Return to Vietnam.

Next day we decided to have breakfast downstairs, rather than in the lounge. It was quite good, but very crowded and busy. We both said we preferred the lounge, which was more peaceful. I had Vietnamese omelette for breakfast. Peter had cereal, plain omelette, bacon and beans.

Vietnamese omelette.

Peter at breakfast.

After breakfast I suggested we take a grab to the Wonders of the World Park, but Peter didn't want to come. I could have gone on my own, but after my bad experience with the 29th of March Park, I didn't want to risk it, so I decided I would go to The War Museum and The Museum of Ho Chi Minh instead.

These museums are right next to each other and one ticket provides entry to both. Plus they were located only around fifteen minutes walk away from our hotel.

Both museums close for around two hours at lunch time, so I decided I would go in the morning. On the walk there I passed some interesting buildings. I'm not sure I was meant to photograph these as they were military, but I took a couple of pictures anyway. Later I got told off for this by a guard so stopped.

Headquarters of the Thanh An Installation and Construction Joint Stock Company.

Building near the museum.

Entry to the museum was 60,000VND. The lady who sold me my ticket was very pleasant and friendly and spoke good English. She gave me a map of the complex and told me the order in which to visit places.

I began by looking at some of the propaganda posters on display. For some reason I rather like these, though I don't normally understand what they say. Now that I have used A.I. to translate them, I think I prefer them when I don't understand them, to be honest.

Military building with picture of Ho Chi Minh and the words 'Ceremony to receive the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces.'

This one says' Welcome, Delegates, to the ceremony for receiving the title of hero of the people's armed forces of military region 5.

'The armed forces of military region 5 promote tradition, dedicate talent, worthy of the title of Uncle Ho's Soldiers in the new era.'

'Self-reliance, overcoming difficulties. Enduring hardships, wise and creative, fighting staunchly, victorious gloriously.'

'Promote studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality, and style.'

'Promoting heroic traditions, officials and soldiers of the Military Region Armed Forces are determined to excellently complete all assigned tasks!'

There were also lots of military vehicles on display outside the Military Museum building and there were groups of kindergarten children going around these and posing for photographs with them.

Military Museum.

Kindergarten.

Tank.

Tanks.

Tanks.

Howitzer.

Helicopter.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 fighter aircraft.

Crawler tractor.

The Military Museum building looked like it might have originally been a school. There was a central courtyard with a pond, then there were stairs up to several floors of displays. You started by climbing straight up to the third floor, then gradually worked your way back down. There were lots more school children posing for photos here. This time they were primary school children.

Inside The Military Museum.

Looking down on the courtyard.

The exhibits inside The Military Museum were mainly about the Vietnamese people's resistance to French colonialism and the war against the USA. There were displays of weapons and samples of the wreckage of enemy vehicles.

Wreckage of Chinese tanks from a war with the Chinese.

A display of weapons.

Weapons.

Weapons.

Weapons.

Making booby traps.

A small factory that helped make weapons.

There were many patriotic statues, depicting war heroes, or scenes from the war, or victory celebrations.

"Determined to Fight, Determined to Win."

The statue depicts a group of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians during the struggle for independence.

Warrior with a crossbow and torch.

I think this was showing the oppression of women and children by the enemy.

Statue of resistance fighters.

Carrying weapons.

There were some of the belongings of resistance fighters, such as musical instruments, motorcycles, military emblems and medals.

Traditional Vietnamese musical instruments belonging to resistance fighters.

Reel to reel projector used by resistance fighters.

Motorcycle belonging to resistance fighter.

Motorcycle belonging to resistance fighter.

Bike belonging to resistance fighter.

Medals.

Military emblems.

Other things that interested me here were a historic bronze drum and a photo of tanks outside the Ho Chi Minh Memorial in Hanoi.

Bronze drum.

Tanks on Ho Chi Minh Square, Hanoi.

Through the window of the museum I could see a large sports ground. I'm not sure if this belonged to the army or was open to the public.

Sports ground.

All the time I had walked through this museum, I could hear a primary school class behind me. Eventually they caught up. Their teacher was up ahead taking them through the exhibits at speed. Then some of the kids spotted me - the strange foreign looking woman. They gathered round.

"Hello, what is your name?"

"Irene."

Child nods and moves off.

Next one: "Hello, what is your name?"

"Irene."

Next one's turn: "Hello, what.....?"

You probably get the picture and talking of pictures, then it was: "Can I take a photo with you?"

"Of course."

Next one: "Can I take a photo with you?"

This went on for some time until the teacher returned and rounded them all up.

When I had finished looking around The Military Museum, I headed outside to the gardens which had a replica of Ho Chi Minh's house and a large lily pond. The real Ho Chi Minh's house is in Hanoi and I haven't been in, so I wanted to go to this. However, it was small and it was cram packed with primary school children. I decided I'd come back later and walk around the pond instead. The pond was filled with waterlilies.

Ho Chi Minh's house.

Ho Chi Minh's house.

Ho Chi Minh's house.

Ho Chi Minh's house.

School group posing for photos outside Ho Chi Minh's house.

Ho Chi Minh's house across the pond.

Children by the pond.

Waterlilies.

Waterlilies.

On my walk around the pond I saw a beautiful butterfly and some gorgeous flowers.

Butterfly.

Flowers.

Seeing that there were still masses of children in Ho Chi Minh's house, I then headed to the Ho Chi Minh Museum.

There's a part at the entrance where you have to take off your shoes and stand in front of a statue of Ho Chi Minh to pay your respects to him and to all the soldiers who fought for the resistance. I didn't go inside, I just looked in.

The Ho Chi Minh Museum.

Group photo outside the museum.

The Ho Chi Minh Museum.

The Ho Chi Minh Museum.

Statue of Ho Chi Minh.

Women in national dress paying tribute to Ho Chi Minh.

Inside The Ho Chi Minh Museum there were lots of exhibits about Ho Chi Minh's life and some of his personal belongings. The museum also paid tribute to General Vo Nguyen Giap.

There were pictures of Ho Chi Minh's parents and siblings.

Ho Chi Minh's parents.

Ho Chi Minh's siblings.

There was a replica of the house Ho Chi Minh was born in.

Where Ho Chi Minh was born.

There were collections of Ho Chi Minh's writings, photos, various statues and even some of Ho Chi Minh's clothes.

The complete works of Ho Chi Minh.

Photos.

Plaque showing Ho Chi Minh and saying: 'The Hung Kings had the merit of founding the country, you and I must together defend it.'

The Revolution.

Ho Chi Minh's clothes.

Uncle Ho's script.

Soldier bidding farewell to his family and carrying a handful of soil from his homeland with him.

Ho Chi Minh and heroes from the south.

Bust of Ho Chi Minh.

As I was leaving there was a school group paying tribute to Uncle Ho. I had to hurry away as I could see I was distracting them.

Children paying tribute to Ho Chi Minh.

I returned to Ho Chi Minh's house and it looked as if it was safe to visit. Famous last words, I was looking around upstairs when another school group arrived. I was rapidly surrounded.

"What is your name?"

"Where are you from?"

"How old are you?"

"Can I take a photo with you?"

"Can I?"

"Can I?"

There teacher tried to fight her way through to save me. She was greatly relieved when I told her I was a retired primary school teacher and she could see that I found the situation funny, but I couldn't get out of Ho Chi Minh's house or see it till all those children left.

Inside Ho Chi Minh's house.

It was time to leave. I had a quick look at the cafe and gift shop and saw all the ladies in national dress get onto their motorcycles and hurry away.

Display next to the cafe.

National dress and motorcycles.

Now I know how it feels to be a celebrity. It makes me glad I'm actually a nobody.

I walked back looking at the bars near our island. There were quite a few.

Beer garden.

Chill Chill.

Don't worry beer happy.

Don't worry beer happy.

Peter and I went for a nice relaxing swim.

Peter in the pool.

Peter in the pool.

Then I took him out around Green Island in his wheelchair. I could push him on the roads as there wasn't much traffic.

Peter at the art covered building.

Peter at the park.

Bridge.

In the evening we ate in the lounge. We got a window seat and enjoyed the views. Peter continued his pursuit of cocktails with a cosmopolitan

Us in the lounge.

Peter with a cosmopolitan.

Night view from the room.

Next day was our last full day. There was still plenty to do:- The Wonders of the World Park, a mini version of Santorini at Song Na Peninsula, The Fine Arts Museum, but I decided to have a day of total relaxation. We had breakfast, swam, went to the lounge for some iced Vietnamese coffees.

Vietnamese iced coffee.

Beautiful view. Marble Mountains in the distance.

Then we swam again. I read my book and did a little blogging. In the evening Peter tried his final cocktail - a mojito this time.

Dinner in the lounge. Peter with a mojito.

Next day we had a bigger than usual breakfast. Peter had omelette and bahn mi. I had bahn mi and pancakes.

Bahn mi.

Peter's breakfast.

Pancakes for breakfast.

We had our final swim and our free drink by the pool. I finished packing. It was time to go.

Peter in the pool.

Peter in the pool.

Free drink by the pool.

Free drink by the pool.

We had treated ourselves to a posh transfer to the airport. We flew back to Hong Kong. Everything went smoothly, except that we had a very long wait for the high lift to get Peter off the plane in his wheelchair. All in all it had been a very enjoyable holiday.

Next day we headed to the lounge for breakfast. Peter had plain omelette, bacon and hash browns. I had chicken pho.

Peter at breakfast.

My pho.

My pho.

Then I booked us a place on the hotel's 11.30 shuttle to the beach. I was hoping it would be relatively easy to push Peter along the beach front walkway there.

The hotel's shuttle bus is pretty good. You can take it to The Cham Sculpture Museum, Han Market or the My Khe Beach.

My Khe Beach is a beautiful stretch of silver sand that continues for around three kilometres. It's called My Khe after a nearby fishing village. My Khe means beautiful stream.

My Khe voted one of the six most attractive beaches on the planet by Forbes Magazine.

The shuttle bus stopped on the other side of the road from the beach, so I had to wheel Peter across. Fortunately there was a crossing and the drivers were respectful of the fact that I was pushing a wheelchair. What's missing in Vietnam though is the lowered pavement edge near a crossing. Pavements are incredibly high here.

Once we got across the road, I pushed Peter along the walkway, stopping every now and again to take photos and look at the views.

At our first longish stopping point I left Peter sunning himself on the walkway, while I walked down to the beach. There were quite a few people swimming, but the water was a bit rough.

Peter on the walkway.

Me on the beach.

Miles of silver sand.

Miles of silver sand.

Both of us.

As we walked along the walkway I stopped to take photos of the many beach loungers and cafes along the way.

Looking tropical.

Enjoying the sea air.

Beach scene.

Beach scene.

Restaurant.

Restaurant.

Restaurant.

Cafe.

So peaceful.

There was a rather weird fake castle like structure on the other side of the road. This was The Koto Club which apparently is a restaurant, nightclub and karaoke venue.

The Koto Club.

The Koto Club.

There were some people asleep in some hammocks hung between the palm trees. They looked so relaxed.

Hammocks.

We stopped in a second area and Peter moved out of his wheelchair to sit on the wall. He was really lapping up all the sun.

Spot the sun lover.

I went down onto the beach again. It was beautiful.

Beach scene.

I told Peter I'd only be gone a couple of minutes, but then I spotted lots of those famous round Vietnamese boats in the distance. Well, I just couldn't resist. Naturally they looked closer than they actually were, but I went anyway.

Thúng chai, basket boats.

Basket boats.

Basket boats.

Basket boat.

Basket boats.

Basket boats.

Selfie.

I realized I had been gone a lot longer than I had said I would be. I tried phoning Peter on what's app. I'd forgotten he didn't have data. Naturally, he didn't answer, so I hurried back in case he was worried. I found him back in his wheelchair, stripped off to the waist, lapping up the rays.

This is what I returned to.

Further on there was a DaNang Beach sign and a small temple.

DaNang Beach sign.

Peter with the beach sign.

Peter with the temple.

I noticed a building across the road that was absolutely covered with plants. I think I saw something very similar in Milan once.

Building or ecosystem?

After the temple we reached a row of restaurants. We chose one largely at random and sat down to have a beer for Peter and a pineapple juice for me.

Restaurant.

Restaurant.

Outside a restaurant.

Us in the restaurant.

Peter in the restaurant.

Our drinks.

After our drink, I called a grab and we headed back to the hotel.

Naturally we went swimming, then headed to the lounge for dinner. I was feeling tired, but ....

It was a Friday night and after dinner I decided I would walk to the Dragon Bridge to see it shoot out fire. This only happens at nine pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It lasts for around ten minutes.

To get to the Dragon Bridge, I went through the tunnel and walked across the pedestrian bridge. The Tran Thi Ly Bridge was lit up at night.

The Tran Thi Ly Bridge at night.

Near the hotel.

Pedestrian bridge.

I was really pleased that I passed some chemists on my walk as I was suffering from an outbreak of cold sores. I guess I got these because I was feeling fairly run down. They seemed to be everywhere on my bottom lip. I just showed the woman in the chemist my face and she produced the correct cream for it. I had a similar cold sore outbreak in Hong Kong a couple of years ago and ended up paying an obscene £18 for a tiny tube of ointment. Here I got a bigger tube of cream and was charged 17,000VND, about 50p. We should really live here.

The area I was walking through was bustling with lots of cafes, restaurants and bars.

The walk to the bridge.

The walk to the bridge.

The walk to the bridge.

The bridge in the distance.

I was almost at the Dragon Bridge when I reached a building site that had taken over the entire pavement. It was too late to turn back, so I just walked along the edge of the road. It wasn't very pleasant, but it was all I could do.

There were hundreds of people around the dragon's head, waiting for it to breath fire. I wandered around trying to find a place I would be able to see the show from. There were several cafes from where it was possible to get a good view, but I didn't go to these. In the end I found a reasonable viewpoint where I wasn't being crushed to death.

People everywhere.

People everywhere.

Near Dragon Bridge.

We all stood around staring at the dragon waiting for it to do something, then suddenly it did.

Dragon Bridge.

The dragon breathes out fire several times in a row. Then there's a pause, then it starts again. When it's done breathing out fire, it starts spouting out water. Apparently if you are on the bridge close to the dragon, you get quite wet at this point. I wasn't on the bridge, I was down below, so I didn't get soaked.

Breathing fire.

Breathing fire.

Breathing fire.

Spouting water.

When the fire show was over, I took some photos of the love heart lights and the dragon carp fountain which changes colour at night.

Love hearts near Dragon Bridge.

Dragon carp fountain.

Dragon carp fountain.

Dragon carp fountain.

Then, I decided I would walk across the Dragon Bridge and go home along the walkway on the other side of the river in order to avoid having to walk in the road again.

On the bridge.

On the bridge.

On the bridge.

The quiet flower filled walkway I had walked along the day before was very different at night. All the cafes and bars were open. There were people everywhere. Everything was lit up and changing colour and there was loud, VERY LOUD, live music everywhere. If you were in a good place and could only hear one live music at a time, you were fine, but from nearly everywhere you could actually hear two or three live musics at the same time, which just sounded like a hell of a lot of loud noise.

Cafe.

Cafe.

Cafe at night.

Food trucks.

Live music.

I was pleased when I got down the end nearer the hotel which was considerably quieter. Here I could enjoy the changing colours minus the cacophony of noise. Another day was done.

Night view.

DANANG sign at night.

Riverside walkway lit up at night.

Lanterns.

Riverside walkway.

Riverside walkway.

Next day we had breakfast in the lounge. I had bahn mi and a cappuccino. Then we went down to the pool to swim for a while.

Bahn mi.

Cappuccino.

After our swim, we headed back to the lounge again for a cold drink, then I went out sightseeing.

When we had stayed in The Grand Mercure the first time it had been a very short stay, and we had done a trip out of it and back to it on the hotel's free shuttle bus. We had both been under the impression that it was difficult to get anywhere from this hotel on foot. Fortunately, this proved to be untrue. The hotel was located on a quiet little island, but there was a small bridge leading off. From there it was possible to get onto the Tran Thi Ly Bridge, or go through a short tunnel that would take you to a pedestrian bridge, or if you went the other way, onto the riverside walkway.

The Grand Mercure Hotel.

The Tran Thi Ly Bridge is one of the most beautiful bridges in DaNang. It is 700m long and shaped like a sail. It was built in 2013 as the first cable-stayed bridge in Vietnam.

The Tran Thi Ly Bridge.

I decided I would not cross the bridge at that point but would instead walk along the riverside walkway to the Cham Cultural Museum. I began by passing the DaNang Yacht Club.

The Yacht Club and the Tran Thi Ly Bridge.

This end of the riverside walkway was quite different from the end near the Novotel. It had masses of beautiful colourful flowers and lots of snack stalls and cafes. Most of these were closed during the day, but as I later discovered they were very popular at night.

Flowers on the riverside walkway.

Flowers on the riverside walkway.

Flowers on the riverside walkway.

Flowers on the riverside walkway.

Flowers on the walkway.

Flowers on the riverside walkway.

Flowers on the riverside walkway.

Flowers on the riverside walkway.

Flowers on the riverside walkway.

Me on the walkway.

Sculpture on Bach Dang Walking Street by the river.

Typical food stall.

There was a large DANANG sign on this side of the walkway which I took some photos of. There were also lots of signs advertising Larue beer, which was the local beer that we had drunk in the lounge the night before.

Selfie with the DANANG sign.

The DANANG sign.

Me with a Larue beer sign.

More Larue signs on the walkway.

At one point I noticed there was an interesting looking park called APEC Park on the other side of the main road, so I crossed to take a look. APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the park was built in 2017 to celebrate the 25th APEC forum.

Apparently there are twenty-one sculptures in the gardens here. One very large white structure is meant to represent a flying kite. Exhibitions and activities are frequently held inside this structure. There weren't any exhibitions here when I visited, but there were lots of people taking selfies with a Vietnamese flag.

The structure that's supposed to look like a kite.

The structure that's supposed to look like a kite.

Vietnamese flag.

APEC Vietnam 2017.

Sculpture in APEC Park.

Sculpture in APEC Park.

Sculpture in APEC Park.

At the end of the park I realised the roads were horrendous. They had zebra crossings but no green man/red man. I could have walked all the way back, but I decided just to go for it. There's a technique to crossing the road in Vietnam. I normally get it right, but this time so many things beeped at me that I must have got it very wrong, though having said that, I'm still alive and I got to the other side, so it can't have been all wrong.

I headed for The Museum of Cham Culture and paid my 60,000VDN entry fee.

The museum.

Selfie.

The museum.

So who were the Chams? Nowadays they are an ethnic minority in Vietnam, but in the past the Champa Kingdom ruled Central Vietnam from the second to the fifteenth century. The Chams were Malay/Indonesian in origin and had a rich maritime history. Some Chams were Muslim and others were Hindu. On a previous visit to Vietnam, Peter and I went to see the Cham temples in My Son near Hoi An.

How did so many Cham artefacts end up in one museum? Well, during French colonial times one of the French ministers for the Quang Nam area was Charles Lemire, an art lover and antique collector. He collected the stone sculptures scattered around the ruins of Cham temples and moved them all to Tourane Park which is now the site of the Cham Museum. Other people also contributed to finding these artefacts, such as archaeologist and photographer, Charles Carpeaux. Once he had amassed his collection, Lemire then appointed, Henri Parmentier, an architect at the École française d’Extrême-Orient to study and catalogue it. The Cham Museum was officially opened in 1929 and is now home to the largest collection of Cham art anywhere in the world.

M.Charles Lemire.

Charles Carpeaux posing at the ruins of the Đồng Dương Temple.

Excavation and conservation efforts at ancient Champa ruins in Vietnam.

Tourane Park.

I'm not going to pretend to be knowledgeable about the Chams or Hinduism. I loved all the sculptures in this museum, but I didn't always know much about what I was looking at. The first room I went into had lots of preserved altars with many different gods and goddesses on them.

The Dong Duong vihara pedestal, depicting various deities.

The 11th-century Tra Kieu Pedestal.

Shiva phallic symbol.

Altar to Shiva from My Son.

Dvarapala or guardian statue next to a sandstone altar.

There were lots of sculptures of animals or involving animals. Some of these were guardian animals placed there to protect the temple against attacks, such as the makura dragon which is part dragon, part water monster and for something that's meant to be scary it was also rather cute

Makara dragon.

Makara Dragon.

Demigod Guarding the Gateway.

There was also a makura water monster that was eating someone who had foolishly gone too close to it.

A makara, water monster.

There were creatures called Kala-Makara and Kirtimukha which made me think of the gargoyles that are carved on the outside of churches. I guess they serve the same function.

Kala-Makara guardian.

Kirtimukha, a mythological monster face.

There were many garudas. I'm not sure if these are meant to scary or not. Personally I just associate them with Indonesian Airlines. There was also a naga which I think is a kind of snake.

Garuda.

Garuda.

Garuda.

Naga.

There were gentler animals, too, such as the holy bull Nandi, elephants and monkeys.

Nandi

Elephants.

Elephant.

Monkey.

There were also depictions of ordinary people, such as: monks, polo players, wrestlers and charioteers.

Brahmanist monk.

Polo match.

Wrestlers.

Horseman and chariot.

There was a whole plethora of gods and goddesses. The only one I could identify was Ganesh due to his elephant head

Ganesh.

Ganesh.

Other gods and goddesses included: Vishnu, Shiva, Lakshmi, Brahma and more minor deities.

Vishnu seated on the coils of the multi-headed serpent king Shesha.

Vishnu.

Shiva.

Shiva lord of the dance.

Lakshmi.

Brahma.

A Yaksha, a male nature deity.

Many deities.

Deities and attendants.

The museum was not entirely devoted to sculpture. There were sections showing models of typical Cham houses, bullock carts, clothing, musical instruments and everyday objects.

Cham housing complex.

Bullock cart.

Cham temple.

Cham clothing.

Cham clothing.

Embroidery.

Cham musical instruments.

On my way home from the museum, I decided to have a quick wander around the island that the Grand Mercure Hotel is situated on. This is known as Green Island and there are several resorts and cafes here. The most noticeable thing about this island is how peaceful it is. There's very little traffic and everything is quiet and green.

The houses here are really big and posh, so it probably costs a lot to live here.

Posh houses.

As I walked around the island, I noticed that many people had come to it to fish. One fisherman had a gorgeous little dog that wandered over towards him and he ordered it back to his motorcycle which it obediently climbed onboard.

Fisherman

Fishing.

Fishermen.

Fishermen.

Fishermen.

Dog.

In the distance I could see Asia Park. This is a funfair with rollercoasters and a big wheel. I was going to go and take a look at it, since it was near the hotel, but I read that it was closed down and in the process of being demolished, which is a bit of a shame. It's owned and run by the same company responsible for Bana Hills and the golden bridge with the giant hands that are close to DaNang.

Funfair.

Big wheel.

There was a really beautiful building with lots of art work on its walls. I'm not really sure what this building was, maybe some kind of resort.

Building with artwork.

Building with artwork.

Building with artwork.

Building with artwork.

Building with artwork.

There was other street art, too, a little park, bananas growing on the trees and beautiful cafes.

Street art.

Park.

Park.

Bananas.

Cafe.

I returned to the hotel and we went to dinner in the lounge. I couldn't resist taking more pictures of the gorgeous views from there. Peter was on a mission to try all the cocktails the hotel had to offer and tried a Long Island tea. It was nice but incredibly sweet.

Peter in the lounge.

Peter with a Long Island tea.

View from the lounge.

Photo showing DaNang when it was taken over by the armies of the Communist North.

Next day was moving hotel day. I normally only swim on these days, but because my sightseeing had been a disaster the day before, I decided I would actually go out and do something to make up for it, so I went to The DaNang History Museum, which was only a couple of minutes walk away from our hotel. It cost 60,000 VND to go in. This sounds a lot, but it's actually around £1.70 and it was a really good museum. For a start it's located inside a beautiful building. Plus a lot of its exhibits were really interesting.

DaNang History Museum.

DaNang History Museum.

It started off with the prehistory of the DaNang area. I wasn't particularly interested in this, but this section was quite small.

Prehistoric DaNang.

Then there was a section on the French colonial period in DaNang and the organised resistance towards the French. This section was quite interesting to me.

Apparently the French initially decided to invade and colonize Vietnam in July 1857 during the reign of Napoleon III. They began by attacking the area now known as DaNang, because it had a large natural harbour. They planned to turn this town into a French military base. However, although they managed to seize the town itself, they could make no further progress at taking over the country from this location due to strong local resistance, so they left a small garrison here and sailed southwards to attack Saigon instead. Much of the resistance was organized by General Nguyen Tri Phuong

Nguyen Tri Phuong, a renowned 19th-century Vietnamese general, who fought against the French colonial forces.

There were displays of various objects from French colonial times, including some items that belonged to resistance fighters.

Rickshaw from the display about DaNang in the colonial period.

Objects from French colonial times. TVs, reel to reel projectors and mopeds.

Objects from French colonial times, including gramophones, irons, lamps and kettles.

Telephone and bowl used by the resistance movement against the French.

After that there was a section on the Vietnamese War with the USA. There were several horrendous photos here, showing the affects of napalm and agent orange. I didn't photograph these, as I really didn't want to look at them. It's important to remember horrendous things like this in order to learn not to do something like this again, but I don't want to have nightmares about it.

This abstract artwork expressed the painter's emotional response to agent orange.

DaNang was the first landing point for American troops during the Vietnam War. Three thousand five hundred marines landed here on March 8th 1965. There was a large airbase in DaNang and its beaches were where the marines were sent for rest and recreation between bouts of fighting.

Displays in this section included weapons used in the war.

Weapons.

Weapons.

Gas masks.

Also shown was the devastating affect the war had on people and the environment.

Devastated jungle on the Hotel Chi Minh Trail.

There were also lots of displays about the protests that were held against the war; plus photos of the Communists' victory over the Americans.

Anti-war protests.

Solidarity helps us win and everything for the people's of Indochina.

Anti USA posters.

War is hell.

The liberation of DaNang on 29th March 1975.

I was very interested in the sections of the museum devoted to ordinary people's lives in the DaNang area. There were displays about farming and fishing, festivals and entertainment.

Farming.

Farming.

Farming.

Farming utensils.

Farming utensils.

Fishing.

Whale worshiping festival.

Whale worshiping festival.

Opera performance.

Opera performance.

There were also displays about weaving beautiful pieces of patterned cloth.

Weaving.

Weaving.

Weaving.

However, most of all, I loved the section on the Vietnamese tribal groups in Central Vietnam. This reminded me of when I was a child and loved the displays on different ethnic groups in The Glasgow Museum and Art Galleries. I really feel things like that brought about my desire to see the world.

Tribes in Central Vietnam.

Tribes in Central Vietnam.

Communal house.

Woven goods.

Masks.

Clothes made from bark.

Grave house of the Katu people.

Wood carvings.

Carvings related to tribal legends.

I spent about an hour in the museum. Then I went home and Peter and I went swimming. After that I finished off packing and we checked out. We went for our free drink in the rather pleasant bar downstairs before leaving for our new hotel.

Free drink.

Free drink.

Then we took a Grab to The Grand Mercure. We have stayed here once before, though that time Peter really splashed out and paid for a VIP suite. This time we got a very nice ordinary room. I think we only spent one night here before and because it's on an island, I thought it was far from everything. It really isn't. It was as easy to get around from here as from our first hotel, possibly even more so. Plus this hotel has a free shuttle bus to various places in Danang. I'll post it's timetable here.

Our room.

View from our room.

View from our room.

View from our window.

Shuttle bus timetable.

View from our window at night.

Once we had checked in, we relaxed for a while, then went to the lounge for a pleasant dinner. The lounge was on the twenty-first floor of the hotel and had excellent views over the Han River and some of Danang's bridges. It also looked over a large funfair which is in the process of being demolished.

Peter in the lounge.

Us in the lounge.

View from the lounge.

View from the lounge.

View from the lounge.

We went back to our room after dinner. Sightseeing from here could wait till the next day

The next day started off well with a lovely breakfast in the lounge. I had beef pho and Peter had a plain omelette with bacon and beans.

Peter at breakfast.

My beef pho.

Then we went to the pool and had a long leisurely swim. It wasn't windy and we enjoyed being in the sun for a while.

Peter in the pool.

Peter in the pool.

Peter in the pool.

I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. I was between taking a long walk to The Wonders of the World Park, a slightly shorter walk to March 29th Park or visiting The Fine Arts Museum.

In the end I decided I liked the idea of a park and I opted for March 29th Park because it was supposed to have a lovely lake to wander around, plus March 29th is Peter's birthday. Naturally the park isn't called this due to Peter's birthday, but rather because the Communist armies of Vietnam gained control of DaNang on March 29th 1975.

Things started out quite well. I wandered along the side of the river and found a second sculpture park.

Sculpture park.

Sculpture park.

Sculpture park.

Sculpture park.

Sculpture park.

Sculpture park.

Sculpture park.

Sculpture park.

I walked for one hour in the heat to get to the park and arrived sweaty and dusty, only to find the whole park was a building site. I was so annoyed. Everything online had told me it was open and pleasant and not too busy, but the reality was it was dug up and surrounded by a high fence.

Poster on the park fence celebrating the 51st anniversary of the liberation of Da Nang city March 29, 1975 – March 29, 2026.

To make matters worse. I've been looking for water hyacinths in Hong Kong for ages and I could see that lots of these were growing on the lake, but I couldn't get near them.

I suppose I should just have decided to go somewhere else, but I was hot and irritable from too much sun, so I decided just to go home. I did pass several beautiful religious buildings, including churches and temples on the way, though I didn't go into any. They were normally on the wrong side of the road. I keep road crossing to a minimum here.

Roman Catholic Church.

DaNang Evangelical Church.

Khai Tuong Pagoda.

Khai Tuong Pagoda.

The Cao Dai Temple.

I also rather liked a very photogenic motorcycle helmet shop that I walked past.

Motorcycle helmet shop.

Motorcycle helmet shop.

But the days saving grace was that I stumbled upon Con Market. This was much more local than Han Market, which is a bit touristy. I loved it. It was incredibly photogenic.

Con Market.

Vendor.

Basically it sold everything. There were lots of clothes stalls.

Clothes.

Clothes.

Clothes.

There were lots of lovely baskets.

Baskets.

Baskets.

There was pottery, kitchen utensils, wooden goods and household utensils.

Pottery.

Pottery.

Pottery.

Kitchen utensils

Wooden goods.

Household utensils.

There were lots of beautiful flowers.

Flowers.

Flowers.

Flowers.

There were lots of colourful fruit and vegetable stalls. As well as lots of dried goods stalls.

Fruit.

Vegetables.

Dried goods.

Dried goods.

Dried goods.

There was a very busy area selling cooked foods.

Food.

Food.

Food.

Food.

And there were some extremely crowded areas that were just absolute chaos.

Chaos.

Chaos.

Back home we went for dinner in the lounge. We were excited to see that the cocktail of the day was Cuba libre. I loved cocktails when we were in Cuba. We both tried these, but they really weren't very nice.

Us in the lounge.

Peter with his cocktail.

After dinner we just relaxed for the rest of the evening.