Yellow arrow shows our noon position which is half way from Da Nang to our next port in Saigon tomorrow morning. They call it Ho Chi Ming City but it's still Saigon to me. Sunny day and 80 degrees with smooth sailing.
YESTERDAY'S TOUR IN DA NANG
They changed the name of China Beach now to Marble Beach. China Beach during the Vietnam War was a "R&R" place where American troops came to have fun and get away from the war for a brief time.
This is our tour guide. I could not understand her even though she said she had lived in Sacramento for awhile. I asked her a couple questions and she gave me the wrong answers. Worthless in my opinion.
Fishing pens
Big fishing nets
Lots of motor bikes again here.
Government housing
This is the city administration building.
Women do not want to be tan. The lighter color skin they have the better. So the cover up even their face and neck.
Hong River in front of our first stop at the Han Market.
Entrance to the Han Market. This is the largest market I have ever been in.
Someone did laundry
The place was packed with tourists.
Hong River through Da Nang
They call this the Rooster Church because there is a rooster at the top of the church's spire.
Our second stop was at the Chan Museum. I'm not a big museum kind of guy.
Couple photos to show you what kind of stuff in this museum.
Dragon bridge which we will drive over later.
Pedi-bike guys by the museum.
Another huge ferris wheel
These are old aircraft hangers are about all that is left of the huge air base here during the war.
Our third stop was at store at Marble Mountain. Items carved out of marble. They also had jewelry here.
These ladies were polishing marble.
This is what I need in my front yard! Shipping is included in the price. Our friend, Brad, came on this tour just to buy something here. He showed me a photo of the reclining Buda he bought for his back yard. It was 3 feet by 5 feet and had to weigh 800 pounds. Like to know what he paid for it but he said shipping was included.
This is Marble Mountain that was behind the store. You could walk through this cave but there were lots of steps so I did not make it far before turning around.
Coming back out
Some arms coming out of the water. Interesting choice of the finger.
Some shops by the buses. Our guide warned us not to buy there .
Photos of Marble Mountain
Our bus was a nice one.
Apartments or condos
This is China Beach now.
Walkway along the beach. Opposite the beach now it is lined with hotels and seafood restaurants
Fishing boats
Early mornings the boats would bring their live fish catch and put them in the big bowls on the beach for locals to buy.
Our last stop was to view a Buddhist temple.
This is about 200 feet high. It was a long walk from the bus park to get the photo so no time to see inside the temple.
This is the temple
Here is my impression of Vietnam today. The people are very friendly but it is not very clean. Seems they just throw their garbage in the water (ie Halong Bay) or along the road sides (everywhere). There is a lot of foreign investments now including the US.
LAST EVENING
I did not get back to the suite from my tour until 6:45 (I was not happy the tour ran over). We had planned to go up to Sette Mari where Chef Anees was to prepare two chicken parmesans for us. Donald, the maitre'd, always saves us a table. I sent Rebecca up while I showered and dressed. I also made a Manhattan before heading up.
Minestrone soup to start with.
The chicken parm was big so we gave to to our waiter, Skinny, one to have after he finished. We shared the other which was more than enough and had a side of spaghetti. The chicken parmesan was very tasty.
This is Donald and Chef Anees.
I went to Duo Yalba's show but did not even make through their first number before leaving. Hardly anyone in the audience again.
TODAY
The were carving salmon in pastry today in La Veranda.
I decided on the chicken wings but they were a little undercooked.
At noon the Captain said we were 80nm off the coast of Vietnam but we're passing several small fishing boats today way out here. No way I would be this far from shore in a small boat.
Rebecca is watching her soaps on Paramount +. Yesterday the photos I took on my phone started uploading on the ship's wifi again. Hooray!!!! Makes my life easier with putting them on the blog.
This evening is the Seven Seas Society party in the theater again at 6pm. They have one every segment. So it is a formal optional dress night. Yes, tux time and James Bond martinis. Always on the menu on SSS night is miso glazed sea bass. YUMMY!
The show tonight is featuring Scot Robin's second and last show. He does Buddy Holly songs. We did not see his first show so may try to catch this one.
The Captain said we would be at the pilot station to pick him up at 5am tomorrow. Then we would have a speed restricted sail up the Saigon River and not arriving to dock at Saigon until 9am. We both have a 5 1/2 tour departing at 9:15, "Chinatown Then & Now". We will be overnighting at this port.
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