On our last day in Hoi An (on the wonderful trip we won from Vietnam Central Coast Tourism on Facebook), before taking the train from Danang to Hue, we took a private tour of Marble Mountain that the Nam Hai Resort concierge kindly arranged for us. Dan had been to the Marble Mountain area when serving with the US Army during the war, but though he'd been back to Vietnam many times since, including during our 2008 Honeymoon, he'd not been back to that area, and wanted to see it. In addition, a dear friend of ours was stationed there while serving as a US Marine, and so we made it a point to visit Marble Mountain on this trip. We checked out of the Nam Hai in the morning, waving goodby to Manager Florian and the wonderful staff who came to see us off, and drove to Marble Mountain with our guide and a driver...
 |
| The view from Mable Mountain... |
 |
| The entrance... |
 |
| Map of Marble Mountain |
 |
| The elevator! Going up! |
Vets with a Mission: http://www.vwam.com/vets/marble/mountain.html
USMC Heritage Press: http://www.usmcpress.com/heritage/1960s_vietnam.htm
1969 US Army Map of Marble Mountain:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Mountain_Air_Facility#mediaviewer/File:Marble_Mountain_Airfield_map.jpg
1970 Marble Mountain & Vicinity: http://michaeldankellum.com/index_41.htm
There is now a clear ELEVATOR which takes you up part of the way! And from there you climb up even higher to visit the various temples and many caves, and see the incredible view...
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Yes, that is a swastika... a symbol that predates the Nazi misappropriation of it... |
 |
 |
 |
| Yes, this is THE most adorable garbage pail, ever... :-) |
 |
| Elisse, getting lucky drops of water... |
 |
| Rubbing Buddha's belly for luck! |
 |
| Dan and our wonderful guide! |
 |
| View from the top... |
 | ||||||||||||
| The view... |
Naturally, when you go to Marble Mountain, you get to see marble- and all the things you want to buy once you win Lotto:
 |
| Incredible,. right?! |
 |
| The ladies who create it all... |
 |
| Ho, ho, ho! |
 |
| I WANT THIS! Oh, for those Koi Chairs!!!!! |
 |
| Amazing stuff... |
 |
 |
| Rubbing Buddha's tummy for luck! |
 |
| Happy Buddha! |
Before going to the Danang Train Station to catch the train to Hue (Marble Mountain is right outside Danang), we had a great "take out" lunch with our guide at his lovely home! This was THE best "send-off' we could have Possibly had to end our wonderful stay in Hoi An!
 |
| LUNCH! |
 |
| A delish lunch with our great guide and his family! |
No comments:
Post a Comment