Our return to Danang, Vietnam

Phillip and I are now over halfway thru this trip, with no more new countries to visit, but we do have new locations in our favorite countries to see before we return home in five weeks. We have been in Danang, Vietnam for the past few days, arriving via a flight from Chiang Mai, Thailand. We've been to Danang before but on our previous visit, we didn't see its famous Golden Bridge.

During our first day in Danang, we walked along the beach and were pleased to see the exhibit of decorated basket boats. I don't know how often they update the paintings, but these were totally different scenes on these bamboo boats than what we'd seen before.

Yesterday, I booked us a tour to visit Ba Na Hills, a resort/amusement park-like area about 20 km north of Danang. This is where the Golden Bridge is as well as the world's longest non-stop cable car. Everyone must take the cable car to the attractions area and the first thing you see as you get to the top, is the Golden Bridge's hands.

It looks like a bridge held up by two giant concrete hands. 

And, several hundred of our closest friends joined us to walk on the bridge for pictures! 

The Ba Na Hills complex encompasses several hundred acres at the top of the mountain. We found another, smaller hand statue in one of the gardens.

Everywhere you turned, there were landscaped gardens like this peacock-themed one.

The complex had an alpine roller coaster and several arcade areas that we did not visit. It also had a multitude of restaurant and an area with a European village theme. We didn't find that very authentic because the cobblestones were too smooth and evenly laid! Next to the Rose Garden (not many roses blooming that day), we found about ten of these guys in a row. Not sure what they were meant to represent.

We also walked by the Helios Waterfall, with its gaudy gold statues. Not a fan at all because it reminded us of someone else who favors garish gold-colored furnishings.

We quickly moved on to another garden area, with stairs leading up to a temple. 

After three hours at the top of Ba Na Hills, our tour group came together again and rode the cable car back down the mountain.  Even the trip down had sights to see, carved into the rock of the mountain.

We were able to also see the construction supply area. A lot of concrete is needed, as more buildings were being added to the complex.

Today, we took a Grab to Marble Mountain, just 7 km away, and toured it on our own. According to the legend, a dragon flew from a nearby beach and laid an egg. A beautiful girl hatched out of the egg and the eggshell broke into five pieces, forming five mountains. These are the Marble Mountains, and they are five connected mountains that jut up from flat land of the area. Pagodas and temples have been built into the mountains for over 400 years. Only one mountain, Water Mountain, is accessible to tourists. We paid for an elevator ride up (15k VND, less than $1) but it stopped halfway to the top. Steps the rest of the journey. We saw many Buddhas, outside statues 

and ones carved inside caves from marble.

Large Buddhas,

and Buddhas in large caves.

And those steps... still hundreds of steps after the elevator. Notice that they are not level or the same height. Also, some were marble (slick) and some were concrete (not slippery).

We walked down from the top of the mountain and returned to our hotel to cool down.

Tomorrow (Friday, the 29th), we head two hours south to stay in one of our favorite locations, Hoi An.

Five Days in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Phillip and I spent five days in Thailand, in our favorite city of Chiang Mai. I did not make a post there because typing while sitting on the bed was just too uncomfortable! We loved our hotel, Cheeva Dee, with its friendly staff, huge modern bathroom, and made-to-order breakfasts, but there was no desk in our room. I waited until moving on to our next hotel to make this Chiang Mai post. We had flown from Malaysia to Thailand on May 20th, with our first order of business to have Thai food. We walked to a nearby small restaurant (all restaurants are nearby in Chiang Mai!) where I had a northern Thai specialty, Khao Soi. It is curry noodle soup and delicious. Phillip had pad Thai. 

Our hotel was within the walls of the Old City, so during our first full day, we walked the Old City perimeter, 1.6 km for each of the four walls around the enclosed square (total: about 4 miles). 

The ancient brick walls are no longer continuous around the Old City, but the streets and moat still define it as a specific area. 

We stopped at a small market area where I bought some fresh jackfruit from a fruit vendor. 

One of the main gates was home to many, many pigeons. People were taking pictures with the pigeons, but yuck! Pigeon poop! 

On Friday, the 22nd, we had a half-day e-bike country-side tour. I figured we wouldn’t pedal much with an e-bike, so we’d be fine. Well, pedaling was involved and I didn’t fully appreciate the effect of a bicycle seat for 35 km. Although most of the rice fields had just been harvested, our guide took us past some lovely spots. Our first stop was at a wat (temple).

He said that this temple was the location for a movie scene a few years ago, so now people are showing up in traditional costumes to make Instagram posts from here. No costume for us, but he did take our picture there.

We did get tired and sore by the end of our ride. Phillip and I both were using more battery than pedal during the last five km. 

the e-bike that I rode

The following day, we waited until the evening before we went out because we were sore from the bike ride. We walked to the Saturday Market and had Chiang Mai sausage for dinner, purchased with rice from a street vendor. Phillip’s sister-in-law, Miriam, made this for us at the ranch one year. It is delicious, but spicy from the Thai peppers.

I saw grilled corn and could not resist. 30 baht is less than $1 and this was coated with coconut milk when grilled. Wonderful!

A major street was closed to traffic for the Saturday Market and the vendors set up in the roadway. Over a km of vendors and crowds of people.

Although Miriam teaches us to cook Thai dishes whenever she visits, Phillip and I took a Thai cooking class on Sunday. A van picked us up and drove outside of the city to an organic farm where they had cooking stations under a large, covered area for us to use.

One of the dishes that I made was chicken with holy basil. Holy basil is spicier than Thai basil. 

Phillip made chicken with cashews. 

We also made curry dishes, and we pounded the seasonings to make the different curry pastes for our dishes, no food processors!

On Monday, we flew from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, changed planes, and flew on to Danang, Vietnam. We had plenty of time to catch the second plane in Bangkok, so the travel day was easier than I had anticipated. We have four nights here in Danang with activities planned. 

More KL: 2nd tallest building in world, Petaling Street, Batu Caves, and Orchids

As Phillip and I continue our week-long stay in Kuala Lumpur, we are visiting more of the must-see places in this city. We aren’t using public transit because, although it’s reputed to be decent, the structure and payment systems are not tourist friendly. There’s an MRT (subway), an LRT (light rail), a commuter line and a bus company or two. All are different companies and the access points to the rail lines do not identify which line has service there. Also, one must buy their token or card to ride. So, we are either walking or taking Grab. 

On Sunday, we walked to Merdeka 118, currently the second tallest building in the world. The 118 in its name refers to the number of useable floors in it. 

The inside of the structure isn’t finished. It will have a shopping mall soon, but we could visit the lobby which had a cool water feature. 

Signage at the front identified the height and specifics. 

After Merdeka, we walked to Petaling Street, which is the main shopping thoroughfare of Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown neighborhood. We see people with personal rechargeable fans so Phillip bought himself one here. 

Leaving Chinatown, we came across some public art installations.

In this same area of town was a feature called the River of Life. Kuala Lumpur translates to “muddy confluence.” This River of Life spot is where the city was historically born, at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak rivers. One of the oldest mosques in town was built here and this area has a nightly light show on the water. 

We didn’t go back at night but enjoyed watching a local inhabitant while we were there during the day. 

Near the River of Life was the square where Malaysian independence was declared in 1957. Ornate buildings surround the square, including this one, the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, constructed during the 1890s, and refurbished in 2012 and 2025.

As the Merdeka 118 is the tallest structure in the country, it can be seen from just about any point in Kuala Lumpur.

Monday, Phillip and I took a Grab to Batu Caves. About a thirty-minute drive from our hotel, entrance into the main cave is free. We walked past a few Hindu temples to reach the main cave. Monkeys populate the area and were all over the temple ornamentation.

Batu Caves is famously known for its 272 colorful steps that lead up into a cave where a Hindu temple was built in 1920. 

The golden statue at the steps is the 140-foot representation of the Hindu god, Lord Murugan. This site, in addition to being a tourist spot, is a legitimate Hindi religious location. 

I walked up the steps and into the cave. At the top, two large caverns are found, a covered one with the temple built on the side 

and the second one which is partially open to the sky and contains vegetation growing up the walls… and monkeys. 

Walking back down the steps was easier than climbing them, although I must admit that I did not spend a lot of time looking at the view, rather just at the next step in front of me. I did not want to tumble down those rock stairs. I stopped at a landing for a picture.

We paid 10 MR each ($2.50 US) to visit a smaller cave that had dioramas of the Hindu epic stories. 

Peacocks strutted near the entrance,

where we also saw a brief Hindu cultural show

and visited another small cave of colorful exhibits.

And a final picture of a Malaysian monkey. This guy was next to my handrail as I came down the cave steps. The monkeys got plenty of fruit from other guests, so they did not bother us. 

Today, our last day in Malaysia, included a trip to the Perdana Botanical Garden. Kuala Lumpur has at least three public gardens. I chose this one because it was closer and did not have any major closures for reconstruction. Also, its orchid garden was free to enter during weekdays.

And plenty of orchids to see!

The Gardens had paved walkways, bricked walkways and these graveled walks.

As we strolled around, we frequently came across water features also.

Bananas anyone? Not quite ready but this is what they look like on the plant.

Near the Garden's major lake, we noticed these trees. Not natural but weaved together as they grew.

Also near the lake, the pavilion had an amusing cover, reminding us of Singapore's attractions.

This botanical garden was smaller than the one in Singapore but it had a steep hill in the middle of it. We didn't relish climbing the hill again at the end of our visit to get to our original drop-off point, so I was very happy to find an underground tunnel near the lake that took us under a major highway to the National Museum and its Grab pick-up spot! We found that sometimes, based on safety concerns, Grab only picks up at designated locations. 

Back at our hotel, we did a load of laundry and will repack soon to fly to Thailand tomorrow. On to Chiang Mai and our 7th country of this adventure.