“I have a wealth of admiration for humans capable of shaping stone. Done well, they make breath appear beneath an enduring element.” – Old Sean
The Marble Mountain
My next day was mostly spent hacking through a daunting amount of paperwork and doing a couple of slow trips around the countryside, occasionally tossing stones into the water. Once I finally got tired of this, I made a short day trip to Marble Mountain.
Marble Mountain is a tourist feature in Da Nang, Vietnam’s large city to the north of Hoi An. The mountain itself is actually two or three separate peaks, sheer walls jutting up from an otherwise uniformly flat land nearby the ocean.
Parking is a bit tricky, as woman on scooters hawk foreigners and funnel them towards personal garages. The standard asking price is 10,000 Dong, which is a bit much. I haggled it down to 2,000 effectively and found a few temples a little ways out where there I could have parked with no fees. So, you know. Be aware.
Climbing Marble Mountain
As far as tourist attractions go, I think Marble Mountain is very tastefully done. The trails are a network rather than a channel, allowing a diffusion of tourists instead of all clumping up together. There are numerous interesting features, such as temples, polished marble statues, roosting dragons, fountains and scenic overlooks.
Unfortunately, the view to the ocean is heavily impeded by a new structure being constructed on the shoreline, likely a resort of some sort.
The mountain itself is actually a true, if slightly easy, hike. The stairs are steep and uneven and the elevator to the mid-section doesn’t access the majority of the sites, only mitigating the initial climb. There are dense patches of foliage and the whole mountain smells slightly of salt-wind and jungle, a unique and somewhat dense combination.
The coolest aspect, however, is the cave systems. Marble Mountain has a series of caves hewn, by nature or man, into its craggy surface. These caves are decorated with peaceful statues and small temples and arches.
The backs of virtually every cavern opens to the sky, allowing for sharp lances of sunlight to spear downwards at virtually any time in the day. The actual caverns aren’t an easy walk either. Occasionally, a tourist must clamber through narrow holes while gripping backpacks in their teeth to fit through the spaces. The stones near the top of the mountain are slick-marble, polished smooth by countless feet.
The Marble Boneyard
However, if Marble Mountain is cool, the area around the base is admittedly bizarre and also worth a look.
Living up to the name, there is a startling pantheon of marble statue shops surrounding the base of Marble Mountain. These shops sell a range of art, from small stone carvings that could fit into a pocket to serene Buddhist towers that rise above the shops themselves.
There are entire religions carved into pure-white or rose-colored marble. Gods riding lions, fierce monks, twisting dolphins, disks of thousands of hands, rising tigers, traditional Buddhism figures and pillars of birds are everywhere within the space of the two mountains.
It’s absolutely worth driving around this area a bit due to the extreme dichotomy. One second, you’ll be in a forest of finely wrought stone, evenly spaced and expertly displayed. A moment later, you’re in a junkyard filled with the same statues and chunks of unpolished marble half-embedded in the dirt.
A powerful figure might rise out gorgeously from a pile of shattered red bricks, framed by a chain link fence, or a tire might take predominance in your visage while viewing the imposing frame of Marble Mountain.
I enjoyed the unintended theme park around Marble Mountain as much, if not more, than the Mountain itself.
Moments of Rest
And with that, I’ve returned home for the night. I need to complete my normal online shift at the moment, and I’m planning on a peaceful pedal-bike ride through the rice fields tomorrow. I’m spending most of my free time online researching universities and other career options. I can safely say that teaching English has lost its appeal. I plan on breaking into a new field as soon as I’ve actually decided on something appealing. Monday, my self-granted off-day, I plan on riding a true motorcycle through the more impressive mountain trails.
So until then, best regards and excellent trails,
Old Sean
Written February 22st, 2020
Read more about visiting Da Nang and seeing the world by visiting Leftfade Trails Blog.
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