When an area was conquered, the invaders cut off the heads and hands of the religious statues to decrease their power.
But more interesting to me was this frieze, showing the art of massage dated back more than 1600 years in Central Vietnam.
We made a quick stop at DaNang’s beach, better known by the American soldiers as China Beach because of all the porcelain found buried in the sand. Here’s one of the few “G” rated photos from that stop.
Last stop before HoiAn was in the Marble Mountains. We climbed well over 100 steps that were carved into the mountain, all with different sized steps (steep, steeper, steepest).
As we climbed higher, the view got better.
But the most awe inspiring experience was when we entered the huge cave.
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Our hotel was fantastic–my very favorite of the entire trip.
Check out the shower. You can see the plants hanging on the back wall if you look in the mirror. And yes, there were flowers scattered at the bases of the shower and the toilet.
Our tour company booked us here for three nights. Great choice!
Destination NOW 