Beyond Pho – From Marble Mountains onto Hoi An

God might have been with me on Monday, but certainly not on Tuesday.  There was intermittent rain when we had breakfast.  We liked the crisp baguette yesterday, so this time we ditched the eggs and requested Vietnamese ham instead.

Our driver kept us wait a bit but we made it to the Marble Mountains at 10:15.  We had two hours there, and I was thankful that there was an elevator there for a fee.  The hike up after the elevator was no trouble.

The Marble Mountains is a cluster of five mountains of marble and lime.  They are named thus after the five elements of Gold, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth.  We were at the most popular mountain out of the five: Water.

The towers were more beautiful than what I expected judging from what was available on TripAdvisor.  The caves and the grottos seem to intercede amongst each other.  We went from one tower or pagoda to a cave, then to a tower.  It was good for resting due to the cool air and the shelter in the caves.  The rain was consistent.  In fact, it was raining harder and harder.  The steps were wet and steep, and there were times we had to use all four to move about.  These numerous caves were our temporary reprieve.

The last cave with two chambers (enough to host a whole congregation of monks) were by far the most impressive.  By then, my printed map had completely soaked to disintegration.  Our shoes were all soaked too.  It looked like I would have to buy new runners.

Hoi An was our destination on this trip.  We made it to the homestay and checked in.  There were bikes for our use (no fee), and so we biked to the Old Town.  On our way we passed by a nice and big restaurant, Sang Thanh.  We had cao lau, pancakes and veggies.  It was very good.

Hoi An and its Old Town was bustling with tourists on this celebration time of the Mid-Autumn Festival.  The streets were lined with tailor shops, for which Hoi An was well-known.  The first impression of Hoi An was how neat and clean it was.  Colorful lanterns hang on the souvenir shops all along its main streets.  Festivity was in the air.

At Quan An 19 we had our dinner that evening.  We ordered beef hot pot, white rose (a smallish fish and shrimp dumpling) and fried veggies.

There was hiking, there was lunch, there was dinner, and that was Day 3.  All very good.