Danang

Left Hoi An and headed north to Danang. Small coastal city (only 1 million!) bang in the centre of Vietnam. Ex French colonial port, home to the Marble mountains which are limestone outcrops topped with pagodas often with hidden caves containing various Buddhist shrines…more of which later. Firstly the traffic system…I spent an hour in a cafe (actually a bar but I don’t want you to get the wrong impression) near a significant road intersection trying to work out the priorities and just why nobody died in that hour…maybe Buddhism is THE one… They use the wrong side of the road which I guess is the French influence, whilst Thailand use the correct side; however the use of one side is somewhat open to individual interpretation as you can be travelling down a road only to think that it must be a one way street given the multiple lanes of traffic heading for you and you are about to meet your maker but again they miraculously sort themselves out. Intersections are where most people do actually slow down but never actually stop, threading themselves between lorries, cycles and of course the thousands of scooters, I think that at roundabouts traffic entering has priority but then….?

Another thing…they have pavements…for walking on right? Wrong, they are for parking scooters on or opening a pavement cafe only, pedestrians take there chance on the roads with everyone else…

Going back to the French influence, forget the housing or road sense the biggest influence is this guy who seems to crop up everywhere…

Marble mountains… climbed one today…long trek up ancient stone stairways then into caves with Buddhist shrines and up through tricky rock formations back into daylight scrambling over a sort of rock pathway. Heaven knows what it would be like in the rain. Lots of pagodas and marble statues (laughing boy featured highly again..very popular that chap). Great views from the top across the city and out to sea.