Four to six hours long - depending entirely on how often you stop throughout the day - Samoeng Loop takes you past waterfalls, vast valley views, towering mountains, cafes - some of which are amazingly set down in the streams so that your feet dip in the cool pebbled waters while you eat and drink - and fruit and vegetable farms.
With bright blue and sometimes lime green waters, the quarry has filled with water during the monsoon seasons. We spent the day going through the obstacle courses and ziplining our way across the quarry.
The mountains of Doi Suthep are towering and powerful, and the vibrant greenery of the forests that cover said mountains add a charming sense of peace to the landscape. The cultural significance and history here is impossible not to feel as you make your way up the steps and to the entrance temple.
They walk over, lifting their trucks and literally start feeling in our pockets and just taking the bamboo pieces. Two tiny babies, with a group of four adults, were eating bamboo shoots.
We took tuk tuks into the ancient town in the centre, where we explored temples, little street markets, and the like. It did not take long for us to decide that the inner city was where we wanted to be based.
In My Son, there are over 70 architectural temples and structures of the Champa civilisation. These structures were brought up from the fourth to the thirteenth century, and were built in sequelae, a durable material that ultimately has allowed for the preservation of these incredible buildings and structures, the likes of which are remarkable to see for yourself.
The full moon lantern festival happens once a month, and it is essentially a celebration of the moon. As the sun goes down, the streets of Hoi An's old city light up with thousands of lanterns, people come out to celebrate and the moon casts a calm glow over everything. It is magical.
Hai Van Pass encapsulates lush green mountains of emerald and lime green, views of a coastline that is so blue and picturesque it seems impossible, a bright blue sky, and a road that winds through the mountains at angles so crazy it feels like you are on a roller coaster of epic proportions. The road weaves through the mountains, rewarding you with the most beautiful views over the South China Sea.
It takes roughly an hour and thirty minutes to get from Da Nang to the hills. Here's the thing - it might cost a little more than you pay for most other experiences in Da Nang to do this, but it is entirelyworth the money.
The Vietnamese given name for the now-national park is Son Tra Mountain, and the mountain has incredible hiking trails that wind around it . The little road also winds and soars above the ocean with views so beautiful of the ocean and the green cliffs that you know that you will not be able to do them justice in pictures and videos.
Ancient folklore says that thousands of years ago, a dragon rose from the ocean off Non Nuoc Beach (today known more commonly as My Khe Beach) and laid an egg. After a thousand days and a thousand nights, the egg hatched to reveal a beautiful girl. The fragments of the dragon’s egg were left on the coast, and evolved to become the five Marble Mountains.
We boarded four flights to get to Da Nang, starting with leaving our home base of Brisbane, Australia. I know — four flights sounds excessive. ‘Are you insane?’, you ask? Maybe. But there was also a logical reason behind the decision — we wanted to save money.
