Snorkelling off the Cham Islands, no thank you- Sea too rough

Saturday 11th April

Cham Islands, where we should have been

A days Snorkelling trip to the Cham Islands was planned, pickup was due at 8.10, at 8.30 our homestay got a call to say that the trip was cancelled as the sea was too rough. What a disappointment, and now we had no plans for the day. We were offered either a trip tomorrow or our money back and as the weather looks bad we decided to take the money rather than waste another day.

Môc Són, Hòa Són and Kim Són from Thûy Són

After a bit of faffing the only thing we could think of to do was a visit to Marble Mountain so we got a taxi and set off.

After half an hour in a taxi we had arrived (they are near Da Nang), a very busy spot and as seems to happen in Vietnam, every one sells the same thing, in this case, marble statues ranging from small to absolutely massive. This results in desperate sales people.

Budda stood on my head!

According to the guide books the Marble Mountains consist of  five hills on a flat plain, we could see six! One of them is so steep sided that it looks impossible to access the top so perhaps it doesn't count.

The biggest (and the one everybody visits) is called Thûy Són, it has three Buddist Pagodas, six caves, two view points (if you don't count the tops of two hills that you can climb) and an elevator (that the lazy can use).

Linh Úng Pagoda

We also visited this one first, the Pagodas are temples, the caves are small, as you would expect from being in a small hill, and most have some sort of Buddist statues in them.

We got in one through trip in Vàn Thông Cave where you end up climbing out nearly at the top of the hill, not the biggest hill but the views were good. From the biggest hill,the views were good and on a clear day they would have been excellent. You could see the whole length of beach from Hoi An to Da Nang.

Da Nang from Thûy Són

The biggest cave is called Huyén Không Cave and this has temples and statues within, and holes in the roof of the cave where sunlight streams in.

Sunbeams in Huyén Không Cave

The whole place has the potential to be really nice but there is litter all around and they are gradually filling every available space with cheap looking statues.

How many bits of tat can you spot?

We decided look at the next biggest site, on the basis that it was a short walk away and would therefore be quieter, this has two Pagodas and one cave. Ten minutes of walking got us to the foot of the hill, the first Pagoda looked shut so we walked on to the next, where the cave was. Quan Àm Pagoda was uninspiring, the cave was a small hidden entrance with a walk into a chamber with formations and,statues, beyond a small passage continued but after a short while the floor was under water and although the passage could be seen to continue, we did not.  Outside, there is a massive concrete construction which looks like it is going to be a huge Buddist temple.

When this lady claps, cover your ears

We were now Marble Mountain'ed out so we went home and then to the beach, even venturing into the water to be battered by the big waves.