Ep 6 - Ba Na Hills to Da Nang, Central Vietnam | My Khe Beach | The Marble Mountains Caves

By the way, I am impressed with the size of this cave. I am visiting such a huge cave after a long time. Namaskar Friends! Welcome to Visa2explore! This is your host, Harish Bali. Right now, we are in central Vietnam, at Bana Hills. You must have seen in the previous episodes that we started our journey from Ho Chi Minh City. After that, we visited Da Nang, Hoi An, where we also spent the night. And now we've reached Bana Hills. In fact, when I came here yesterday, I recorded a separate episode. If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch it. In that episode, we covered the entire Bana Hills in detail. Yesterday, when I was roaming around here during the day,... ...I noticed that this place was not empty. I won't say that there was a queue here but someone was standing here... ...taking photos of flowers in the backdrop. There are a lot of places like this where people take photos. Not only this, like on the front, it is written Sun World Bana Hills. So, there are multiple photography points here. If you stand under any building structure, the backdrop automatically appears. Let us go and pick up the umbrella from here. And watch the scene of the morning. Let us see how the Golden Bridge looks like. By the way, when you come to the top of the Golden Bridge,... ...you don't realize where you spend an hour and a half. I've just come here and look at the number of people here. If you look at it after 2 hours, it will be 4 times more. And if you had come an hour earlier, the number of people here would have been 20%. After coming here, when you look down, you get an amazing feeling. There are mountains on the other side, dense forests. Look at how much maintenance is done here. The cutting of these plants is done at such a level that it looks amazing. Let me spend another 10-15 minutes here and then we will go to the bar. I was thinking that when I come to visit the Golden Bridge in the morning,... ...there will be no tourists here. I will be alone at the Golden Bridge. By the way, right now, I can see only a few tourists who have come here at night. And a few tourists who have come here early in the morning. The main objective of every tourist is to take photos at the Golden Bridge in the morning. So that there are no more tourists in the background. Anyways, we've already explored Bana Hills well yesterday. So, I just came here to take a glimpse of it today. Now, we will go down from this ropeway. After that, it will take us an hour to reach Dhanang. I will join you once we reach Dhanang. Finally, it is 2.45 pm and we've reached Dhanang city. Now, we've shortlisted this restaurant for lunch. You can see Loving Vegan in front of us. They've also given us the address, 61 Lee Kwang Dao Street. So, if you are coming from the airport and you are planning to go to Hoi An or directly to Bana Hills,... ...and you want to have lunch in Dhanang, you can stop here. In a way, you are inside the city and you will leave while having lunch. Let us go inside. We will get vegan lunch here. I had told you earlier that the restaurant sign here says vegetarian. I've ordered 3 dishes for lunch. I've already ordered 2 dishes. The third dish will also be served in 5 minutes. For now, let me tell you that this is Phool Gobi. It has been cooked in Tempura sauce. I've never tasted Tempura sauce before, nor have I eaten anything cooked in it. But I asked them to show it to me. So, this is Tempura sauce. They've served it with mayonnaise and I think this is celery. Right! I've also ordered this pumpkin soup. I've noticed that in Vietnam, they serve a lot of pumpkin soup. The speciality of this pumpkin soup is that they've used coconut milk in it. When you go to a restaurant, what do they do? For example, this is the menu in front of me. So, the menu has a Vietnamese and English name. And the brief description of the dish is written in English. So, while ordering, you get an idea of the price and what it is. These days, there are so many tourists that it becomes easy for them. Anyways! The taste is delicious. The sauce is slightly sweet and a little sour. They also add apple vinegar to it. I was also told that they also add brown sugar to it. As a snack item, I liked its taste. In Vietnam, they serve a lot of pumpkin soup. When you come here, you must try it. Very good! The coconut milk has a slight sweetness to it. I've never tried pumpkin soup with coconut milk before. It is my first time trying it and I like its taste. I enjoyed it. Pumpkin soup has thickness to it. There is also a hint of black pepper in it. And this itself is a mini-lunch. I wanted to tell you something about black pepper. If you haven't explored our website yet,... ...in which we are bringing spices from the place of origin... ...and making it available to you, you can check it out. www.spice2nuts.com I had asked some people to taste the pepper, but I didn't make a video of it. They liked the pepper a lot. They told me that the pepper that I am tasting is very spicy and hot. And they don't use hot pepper here. People don't like spicy food that much. That is why they don't use hot pepper in their food. The flavor is full but the spice level is low. So, our third dish is also here. It has tofu on this side. It has fried eggplant on this side. And there is a bit of chili on the other side. They have cooked it in a sauce. I am sure it has soya sauce and rice in it. I've noticed that when you order rice with something,... ...it doesn't mean that you will get a lot of rice. You will get only this much rice. Since this is a Vietnamese food restaurant, they don't eat a lot of rice. Their main focus is on vegetables. I've seen this in the past few days. And there is a lot of eggplant here. You will get a lot of dishes made with eggplant in every restaurant. And tofu goes without saying. Usually, I don't eat tofu. Last time, when I went to Bali, I ate tofu for the first time. And now I am eating it on this journey. When I went there last time, I was very excited to know how tofu is made. I wanted to see the whole process. I searched a lot on YouTube but I didn't find any videos. The people who found the videos didn't explain it properly. So, last time, I visited a factory in Bali. And I shot the whole process of making tofu. Although, most of the people in our audience haven't seen that video. But, in my opinion, I put in a lot of effort to make that video. In that video, I could understand how tofu is made with soya beans. It is delicious! The taste of tofu is better than the taste of this eggplant fry with this sauce. I've seen that when you go to a restaurant and ask them to serve you a dish rich in curry.... ...like the gravy dish we eat with mushrooms, there is a lot of gravy in it. But that is not the case here. If you ask them to serve you a dish rich in curry, they will tell you this dish. Rich means a lot of curry. They have 2-3 dishes in their menu. But that is not more than 2-3 dishes. When it comes to curry, it is not more than 2-3 dishes. And they eat it with rice. The taste of this eggplant fry is amazing! I liked it very much! I liked the taste of all three dishes that I've ordered for my lunch today. It is just that my lunch was a bit heavy today. Because I had no idea that they would serve me so much soup. After this, we are going to visit Marble Mountain. Marble Mountain is close to Danang city. I think it is at a distance of 7-8kms. To visit Marble Mountain in Danang, we are taking the help of Hau. He is a professional tour guide. You have your house here? Yeah! In the city? Yeah, in Danang city. Nice! So, how do we go to the Marble Mountains, through these stairs? Elevator is over there. Elevator! Yeah! Okay! Nice! So, this is one of the famous tourist attractions of Danang? Yeah, famous! The ticket for the elevator here costs Rs. 15,000 Dong. And the ticket for Marble Mountain is Rs. 40,000 Dong. Together, that is approximately Rs. 220 in Indian currency. There are a total of 5 mountains here, 2 of which are these. 3rd, 4th and 5th. These 5 mountains symbolize 5 elements. Metal, wood, fire, earth and water. Yeah, this is the Salar Tower. Yeah, Salar Tower! You can see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7! 7 floors! Okay! Number 7 is a lucky number. Inside, they worship 200 Buddha statues. He told me that the statues of Lord Buddha, which are here, are on the other floors as well. So, sometimes they allow you to go to the upper floors and sometimes they don't. Sometimes, they allow you to go up. Yeah! Lingdang Pagoda is one of the oldest Lingdang Pagodas in Dadang City. It was built in 1925, 100 years ago. They worship the Buddha statues inside. That is Lady Buddha and Shakyamuni Buddha. Yeah, this is the Tang Chun Cave. You know, in the old times, a lot of Vietnamese soldiers, they hide here. They hide here? Yeah, hide here. Because at the time, you know, Vietnamese and American war, fighting together. So, a lot of Vietnamese soldiers, they hide here. Okay. Yeah, you can check it. Be careful with your head. These caves are made of limestone. So, why are these called as Marble Mountains? Marble Mountains, because this mountain has a lot of marble and limestone. But, marble is a lot, limestone a little bit. More of marble. Yeah, more of marble. This temple is one of the oldest, the same years as the Lingdang Pagoda. It was built in 1925. Okay. Inside, they worship the Shakyamuni Buddha and the God Mountain, Mountain of God. Mountain of Lord. Yeah. Lord of Mountain. Yeah, Lord of Mountain. Okay. Look at this beautiful statue carved out of limestone. It looks beautiful. Beautiful! The upper portion of the cave is open. When the sunlight falls on the cave from there, it creates an amazing spotlight. I mean, it feels like a dramatic light. Artificial light is also used inside the cave. Rest, there is a lot of difference in the temperature inside and outside the cave. This is interesting. You can see and feel the cave a little bit closer. This is all limestone, right? Yeah, limestone. You can see over there, Linga and Zoni. In 6th century, the Champa Kingdom came here. So, they used to pray here? Yeah, pray here. Okay. The Champa Kingdom, which was a Hindu kingdom, people used to live here in the 6th century. They also used to pray here. We've already discussed this in detail in the previous episode. You can check that out. He just told me that in the olden days, when the Japanese used to come here and donate.... ....they used to write their names and the amount they had donated. So, these are the encryptions of that time. Yeah, this is the two fairies playing chess. Again, beautiful carving! Yeah! Made out of marble? Yeah, marble, 100% marble. We are going to visit the Huen Kong Cave, which is a huge cave. Huen Kong Cave is one of the biggest caves in the Mabo Mountains. One of the biggest caves? Yeah! What a beautifully carved statue! What I find amazing about this cave is that it is carved out of a single rock. Look at this statue of Lady Buddha, how beautiful it looks! And it is not just carved out of a single rock. The entire carving is done here. Amazing! By the way, I am impressed with the size of this cave. Huen Kong Cave! I am visiting such a huge cave after a long time. Whose statue is out over there? Shakyamuni! Yeah! Shakyamuni Buddha! And can you guess what is this over there? The head of an elephant! Look at the natural formation, he has identified it correctly and told me. It looks like the head of an elephant. I was reading somewhere that in this cave, there is a goddess of matchmaking. Somebody who wants to get married can come and pray to that goddess. Yeah, yeah, yeah! Some people want to get married when they see the goddess over there. Goddess of matchmaking? Yeah, matchmaking. Yeah, you can see here. Okay, deep, deep. Very clean. And very cool. Yeah, you can test. We can drink? Yeah, you can drink and you can wash face. Holy water. Yeah, natural water. Lovely. Okay, this is the Tham Thai Pagoda. Tham, it means three elements. Heaven, human being and earth. Tham Thai Pagoda. It was built the same year as the Lin An Pagoda. It was built in 1925. 100 years. Yeah, 100 years ago. This one? Yeah! Okay! We've come to visit a marble factory. This is the biggest factory in this area. They make a lot of sculptures out of marble. Our car has stopped here. Look at these beautiful sculptures. We are not visiting a factory but a showroom. I said we are here to visit a factory. What is the price of this? Let us see. One million Vietnamese Dong. This is moonstone? Yes, marble, moonstone. So, one million Vietnamese Dong is approximately 40 USD. 40 USD, yes, correct. Is this amethyst? Yes. Price? One and half million Dong. It means 60 USD. 60 USD. Yes. Okay. And what about this? And pork, the same price with this one. Same price. 60 USD. Yes. But you buy to get a discount. Sea pearls. Yes. How much does this kind of a pearl cost? This is 250 USD. And this is 150 USD and 100 USD. They are different. This first one is for 100 USD. The second one is for 150 USD. And this third one is also heavy. He is saying that it is polished from outside but the design is natural. Its cost is 250 USD. Thanks! We will have a look at this store. What else do you have? They have a lot of varieties in tea sets. The price of this tea set is 200 USD. Though the size of this cup is small, but it is stylish. Nice! Heavy? Yes! Quite heavy! By the way, this is a huge showroom. I was in one section earlier. I came to see this in another section. There are a lot of sculptures on the outside as well. Nice! We took a glimpse of this showroom. It is 5.20 pm now. So, let us do one thing. We will travel for 10-15 minutes and then go to the sea beach. We haven't seen the sea beach since we started our Vietnam journey. We haven't seen it. Let us go to the sea beach before it gets dark and we miss our visit to the sea beach. Thank you so much! Yes, no problem! Thanks! I wanted to visit the famous sea beach of Da Nang. It is called Mee Khe Beach. Is it right? Mee Khe! Mee Khe Beach! Okay! So, this sea beach is very famous. The main reason for this is its cleanliness. Another thing is that people have gone upto 80-100 meters to swim here. I think the water level is around 4 feet or 5 feet. Yes, 5 feet! I can see parasailing going on up there as well. Mee Khe Beach is the most famous sea beach in Da Nang. The special thing is that the vibes here are completely different. Tourists generally don't miss visiting this beach in their itinerary. As soon as we reached the sea beach, I saw some ladies exercising outside. There was loud music playing. So, the guide told us that it is a regular affair for ladies to exercise like this in the morning and evening. If I had come here half an hour earlier, I would have gone for jet-skiing. I enjoy jet-skiing a lot. And look here, there is a banana boat behind the jet-ski. By the way, if you come to the seaside and you have a large group of 5-7 people, it is fun to ride a banana boat. I've already mentioned this a couple of times. I've seen it in Ho Chi Minh City as well. And I've seen it here as well. The lighting outside the hotels and buildings gives the vibes of this place a different vibe. As you can see, it is getting dark now and the lights are on. So, I think this is a standard thing to do in Vietnam. If we go to Hanoi in future, we might get to see this thing there as well. Now, let us go and visit the Lady Buddha statue. Welcome to Da Nang City! Yeah, this is the Lin Aung Pagoda. You know, in Da Nang City, there are three Lin Aung Pagodas. Yeah, you told us about it. One at Bana Hills, one at Marble Mountains and Serta Peninsula. But Lin Aung in Serta Peninsula is one of the most beautiful in Da Nang City. So, we've come to see this only. Yeah, now we go to.... When we went inside the temple, we saw a prayer going on inside. Obviously, we couldn't understand what was being chanted. But it felt good. So, we bowed our heads and stayed inside for 10-15 minutes. So, I noticed that the walls of the temple had wood carvings, which were related to Lord Buddha. Obviously, we couldn't understand the whole story behind these carvings. But yes, the carvings were good. Now we've come outside and we see this tall statue of Lady Buddha. Very beautiful statue! Yeah! On the forehead, at the center, I can see light also. Yeah! So, how much is the height you mentioned, 67 meters? 67 meters! Okay! Standing on a lotus. Yeah, on a lotus. So, this place is open till 10 pm for tourists. Yeah, in the morning, from 7 pm to 10 pm. Okay! Yeah! Fantastic! And free entrance, no fee! Yeah, you mentioned that. Fantastic! So, before we end our day today, I just wanted to ask you, do you know some Indian words? Yeah! Tell me! Namaste! Chalo, chalo! Sukriya, sukriya! Chalo, chalo! Namaste! Sukriya, sukriya! Fantastic! Yeah! Excellent! So, what we will now do is, we will drop you on our way to our hotel, at your place. Yeah! Right! So, we will finish our episode here. Now, our journey for tomorrow is from here to Hoi. Hoi is about 110 km. And we will spend 3-4 hours in Hoi. After that, we will go to Hanoi in the evening. So, from tomorrow night onwards, we will be in Hanoi. Let us say bye-bye to you and thank you once again! Sukriya! Yeah! Spend good time with you! Yeah, yeah! Thank you! So nice! Bye-bye! Thanks for your time! Thank you!