Day 133 5/26/2023 Danang and Marble Beach

 Day 133 5/26/2023  

Danang and Marble Beach  Drove to Danang city and visited Han Market which was on the Han River.  I saw coffee, spices, dried food, fruits, vegetabes, household goods and then I went outside to wait by the river.  There were several statues on a patio beside the river.  

Our guide explained that the houses are narrow as the taxes per square meter are very high.  People keep the footrpint small and build at least two to three floors.  

The next stop was the Cham museum.  Artifacts recovered at Dong Duong were on display.  The images worshipped support the development of Mahayana Buddhism and the creation of Cham art. 

We visited a marble statue showroom which also sold jewelry, it was a bathroom stop with benefits for the owners of the business. 

We went to a cave at Marble Mountain.  There were several different caverns with Buddhist religious artifacts and a lot of Buddhas. 

We passed by China Beach, which is now called Marble Beach.  There were many basket boats/coracles on the beach.  It is believed that the fishermen invented them.  A basket boat is a round boat made of interwoven bamboo and then waterproofed.  The fishermen use it to travel across the shallow sea to board their bigger boats.  Some believe the basket boat was invented during the French colonial era.  The French taxed boats and it was difficult for the fishermen to pay.  They built big baskets and solved the tax problem. The boats are lightweight and move easily with the sea.  The basket boat stays above the water and rarely overturns.  Overcoming the tendency of the basket boat to spin takes practice.  Fishermen control the boats by waving an oar back and forth.  

The Lady Buddha Danang is located on the ground of Linh Ung Pagoda.  Lady Buddha measures 67-meters-tall.  She is the Statue of the Goddess of Mercy.  Each of the 17 floors house 27 Buddha statues for worship.  

Our guide told us that the Chinese can negatively impact life in Vietnam.  The Mekong Delta is a good site for growing rice, but China controls the water supply to the Mekong Delta and at times they stop the water.  Then the plants will not survive.  

Random thought from my guide- Tourism is big in Vietnam. Marble Beach used to be called China Beach and the military men used to spend R and R time there.  Fifty percent to the population is under 30 years of age.  Today, women are more educated and they often choose to marry foreigners - Americans, Australians, Brits, Canadians, etc.  Buddhism is the religion in the north and Roman Catholic is the religion in the south.  There are many differences between North and South Vietnam, weather, language, culture, religion, etc.  Becoming a communist country has destroyed the economy in South Vietnam. Prior to Communism, South Vietnam could rival Singapore, Malaysia, & Bangkok today.  There is a lot of coruption in Vietnam.  To work for the government, there must be no link to America or Saigon..  The South still calls the city Saigon, the North calls it Ho Chi Minh City.   Hanoi is corrupt.  It is said that Vietnamese spend a lot of money drinking, $3000 on beer.  In order to leave Vietnam, a person needs to buy a Visa and pay for a citizenship process at about $150,000.  A visa to Europe is expensive too.  If a person wants a loan, they must pay 12.7 percent for interest.  Many policemen are uneducated.  Grap is prevalent.  Young people are good with computers and Samsung is a big company here.  Vietnam’s exports include 1. rice, and also Cashew nut, coffee, tea, black pepper, and seafood.  Many Vietnamese have cancer; liver, stomach, intestines.  People make and drink rice wine..  China exports food to Vietnam and there are many chemicals in this food.  There was a lot of profiteering during Covid, $74 million for Covid test sales.  Flights from Africa are very expensive.  The airlines and the government split the profit.  Vietnam profits from the trade war between U.S. and China.  If the government sees you are making a large profit, they will send the police to take over your business.  Chinese have abandoned Vietnam.  Beautiful ocean-front hotels sit empty.  New construction,remains unfinished and homes and apartments sit empty.  Eighty-seven percent of all accidents involve scooters.  Last year, 14,000 people died in accidents.  Children age 12 and under must wear helmets. The French established the train 96 years ago,  If you are caught smuggling drugs, the punishment is death, unless you are related to someone in the government.