Tag: Danang

Da Nang Winter

The clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped about four days ago. At this time of year, gray, flat, overcast weather like this can last for days at a time, with or without rain. The temperature hovers just above 70 in the day and drops into the 60s at night. For Vietnamese used to nine months or so of hot, mostly sunny days, it feels downright cold. Yesterday, blustery 20 to 30mph winds made it feel pretty chilly out at the beach. This is looking north across Da Nang Bay at the mountains that separate Da Nang from Hue about 80km to the north. The Hai Van Pass that goes over the mountains is covered by clouds.

 

Pagoda, Da Nang, Vietnam

Buddhist pagodas in Vietnam bear a resemblance to pagodas in China with one significant difference – the dragons decorating the roof tops. Virtually every pagoda in Vietnam has dragon decorations on the roof tops; they give Vietnamese pagodas their distinctive style. As far as I know, Buddhist temples elsewhere have nothing comparable. Late afternoon light on a crystal clear day has the roof top dragons at this small temple almost glowing. The Chinese characters say something like “golden hall of the ancestors”, but I am not sure of the Vietnamese name of this Da Nang pagoda.

Lunar New Year, Da Nang, Vietnam

Vietnamese decorate their homes with various kinds of plants and flowers during the celebration of Tết, the lunar new year. Today is new year’s eve (January 27) and yesterday was a madhouse at the temporary market to sell Tết decorations. This guy is all set with his rather small orange tree lashed to the back of his bike for the drive home. While this man is bringing his own decoration home, there was an army of delivery men carting away trees and plants often much larger than this one on the backs of motorbikes. There are some larger orange trees and more buyers in the background. Unfortunately, the fruit on these trees is for decoration, not eating. I’m told the trees are sprayed and pumped up with chemicals to keep the fruit small while the trees continue to grow. Definitely not for eating. Alas.