Visiting the Marble Mountains is a must for anyone coming to Da Nang for the first time. Most tours I have found online combine Marble Mountain with My Son or Hoi An. Besides the Marble Mountains, I also wanted to visit Hai Van Pass, where we would see the Peninsular. However, very few tours combine these two sights in one day. I managed to find one tour operator, Explore My Vietnam, that combines these two sights in one day at a reasonable price.

Marble Mountains – Water Mountain of The Five Elemental Mountains

We met our guide at the main entrance of our resort, who brought us to the Marble Mountains, about a 15-minute drive from our resort. Having passed the Marble Mountains several times over the last few days, we are finally visiting this iconic sight of Da Nang. The Marble Mountains is a group of five marble and limestone hills, each representing an element of Water, Fire, Earth, Wood and Metal. Standing 105m tall, the Water Mountain is the biggest and the most beautiful. We started our Water Mountain from the eastern side of the hill, where an elevator system sits, saving us the climb of 150 steps. We exited the elevator at the top, followed the well-paved pathway and arrived at our first stop – Xa Loi Tower. Xa Loi Tower is a seven-storey stone pagoda visible from the base of the hill. The pagoda has a small surface area, and despite having 200 stone statues in the pagoda, we only saw one statue of Buddha installed in it. There was little to see at the Xa Loi Tower.

Linh Ung Pagoda

Following the pathway, we came to a crossroads and took the pathway to Linh Ung Pagoda. Rather than an actual towering pagoda, Linh Ung Pagoda is a huge compound with a temple building and a pavilion beside it. The main temple building has distinct Chinese architecture and is covered in white topped with green roofs. Despite its plain colour scheme, the carvings on Linh Ung Pagoda were intricate. There were three buddha stations installed Inside the temple. In front of the temple is a large open deck, where we found a huge marble Buddha statue sitting at the side of the deck. The view of the My Khe Beach area was amazing from this deck, where visitors could get a great photo shot of the beach area. The Pavilion beside the main temple houses a large statue of the Goddess of Mercy (or Lady Buddha, as the locals termed it). We left Linh Ung Pagoda after praying to the Buddha statues here.

Tang Chon Cave

Tracing back from where we came from, we saw a sign that pointed to Tang Chon Cave. The cave is situated on top of a series of staircases. Tang Chon Cave is one of the smaller caves at the top of the Water Mountain. The path that we followed led us to the cave entrance that seems to have collapsed over the years. There is one flight of stairs inside the cave that leads us to the innermost part of the cave. This staircase creates a bottleneck where everyone congregates, with people going up and coming out from the inner cave. Despite not being a large cave, we spent most of our time here waiting for our turn to use the staircase. There are two Buddha statues inside the cave: a statue of a Buddha, sitting cross-legged with his eye closed in a meditation stance placed in one corner of the cave, and another statue of a standing Buddha at the other corner.

Heaven Gate

As Tang Chon Cave sits at the dead end, we traced our steps back to Ling Ung Pagoda and took the other path from the crossroad. Along the way, we saw another large cave that seemed to be packed with visitors. Thinking that we would pass by this cave again on our way back, we continued our walk on the path with a sign that said “Heaven Gate”. Thinking that this sign would lead us to the highest peak on Water Mountain, we followed the path this sign pointed to. The initial climb to the Heaven Gate was easy as it was well-paved with stairs that seemed to go on forever. Suddenly, we were met with a rugged natural staircase that seemed to suggest work on the staircase had stopped. Climbing up this set of rugged natural stairways was a tad more challenging. We had to negotiate with people coming down from the top while trying to find balance on whatever flat surface we could step on. Some of the steps were waist height tall, which would be torturous for people with knee issues. Fortunately, these rugged steps were only a short flight. Soon, we find ourselves on the top of the steps. We were treated to more unobstructed views of the sea and parts of the nearby peaks that form the Marble Mountains. The area at the top was rather small, and we had to balance finding whatever flat surface could accommodate our feet while negotiating with the crowd gathering at this small viewing spot. As people were coming up, we made our way down after taking some pictures. Back from where we came from, we took a short rest at a large resting area in the middle of the Water Mountain before continuing our walk to the last cave.

Huyen Khong Cave

After our short rest, we followed the pathway to our next stop, Huyen Khong Cave, the largest cave in the Water Mountain. The entrance to Huyen Khong Cave is decorated with a well-carved stone archway., which led us to the cave entrance after a short walk. Huyen Khong Cave looked different from the other caves we have seen. Apart from its significantly large size, the flooring in Huyen Khong Cave was decked in deliberately polished marble, creating a flat surface. Sitting high on the cave walls was a Buddha statue in a meditation posture, blessing visitors who made it to this cave. Due to its sheer size, Huyen Khong Cave felt rather empty, with a couple of smaller shrines on both sides of the Buddha. The natural hole on the cave roof lets in rays of sunlight, giving it a mystical vibe. Despite its large size, there is not much going on inside this cave. Looking at the time, we realised we had spent almost 2 hours on Water Mountain. As we were a little behind time, we followed our guide’s instructions and made it to the staircase that marked Gate 1 to meet our guide at the base of the hill.

Tham Thai Pagoda and our way down

Gate No. 1 was a short walk from Huyen Khong Cave. Along the way, we passed by Tham Thai Pagoda. This so-called pagoda is a smaller temple building similar to the Linh Ung Pagoda. Unlike Linh Ung Pagoda, Tham Thai Pagoda is more colourful, decked in light blue, orange and green roofs. As this is a smaller temple, we did not enter the temple and made our way towards Gate No.1 at the base of the stairs. The way down was much easier as the 150-step staircase was well maintained. It took us 10 minutes to walk down the stairs, where we met up with our guide and continued our tour to Hai Van Pass.

The Breathtaking Hai Van Pass

Hai Van Pass is a mountainous road that rose to almost 500m up the mountains between Da Nang and Hue City. However, this mountainous road was less used after the construction of the Hai Van tunnel, which cut the journey by more than 1 hour. Today, Hai Van Pass is mainly used by tourists who want to get scenic views of the bay areas of Central Vietnam. As the road winds up the mountain, our guide stopped at a scenic point where we got a beautiful view of an unspoiled beach and the islands near Da Nang. It felt very tranquil here, with no crowd on the roads, the beach, or ships plying on this part of the bay. From the side we were on, we could see some low clouds brushing the mountain’s peak that we would be driving up. And this is just the beginning of the gorgeous view that awaits us further up the pass.

After a few pictures, we continued to drive up the mountain. As we were being driven up the windy roads, our guide pulled over in front of a cafe. This is our second stop on Hai Van Pass, where we stopped for a coffee break. Rather than calling it a coffee break, our guide wanted to show us the views from this cafe. As he ordered our drinks, our guide encouraged us to walk down the steps onto a rock that jags out into the air for some nice pictures. Taken from a correct angle, it felt that the rock was hanging out into the air. We could see Da Nang City and My Khe Beach sitting across the bay from here. Standing on the rock, looking out into the bay, gave us a sense of liberation.

We continued our drive up Hai Van Pass after a cooling iced Vietnamese coffee. Our next stop on Hai Van Pass was another cafe. Our guide told us this is the highest point of the Hai Van Pass road, and from here on, the road winds down to sea level. At this cafe, we were treated to the views of Lang Co Bay, sitting on the other side of the mountain. The cafe has a private lookout that extends into the air. While we could see the Bay Area and the part of Vietnam stretching to Hanoi in the North, I thought the views here weren’t as great. Due to the vegetation and the shape of the terrain, we can only see part of the bay and the sea. After resting and enjoying another cool drink, we descended Hai Van Pass towards Lang Co Bay.

On our way to the Lang Co Bay area, our guide made a brief stop near the base of the Hai Van Pass when he observed we were taking some pictures in the car. The body of water in front of our eye, protected by a natural sandbar, forms the lagoon of Lang Co. Our guide mentioned that the locals stay by the lagoon and farm oysters in it. From this viewpoint, we caught the picturesque view of the mountains seemingly guarding the lagoon and a bridge that ran across the lagoon. Our guide told us this bridge leads to the Hai Van Pass Tunnel, the route we would take when we return to Da Nang later in the day. After taking our fair share of pictures, our guide drove us to a seafood restaurant by the beach, where we had a sumptuous and fresh seafood lunch.

Thac Do Stream – The Secret Waterfall

After lunch, we drove on a narrow road next to the lagoon, where we could see oyster farms. The coastal road soon turned into forest roads and a single-lane gravel road leading us into a small town. After we had parked the car, our guide led us through a small forest road on foot, and after about 3 minutes of walking, we arrived at Thac Do Stream. At the end of Thac Do Stream sits a small waterfall, the waterfall was so secluded that only locals know of its existence. The natural wall (due to the terrain formation), no taller than 3 storeys high, with streams of water rushing down from the higher terrain. There is a shallow waterhole in front of the wall where we saw some children swimming. I like the tranquillity here as few people are around. Listening to the water flow gushing down the waterfall and the occasional laughter of children playing in the cooling water hole, immediately a sense of relaxation ensued. We left the secret waterfall after taking some pictures.

Our Bonus Stop – Linh Ung Pagoda: Home of the Lady Buddha Statue

Our day trip was supposed to end at 3.30 pm, but we left the waterfall at 4.20 pm. Thinking that we would be driven back to Da Nang (I had requested our guide to drop us off at Da Nang City), our guide suddenly turned to me and told me he would bring us to the Lady Buddha Statue. This was a pleasant surprise, as this stop was not on our itinerary.

Lady Buddha

Standing in front of the 67m marble Lady Buddha Statue, the peaceful and benevolent nature of the Lady Buddha was very well captured on her face. The Lady Buddha looked like she was watching over visitors who came here to pray to her, ensuring we were protected. Our guide told us Da Nang used to be hit by typhoons before the statue was built. Miracles happened after the statue was built, and several times, typhoons died down when they neared the statue. The locals believed the mystical powers of the Lady Buddha protected the city from typhoons. As the Lady Buddha was situated near the coastal line, we found a viewpoint in front of the statue that offered us a stunning view of Da Nang Bay and the city. It is especially beautiful during dusk when the purple sky matches the night lighting around the Linh Ung Pagoda.

Main temple

After offering our prayers to the Lady Buddha, we walked past a stone gate and came to the main temple of Linh Ung Pagoda. 18 stone Arhats, disciples of Buddha were installed in the large main square in front of the Main Temple. Each statue has life-like expressions as though they are protecting visitors who walk past this square from evil. Our guide told us the Smiling Buddha installed in the Main Temple was especially efficacious and encouraged us to rub his tummy for good luck. We would not say no to good luck. The Main Temple is home to the Buddha in the centre of the temple, with the Goddess of Mercy on his right and the Manjushri Bodhisattva on his left. The temple exudes a sense of serenity and calm.

Reclining Buddha and Xa Loi Pagoda

Our last stop in Linh Ung Pagoda was Reclining Buddha, a stone’s throw away from the Main Temple. The 48m long marble Reclining Buddha, though smaller than the Lady Buddha statue, was still impressive. The stone masons capture the peaceful expression of the Buddha as he enters his final resting position after achieving enlightenment. Standing behind the Reclining Buddha is the 9-storey olive-coloured Xa Loi Pagoda. As it was approaching closing time, we only visited the ground floor of the pagoda to pray to yet another Laughing Buddha inside the ground floor of the Pagoda.

Spending the Evening in Da Nang City

Linh Ung Pagoda was our last stop on this private day trip. We got our guide to drop us off at VinPlaza Mall, the largest shopping mall in Da Nang. After spending a day in the scorching Vietnamese sun, we wanted to cool ourselves off and spent the evening in the air-conditioned mall. Despite being the largest shopping mall in the city, I thought the shops were a tad limited. The mall only has 4 levels, with restaurants occupying the top floor. We spent a fair bit of time shopping in the supermarket on level 2. After shopping, we wanted to spend the night watching the Fire and Water show on the Dragon Bridge, one of the few tourist attractions in Da Nang City. We walked to Han River at around 8.15 pm and waited by the bank for the show. As 9 pm came by, there was no show on the bridge. Upon checking with our resort hostess, we were informed the show was cancelled due to the demise of the Vietnamese Party Chief. Seeing that there was nothing much we could do in Da Nang City, plus we had a long day visiting the sites, we returned to our resort to rest.

I originally left this day empty to relax around the resort and enjoy the beach. However, while planning this trip, I found many web pages recommending visiting Hoi An. People visit Da Nang to visit the ancient port city of Hoi An or the Imperial Palace of Hue. Comparing the two sights, I thought Hoi An had more to see, so we visited Hoi An.

Relaxing Day in the Resort

As our tour only started at 3 pm, we spent the morning relaxing around the resort. Today’s aim was to start our day slightly later, relax in our private swimming pool, and perhaps head to the beach. We borrowed the bicycles the resort made available to guests to ride for breakfast. After a hearty breakfast at the resort restaurant, we found that five of the six borrowed bicycles were missing. We managed to recover three bicycles, leaving some of us having to return to our villa on foot. As we were about to walk to our villa, a resort staff member driving a buggy offered to give us a lift back. They promptly gave us three other bicycles after informing the Kid’s Club staff of our stolen bicycles. We spent the next 45 minutes riding around the resort on our bikes to digest our breakfast.

The waters in our private pool and the sunny weather proved too tempting for us to sit around our villa. We spent some time playing in the pool, enjoying the weather and the warm waters of our pool to cool us off. Dipping in our pool, looking out into the fine white sand and the gentle waves on My Khe Beach in front of our villa, we headed for the beach to have fun. As this part of My Khe Beach is privately owned by the resort, there weren’t many people at the beach. The fine sands of the beach made walking on it very comfortable. The resort provided some beach-related activities we could do, such as beach volleyball, beach soccer and even beach badminton. But before we borrowed the items from the manned counter by the beach, we headed into the sea off My Khe Beach. The warm seawater and the occasionally pounding waves made swimming very comfortable. We were well assured that we would swim safely in the sea as the resort had a lifeguard to watch out for our safety at the beach. We also spent some time playing beach volleyball. After some beach volleyball games, we headed to the resort’s main swimming pool to redeem our welcome drink and relax by the pool. Time seems to pass by quickly as we were relaxing, we headed back to our villa to wash up for our evening trip to Hoi An.

Cam Thanh Village – Home of Palm Forest

We met our guide at the resort’s front gate (this is the one other thing I like about the resort; they took security very seriously and would not let anyone other than guests into the premises of the resort). The plan for today was to ride on the iconic Basket Boat in Cam Thanh Village before heading to the ancient city of Hoi An. It took us about a 30-minute drive from our resort to Cam Thanh Village. The Basket Boats were believed to date back to the French Colonial era when the French levied taxes on fishing boats. The Vietnamese fishermen could not afford these taxes, so they designed circular woven baskets used as boats for fishing. When we arrived at Cam Thanh Village, our guide informed us due to the low tide, we could only board the Basket Boats further into the village. He arranged motorcycles to give us a lift to the inner landing point.

We saw many Basket Boats ferrying tourists rowing on the stream at this landing point. Stepping into the Basket Boat, it felt a little unstable at first. However, the skilful coxswain assured us that they were in control of the boat. Sitting in the Basket Boat, we rowed down a palm forest lined up on both sides of the stream. These palm trees were brought down from the Mekong Delta about 200 years ago. Its ability to protect the coast from erosion and strong waves encouraged the locals to plant more palm trees. The palm tree forest here once sheltered Vietnamese troops from shelling and raids during the Vietnam War. The initial excitement of riding on the Basket Boat quickly dissipated. I guess our coxswain felt we were a little bored and started to do the Basket Boat dance. This dance involves the coxswain skillfully turning the Basket Boat on the spot, using centrifugal forces and balance to keep the boat steady while spinning with us on it simultaneously. The experience was fun and exciting.

We continued our boat ride down the stream, and soon, we were out of the Palm forest and in a fairly open river. We met up with our friends on the other two boats. This is where the ride gets a little touristy. Our boat coxswains paddled all three boats to a bigger basket boat moored in the river with huge Karaoke sound boxes. We were made to listen to them singing popular Chinese songs from Mainland China (they must have thought we were from China), seemingly waiting for us to tip the singer. We thought this was more of a tourist trap and did not bother to tip the singer. After 5 minutes, they seemed to realise we were not tipping (or maybe due to time), and we were paddled back to the landing point. We met our guide and headed for Hoi An.

Spending the Evening in Hoi An

The ancient port town of Hoi An was about a 20-minute drive from Cam Thanh Village. Hoi An dates back to the 16th century, when it was the busiest trade port in Southeast Asia for shipping between China, Japan, and Western nations. Due to the narrow channels, bigger ships would anchor off the coast, and the goods were transported via smaller boats to be disembarked at Hoi An. The town reflects a fusion of local and foreign cultures (mainly Chinese and Japanese with later European influences), as witnessed in the buildings around the town. Our guide informed us that the Japanese Covered Bridge segregates the Chinese and Japanese areas in the town. The buildings in Hoi An are painted mostly in yellow, and most are two storeys tall. Today, most of these buildings have been converted into shops.

Best Coffee in Hoi An – Coconut Coffee of Cong Cafe

We started our evening in Hoi An with a Vietnamese Coffee. Our guide brought us to Cong Cafe, the most famous cafe. Our guide said the cafe was converted from a wealthy family house. There are hints of its former form around in the cafe. Our guide urged us to try the Coconut Milk ice-blended coffee, which he claims to be the best he had drank. True to his words, the coffee was very aromatic, and the taste of coconut was not overpowering. We enjoyed the coffee and the cafe’s atmosphere, occasionally looking out into the busy street of Hoi An from the window seat our guide had picked for us. After our coffee, our tour of Hoi An began.

Japanese Culture Gallery

Having purchased the tickets (which might be the tickets for the lantern release), our guide walked us on the streets of Hoi An towards our next destination in Hoi An. The streets of Hoi An look colourful despite only having one uniform yellow colour painted on the buildings. The lighting and the many red lanterns made Hoi An look very vibrant. The town is bustling with tourists roaming the streets, some just walking past while others were looking at the goods the shops were selling. We were led through a small alley to a plain-looking wooden house, which stood out from the other buildings we had seen in Hoi An. This is the Japanese Culture Gallery, modelled after the traditional Japanese architecture style. The first floor of the house was proportionally higher than the second level. The gallery displayed Japanese artefacts that gave us an idea of how the Japanese lived in Hoi An back in the day. Our guide led us to the second floor, which seemed to be some sleeping quarters of the house owners, with tatami mats in most of the rooms. The balcony, facing the facade of the building, gave us a different perspective of the streets of Hoi An. I thought this gallery was interesting but not a must-visit spot for those visiting Hoi An, but it gave us a break from the crowded street of Hoi An.

One of the icons of Hoi An is the Japanese-covered bridge. This bridge was built based on the Japanese architectural style but with Chinese elements in its decor. In addition to marrying the Japanese and Chinese cultures, the bridge also links the Japanese and Chinese Quarters in Hoi An. The bridge was so significant to the Vietnamese heritage that it was printed on the back of the 20,000 bill of the Vietnamese Dong that our guide showed. It was unfortunate that the bridge was under preservation at the time of our visit, and we were not able to cross it and see it up close.

Lantern Releasing on Hoai River

Since we were near Hoai River, the main river used to transport goods from the bigger trading ships to be unloaded in Vietnam, our guide led us to the next itinerary on the list, Lantern Release on the river. The Vietnamese light lanterns are used for good fortune, wealth, joy, and health, and they are seen in almost every building in Hoi An. The locals also release lanterns on the river to make wishes. There seems to be a long queue at the river bank for releasing lanterns. We saw many boats paddling on the river with tourists releasing lanterns. Fortunately, the queue moved fairly quickly. As we were queuing, our guide taught us how to release the paper lanterns on the river. After embarking on the boat, the boatmen paddled us to the middle of the river and told us to write our wishes onto the lanterns. He leisurely paddled his boat so we could release our lanterns safely while avoiding contact with the nearby boats. After releasing our lanterns, our boatsman took us on a 30-minute boat ride on the Hoai River. I’d say releasing lanterns on the river felt touristy; however, I enjoyed the leisure cruise along the river. We were treated to the night view of Hoi An from the river.

Dinner in Hoi An

After alighting from the boat, we met up with our guide, who asked if we wanted to have dinner or head to the night market first. We opted for dinner as we were a little hungry. We were led to a quieter part of Hoi An, away from the main streets and the river banks where most tourists would loiter, to a restaurant for dinner. The dinner was simple Vietnamese food, which was delicious and homely. The staff at the restaurant introduced us to the food on the set menu, and like clockwork, the food was served very quickly.

Hoi An Night Market

After the hearty dinner, our guide brought us to Hoi An Night Market. This is a small stretch of the street selling souvenirs and foodstuff. There was a crowd at the market when we arrived. Most of the time, we tried to get past people walking along the night market. I thought this market was underwhelming and was no different from those we saw in Bangkok. We spent the next 10 minutes browsing through the stalls in the night market before meeting up with our guide for our return trip to our Villa. We did not like the programme today. The Basket Boat ride, while interesting, felt very touristy. I’m not too fond of the part where we were made to listen to the karaoke singing to get tips. Hoi An felt touristy and crowded with tourists. While the buildings retained their original facade, most were converted to shops and restaurants. The night market was not particularly exciting. Hoi An just felt overcrowded.

I planned to take day trips across the next three days to explore the sights around Da Nang. To explore what Da Nang had to offer, we joined a day trip to Ba Na Hills.

The Marble Workshop – A Short Tourist Shopping Stop

After researching day trips to Ba Na Hills, we decided on the day trip organised by the resort as it seemed to cover more sights. After breakfast, we made our way to the resort’s main gate to meet our guide. We were pleasantly surprised that we were the only ones on today’s day trip, making it a private tour. Our first stop was a nearby marble workshop at the foot of the famous Marble Mountains (which we will visit two days later). I thought this was one of the tourist shopping stops that comes with day trips. We were given a short brief on how the masters turned an unassuming piece of rock into a remarkable marble artwork. After the very short brief, we were led into the shop selling the marble works. As we did not intend to get anything from here, we spent the next 5 mins walking through the shop. The staff at the shop seemed to know that we were not interested in getting anything from them; they were not pushy and merely walked behind us. After a brief 10-minute stop, we left the workshop and headed to Ba Na Hills.

Ba Na Hills – The French Resort Getaway

On our way to Ba Na Hills, our guide narrated that the French built a resort there during their occupation to escape the heat in Da Nang. Before the cable car system was installed, it would have taken eight Vietnamese to transport one Frenchman up the hills through the windy and treacherous mountain roads. The Vietnamese government redeveloped Ba Na Hills in the 1990s and installed a network of five cable car systems. Today, Ba Na Hills houses the world’s longest cable car system, which was completed in 2013 to ferry visitors to the mountaintop. The base station was crowded when we arrived at Ba Na Hills. As we walked to the cable car station, our guide explained that parts of the architecture we saw along the way were modelled after the houses in Hoi An, an ancient port city near Da Nang.

Despite the long queue, our knowledgeable guide seemed to know the way around the long queues, and we boarded the cable with a very short waiting time. The cable car transported us up 1,500m to the top of Ba Na Hills in around 20 minutes. Along the way, we were treated to the beautiful coastal lines of My Khe Beach and the city of Da Nang. At the top, our guide whizzed us through the resort to another cable car system. This 3-minute cable car ride took us to our first stop on Ba Na Hills—the iconic Golden Bridge.

Golden Bridge – the Icon of Da Nang

Exiting the cable car station, the iconic Golden Bridge is immediately in sight after a short flight of stairs. The Golden Bridge is a 150m curved bridge seemingly supported by two giant hands situated at the edge of the mountain. The two giant hands supporting the curved bridge symbolise the hands of the Mountain God supporting the bridge to carry visitors to the Paradise Garden. It is these two giant hands that gave Da Nang its icon. Despite the bridge being completed only in 2018, the architects purposely gave it an ancient look. There was a crowd at the Golden Bridge at the time of our visit. Our guide brought us to the best photo spots on the bridge, helped us take perfect pictures, and even shooed other visitors on the bridge to help us take the perfect shots. As we walked along the bridge, our guide took us to the spot where we were treated to the best views on the bridge – views of Da Nang City and My Khe Beach area. We were lucky that the sky was clear and visibility was excellent. Our guide told us such views were not guaranteed based on his experience at the Golden Bridge. There were times when the clouds were low; visitors would not be able to see such great views. We did not stay at the bridge for too long and headed over to our next destination.

The Gardens of Ba Na Hill

A short walk from the Golden Bridge, our guide took us to the Debay Wine Cellar. As this paid attraction was not part of our tour, we were given the option to spend some time in the cellar. Our guide informed us that the ticket price includes a glass of wine and a spot on the balcony overlooking the flower garden. As we do not drink wine, we gave this spot a pass.

The Le Jardin D’Amour, or the Garden of Love, was our next spot, just next to the wine cellar. The Le Jardin D’Amour is a small garden with vibrantly coloured flowers dotted in a small plot of land. The garden’s centrepiece was a Cinderella-like character with flowers as her dress. Due to the small scale of the garden, coupled with the fact that we were not really into flowers, we only spent mere minutes here and left after taking some pictures. Our guide led us to a garden maze next, sitting at the end of the garden. He then challenged us to break the record of 1 min 20 min set by an Aussie couple. We had some fun walking in the small garden maze, with half the time hastening our steps to see if we could break the record. We thought we had beaten the record at the maze exit when we met our guide. We were told we had spent about 3 mins 15 mins. Not exactly a record-breaking speed.

The Garden of Eden was next to the Le Jardin D’Amour and the garden maze. The Garden of Eden is a small plot of land planted with vibrant and colourful flowers. The main feature in this garden is the huge peacock head sitting at the end of the bed of flowers, with these flowers forming the peacock’s tail feathers. There is a terrace that is crowded with visitors taking pictures of the garden. However, we found the terrace at the opposite end of the peacock head to be a better photo spot. There were no visitors here, and we were also able to capture the entire garden with the peacock head.

The Giant Buddha Statue at Linh Ung Pagoda

Passing by the Peacock Garden, we arrived at our next stop—the Giant Buddha Statue next to Linh Ung Pagoda. Our guide told us the 27-meter-tall Buddha statue was crafted from marbles mined from the Marble Mountains. With a serene face, the white marble Buddha seemed to overlook the city of Da Nang as though he were watching over and protecting the city. We did not spend a lot of time here and left after offering our prayers and taking some photos.

Movie Time at the Luna Castle

To get to our next stop on Ba Na Hills, we traced back our steps to the Le Jardin D’Amour and were led to a funicular station, which we took to the cable car station. The funicular ride to the cable car station gave us great views of the city. After a short cable car ride, we arrived at our next stop—the buffet lunch restaurant, Arapang Restaurant. Our lunch was included in the price of the ticket.

Our guide took us to another funicular not far from Arapang Restaurant after lunch to the Luna Castle. This funicular would have treated us to the mountainous views around Ba Na Hills if not for the low clouds. The Luna Castle houses two theatres. Our guide told us that the European-inspired Luna Castle was a COVID baby built during the pandemic. I thought the Luna Castle was big and empty, with a lot of unused space. My friend and I were commenting about how many rooms this castle could fit if converted into a hotel. The purpose that our guide brought us here was to watch two short animated shows. The first short film, Flying Eyes, brought us around the world to see some of the landmarks. My friend and I were counting the number of landmarks we visited while watching the short film. The second film, Happy Family, was a 4D film about a family’s outing to a theme park. The film brought us through the roller coaster ride that the family was riding on.

Fantasy Park and French Village

After the films, we headed back to the French Village and Fantasy Park, where we were given some free time to wander around the main area of Ba Na Hills. Our guide brought us back to the funicular that took us back to the French Village. The first item on our list was to walk around the French Village, which our guide told us was model after buildings in France. Walking in French Village, I thought it looked more medieval than French. We stopped by a food truck for a Vietnamese coffee break before exploring the area more. As we were walking, we saw a carousel, but by mistake, we couldn’t seem to find our way to the carousel. We ended up on the flying chair rides, which were included in the ticket price to Ba Na Hills. There was a queue for the flying chair ride, but we did not have to wait too long for our turn. Although the ride just went around in a circle, we enjoyed it. After the ride, we went into the indoor Fantasy Park area for a bumper car ride we had passed by earlier. We had great fun on the bumper car and even ganged up together to bump others.

After the bumper car, we wanted to take the alpine coaster ride (cost VND70,000). The Alpine coaster has two lines; the first is next to the cable car station we arrived in. We constantly saw long queues for this line as it was very centrally located. The second line seemed more exciting and was a tad difficult to find. There was a short queue at the ticketing counter, which did not seem to be moving at the time of our arrival. Initially I thought the couple at the front of the queue was being difficult. We subsequently learnt that the staff stopped selling the tickets due to the bad visibility caused by the low clouds. We gave up waiting after another 10 minutes and returned to meet our guide.

After meeting our guide, he whisked us to the descending cable car station as he was concerned that it might rain due to the low clouds. Our guide told us that one of the groups he took was stuck in the cable car for 30 minutes due to heavy rain. By the time we reached the base cable car station, it was raining cats and dogs. Our guide mentioned we were lucky that the rain came in the evening and not during the day when we were having fun at Ba Na Hills. We arrived back at the resort at around 6 pm. We were too lazy to get out of our villa as it was raining and the long day we had. We ordered Grab Food for dinner and spent the rest of the evening chilling out in our villa. We like Ba Na Hills so much that we even talked about only visiting and perhaps spending a night on the hills when we return to Da Nang.

Our trip to Da Nang started early in the morning. We had an early headstart today as our flight is scheduled at 9.30 a.m. To beat the morning rush hour, we reached the airport at 6.30 a.m. to give us some buffer for our flight. Due to our early start today, I deliberately kept our first day in Da Nang rather empty. The plan was to relax in the resort and walk around the area of My Khe beach outside the resort if we were bored.

Arrival at Da Nang

We touched down at Da Nang a little after 11 a.m. The immigration process at Da Nang International Airport was rather slow, with only four immigration counters open at our arrival to process the four flights arriving around the same time. We spend the next 45 minutes clearing immigration. After collecting our luggage, our pre-arranged airport transfer was already outside the airport terminal waiting for us. It took us about 20 minutes to reach our resort from the airport. Along the way, we passed by the edge of Da Nang City. Compared to the busy Hanoi I visited several years ago, Da Nang was a lot quieter. There weren’t hordes of motorcycles or packs of cars making their way into the city, nor were loud honking sounds on the street. I am begining to like Da Nang.

Checking into our Resort

We arrived at the resort, which we called home for five days, around noon. Our villa would not be ready until 1.30 p.m. Our host suggested we relax around the lobby or head to the main pool bar area for a small bite while waiting for our villa to be ready. At first, we just wanted to wait at the resort’s reception until our villa was ready; after all, our host had arranged a private area for us to sit around. However, we got a little bored after sitting around for 15 minutes and started to explore the resort a little.

We wandered to the main pool at the resort, which our host told us was just a mere minute’s walk from the reception. We originally just wanted to hang around at the pool area and peep at our location next to the main pool area). Since there is nothing we can do here besides people-watching, we ordered some things to share. As our food was being served, we got a call from our host, who informed us that our villa was ready, and she was on the way to the pool bar to meet us. We were escorted to our villa, and our host took us on a tour around the villa. We fell in love with the villa assigned to us for its functionality and how it was designed for communal living. We were excited to see the swimming pool and the close proximity to the famous My Khe Beach, the most beautiful beach in Vietnam. As we were getting bored and everyone seemed still energic, we headed outside the resort to get some drinks at the nearby minimart.

Exploring the My Khe Beach Area

After a buggy ride later, we were outside the resort. Instead of just heading opposite the villa, we explored the My Khe beachfront area. We walked along the street directly in front of the My Khe beach and spotted numerous eateries along the beachfront area and the countless hotels across the road facing the beach. As it was still early, the beachfront seemed sleepy. We spotted a handful of tourists suntanning on the beach while the eateries were preparing for the evening crowd. The beach seemed quiet at this time. Looking across the road from where we were, we saw some restaurants and minimarts dotted along the roadside. After walking about 30 mins from our resort, we made a U-turn and returned to the minimart in front of our resort.

BBQ in the Villa

After getting our drinks, we returned to our villa to laze around. We organised a birthday BBQ dinner for our friend at our villa at 6 p.m. The resort staff came to set up around 4 p.m., and the BBQ dinner started promptly at 6 p.m. We were not required to do the BBQ ourselves. Instead, the staff would cook the food, and we just sat around in the dining room of our villa while another staff served us food fresh from the BBQ pit. The staff treated us like VIPs and constantly filled our plates with food.

As we were very well fed by the staff from the BBQ session, we wanted to walk around the resort to digest. But we ended up strolling along My Khe Beach. We discovered a shorter way to the beachfront area we were at a few hours ago. Strolling along the My Khe beach at night, we were treated to the bright neon lights from the hotels lined the beachfront. Despite being at night, the beach was still dotted with locals enjoying the beach, kids playing on the beach and numerous others who came out to enjoy the sea breeze on My Khe Beach like us. The eateries along the beach were as quiet as earlier in the day. I guess this period is the tourism off-peak session. After about 1 hour of walking along the beach, we returned to our villa the same way we came to rest for the night. We will have another early start tomorrow when we visit Ba Na Hills.