Danang and Marble Mountain
Before flying back to Hanoi, we stopped to hike up Marble Mountain, a series of grottoes with a nice lookout over China Beach and Danang in the distance. During the American war, the caves were used as a Viet Cong hospital, oddly quite close to one of the Americans' largest air bases. From the main cave, where a large buddha carving and small cement temple were built, my Dad, finace and I climbed further through a narrow gap and up smooth irregular marble boulders to reach the top of the peak for an impressive vista over China Beach. After the sweaty climb, we headed straight for the airport (the airfield still dotted with US-built Vietnam War-era cement fighter jet hangars) and had a Cut-throat Gin Rummy tourament waiting for our flight back to Hanoi.
