Day-16: Da Nang & China Beach

Day-16: Monday, February 17, 2014

Beginning Location: South China Sea
Interim Location: Port of Chan May, Hue Province, Vietnam
Interim Location: Da Nang, Vietnam
Final Location: Gulf of Tonkin

We awoke to a hazy morning with faint island outlines visible.






Soon the local fishing fleet was evident, vessels as large as a 50 foot boat to floating baskets no wider than 10 feet. Hauling in of numerous nets was a very manual process not changed from many years past. Some basket boats, and there were hundreds of them, were motorized but most were powered by the single fisherman/oarsman. Surprisingly for a round basket they were able to propel and steer the "boats" with apparent ease.

The ship was moored pier side by 0800. Watching the maneuvering is fascinating as the typical approach is simply head for the pier, a short distance off conduct a 180 degree rotation using thrusters and then simply sidle up to the pier. They've always had a tug stand by but so far all the maneuvering has been handled by the ship's propulsion systems.

Military & Police Welcoming Team

By 0830 we were aboard a bus for our trip to Da Nang. Our 30-minute ride on "Highway 1" took us through rice paddies, farms and the village of Chan May. To get from Chan May to Da Nang we passed through a 4.5 mile mountain tunnel funded by the Japanese and commissioned about 5 years ago. The tunnel cut the over-mountain ride from 40+ minutes to about 10 minutes but can still be tied up by slow moving vehicles as we would encounter on our return to the ship.

The street medians in Da Nang are exquisitely manicured. There were scissor crews all over town trimming and shaping the median shrubbery.

Dragon Bridge

Once in Da Nang our first stop was at the Cham Museum featuring artifacts from the Cham people who populated central Vietnam from the 5th century. There are less that 100,000 Vietnamese still considered to be Chams, mostly in the southeastern coastal regions. The artifacts were similar in nature to Hindu artifacts, honoring many of the same deities.

We had a chance to walk through the Da Nang market. The colors and shapes visible in such a setting make markets a favorite place for me. Of the wide variety of fruits, vegetables and fish, most were recognizable but some I had never before seen.

Moving on we visited a silk shop where local women were doing embroidery work weaving exquisite silk designs into a variety of murals, screens and cloth for clothing. This was a commercial event but one of the better stops as the work was fascinating and the products were beautiful.

Conversely our stop at a marble cutting "factory/shop was not so good. Typical garden statuary, lions, tigers, gods and goddesses, etc.

We passed by the Da Nang Air Base, home to American forces in the 60's & 70's and passed by Red Beach, the original landing site of the French in the 1950's and the first U.S. Marines in 1965



We then arrived at Marble Beach. Apparently the Vietnamese honchos no longer want to use the term "China Beach"; so here we were at China Beach, walking amongst the same basket boats we had seen this morning. The beach, a major R&R spot for American forces is beautiful but completely void of people, other than tourists such as ourselves and the fishermen.

We made one more Buddha stop before returning to the ship in time for a late lunch.

The ship's departure was at 1700, we were underway for the "north" and the Gulf of Tonkin.

For dinner we shared a table in the Polo Grill with a couple from the Seattle area. They were an Army career couple with he having served in the Army Medical Corps for 30 years and she in teaching and counseling. As with other folks, we all had much in common, well maybe not the Seattle Seahawks, but many other aspects of life.

It's evident from walking along the deck that the weather is definitely turning cooler.