June 22, 2013

Central Vietnam trip – Hue and Danang

We checked out from the hotel after breakfast and made a quick stop to visit the large Dong Ba market, before visiting the Tomb of Tu Duc.

The variety of stalls at the Dong Ba market.  Clockwise from top left: conical hat stall, food stall, goldsmith (first time I see goldsmith in a market), stall selling various strings and ropes

Traders of Dong Ba market

Clockwise from top left: White rose apple (first time seeing it), Vietnamese version of cincaluk I guess, some buns, dumplings



Not far from the Tomb of Tu Duc is the incense making village, and we couldn’t resist stopping for some photos of these colourful incense sticks.





We took the Hai Van Pass, a scenic 21km long mountain pass, back to Danang.  Hai Van Pass is the highest pass in Vietnam at 500m above sea level.  Hai Van means “Ocean Clouds”, since the peak of the mountain is in the clouds while its foot is close to the sea.

Train heading to Danang on the Hai Van Pass

Hairpin bends on the Hai Van Pass

 
A fortified gateway on the top of the Hai Van Pass – looks like the entrance to an old citadel.




Back in Danang, we headed to the Linh Ung Pagoda.  Built on the cliffs of Son Thuy Mountain, the temple commands a stunning view of the sea.  The temple has a fine array of white marble statues dominated by a 67-m tall statue of Kuan Yin.





Traditional fishing boats by the beach

We then checked into the hotel for our last night in Central Vietnam, and as it was a gloomy and cold day, instead of going to the pool, we spent some time at the beach.

Girls imitating the pose of the marble statue



Traditional Vietnamese basket boat

After breakfast the next morning, we hit the pool and beach again before bidding Danang farewell.


 Me with mum, and me with girls

Girls with their 小姨姨

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