On Apr 20, 2024 we docked at Da Nang, Vietnam, the fifth largest city in Vietnam. Da Nang is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam and is the largest city in the region. It is within 100 km of several UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the Imperial City of Hue and the Old Town of Hoi An.

We took an excursion that took us initially through Da Nang on our way to Hoi An. As we drove along the coast, we passed rice fields, and a large number of hotels and resorts, both local and international. The area has become a large tourist destination for travelers, primarily from South Korea, Taiwan and other parts of Vietnam, offering a beautiful coastline and beach, and sunny weather most of the year.

Our first destination was the Tra Que Vegetable Village, a vegetable farm on which we were able to see a local, government-sponsored vegetable garden that was being worked by a number of local farmers. The vegetables harvested from these small gardens are used either by the families, or sold to the local hotels and restaurants for their many vegetarian meals.

Then we traveled into Hoi An, an ancient town that has been well preserved as an example of a Southeast Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. We walked through the old town and visited a silk processing shop, the Hoi An Museum, and the Phuc Kien Temple built in honor of Thien Hau, the Godess of the Sea.

Following that we had a traditional Vietnamese lunch and walked through the old town some more, before heading back to Da Nang. On the way we saw a dragon decorated bridge, and stopped at a local beach where we could see the Marble Mountain with a large Buddha statue in the background, and some local round fishing boats. We also stopped at a marble statuary store and saw some immense Buddha statues.