DA NANG (CHINA BEACH), VIET NAM MARCH 11, 2008Vietnam officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, and Cambodia to the southwest. On the country’s east coast lies the South China Sea. With a population of over 85 million, Vietnam is the 13th most populous country in the world. The country is listed amount the “Next Eleven” economies, according to government figures, GDP growth was 8.17% in 2006, the second fastest growth rate among countries in East Asia and the fastest in southeast Asia.
The name Viet Nam had been used for this country before it became the official name in “Du’dia chi” of Nguyen Trai written in 1435 and perhaps even before. Vietnam is larger than Italy and almost the size of Germany.
When docked at an out of the way place, Chan May, which is being developed as a deep-water port, we were warmly greeted (as noted in the sign) by and orchestra and dancers in full costume. I found the greeting by the fishermen in the round boats with the single oar just as interesting. Who do they row a round boat with a single oar.
We stopped on the tour at very nice museum of Vietnam artifacts; limited collection in a French design building. Near this museum there was a war memorial commemorating the dead of the American vs. Vietnam war. This memorial however was only for the ones killed by the Americans.
Next stop was a Buddhist pagoda. Here Judy got some luck rubbing the Buddha’s tummy and Jim found himself in a line up.
There is a nearby mountain almost fully of marble. They have wonderful sculptures of religious statues, dolphins, free forms etc. We were interested in buying one as they are beautiful and very cheap, but time ran out. We did take a picture of one of the artisans carving tombstones on and embankment of a river. He used water to clear away the chips and let is run down to the river.
We stepped back to modern times for a moment with a stop at the Sandy Beach Hotel. Great beach, and fine hotel facilities right on China Beach.
Lastly, please look at a picture of the ubiquitous water buffalo this time giving the kids a ride.
