Spelunking and Soaking Up The Sun In Danang, Vietnam, 12th Jun 2006

The Buddha and the Sinner. No wait, two radically contrasting religious concepts there. But well. This was taken in the Marble Mountains near Danang, which was about thirty kilometres from Hoi An. The Marble Mountains are these five limestone outcrops 12km to the south of Danang city, and so named because the of the marble mined from there. Mining, however, has been banned because the Mountains would disappear if it is continued without restraint.

The whole place was as chock full of grottoes as cheese is of holes. The possession of a map did not make finding the opening to the caves any easier, and an old woman very helpfully pointed us to behind a temple, and into a well-concealed entrance harbouring this four-metre tall Buddha. There were many caverns like these which housed statues either of the Buddha or the Godhess of Mercy, and some were too dark for two unequipped travellers to step into without fearing to get hurt. Paths were seldom marked distinctly inside the caves. Frequently, if we wanted to find out whether a path led anywhere, and by virtue of that was a path at all, we had to walk on until we came to a dead end, which often meant we could climb no further. These dead ends were often arbitrary, and one could continue if one had a thirst for adventure and strength enough.

One such path led us on to a barely-lighted rocky slope, and on to a small opening beyond, scarcely wide enough for me to crawl through. Once through, we emerged from the caves, and on to another rocky path leading upwards again, betrayed by a makeshift wooden rail to its right, on to wonderful vistas at the summit.

The outcrops (there were five) were each named according to the five elements of Nature, and the largest and tallest of these, which we scaled and is featured in the pictures, goes by that of Thuy Son, water mountain.

There were three entrances into Thuy Son, one of them leading into the depths of Hell. This particular cavern was very poorly lit, and still under construction. The inner recesses contained many ghastly images of demons and monsters torturing the souls of men condemned, which combined eerily well with the weak blood-red glow shed on these by the lamps above. The incessant chiselling and drilling in the background didn't help one bit, and I was glad to be out of there.

China Beach, where GIs came in their droves to take in the sun, sand and sea when they are not getting fired at elsewhere, is a few minutes' walk from the Marble Mountains. The stretch that is closest to where we were is an undeveloped spot, empty save for a few rattan fishing crafts. I would have lounged there for a good while longer, had I a deck chair, a supply of drinking water that would last longer than half a bottle and a very large umbrella.

The much-touted Reunification Express, which really is a grandiloquent name for a simple train service linking the northern parts of the country with the south. The soft-seat tickets, which is the equivalent of a comfortable economy class, are quite decent, and most of the local commuters would purchase soft-seat tickets. This was our second train ride in Vietnam, from Danang to Ho Chi Minh City lasting about sixteen hours, the first from Hanoi to here took us fourteen hours. I was not quite prepared for the variety of sleeping positions which I saw adopted by the very pliable Vietnamese commuters on my first night on the train. Every nook and cranny was filled, if not a hand or a foot, then a finger or a toe. I was rather appalled to find one particular big toe, blackened at the nail and not looking very savoury at all, an inch away from my nose when I was jolted into consciousness by a sudden braking of the train.