Day Three: Saigon-Danang-Hoi An

The Marble Mountains

When they said 'Marble Mountains' I didn't expect it to be quite so literal. Arriving from Saigon, we touched down at Danang with a taxi awaiting. The plan was to visit what guidebooks had touted as a picturesque and impressive natural wonder. After a winding drive uphill, and finding ourselves driven to a large workshop, we stepped from the cab into a forest of dancing lovers, dragons, urns, lions, tigers, and yes -- bears, a little bemused, and a little disappointed.
Hoping to find something less cliche, we cut through the Narnia-esque tourist trap after the requisite few corny photos and headed out towards the pounding sounds. There, we found a quarry. And further up, a carved stairway leading into the belly of a mountain -- one of the actual Marble Mountains that makes up the group of five looming natural marble formations that Danang is famous for.
It's said the trek into the mountains is worth the time and effort, but we weren't so keen on an arduous walk after the early morning and rather cramped flight so we bid farewell to the marble carvers as the cab weaved its way past rows of stone lions and other sentinal beasts immortalisd into cold stone.

Danang
She appears to be preparing for something. Something unknown to us. All around she is being built up, torn down, leveled. Signs everywhere promise big things to come. But strangely, as we speed by, the whole city -- store fronts, offices, cafes, a giant water park complete with six-storey high slides, seem deserted. It's vaguely disconcerting and a bit sad, like a girl taking huge pains to get ready for prom, in the hope that - maybe, soon -- her date will arrive.