A pit stop on our way to Hoi An, Danang had some great things to offer for history buffs and lovers or art.
First up we visited a museum housing artefacts and sculptures of the Cham people, the same whose temples we visited in Nha Trang. It’s a bit of an unusual museum as it’s semi open air with big windows, and lots of natural light, which I really loved for photographing. There is not much detail on individual sculptures in the museum, so a tour guide (like our amazing Viet guide Loi) is very helpful.
Next stop were the Marble Mountains, 5 marble and limestone hills. We climbed the many (and crooked) stairs up Thuy Son to visit the Chùa Tam Thai pagoda. The flat mountain was apparently used as a helicopter landing site by the Americans during the Vietnam War. Probably more interestingly there is a cave inside the mountain the the Viet Cong converted to a hospital during the war. This huge cavern now houses a very large buddha, and since more recently some statues and areas for worship. The canopy of branches hides the cave very well from above, letting light trickle inside in beams which makes for challenging, but interesting photography (on a very high ISO).
