Category: Da Nang

Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture and Cathedral

Today I went into Da Nang city and visited the Museum of Cham Sculpture. It houses over 300 pieces from Vietnam’s indigenous Cham people from the Champa Kingdom. The sculptures date back from the 5th century to the 15th and I saw pieces depicting apsaras (heavenly nymphs) and the Gods Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu and Ganesh.

Across from the museum is the Dragon Bridge, the longest bridge in Vietnam, which gets illuminated in the evenings and even spits out fire at the weekend.

I then walked to Da Nang Cathedral which was built for the city’s French residents in 1923. It is the only church in the city and serves the local Catholic community of over 4000 parishioners.

Huế Imperial City

Today we went to Huế with the same taxi man as yesterday. We saw old tanks and guns from the war. Then we went to the Emperor’s Citadel. It is like a castle with thick walls and had a moat. The Emperor and his family lived there 200 years ago. It was very big.

My favourite part was the elephant shaped bushes.

(Note from parents: Huế was the capital of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), the last of the dynasties in Vietnam. The Imperial City was the centre and was once an enormous complex of temples, palaces, offices, gardens and residences. It was enclosed within a square fortress (also called Huế Citadel) with each thick wall around 2km long and a wide moat on the outside. Much of the Imperial city has been destroyed, with the Vietnam War causing the most damage. Of the 160 significant buildings within the site, only 10 major ones survived the bombings of 1968. Many buildings have been gradually restored. It was a massive area to explore and we were there for most of the day. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.)

Da Nang beach and Hội An

In the morning we went to Da Nang beach and swam in the sea. It was warm. Then we got a taxi to Hội An and we saw lots of lanterns, peoples and bikes. We walked across a bridge and we had ice cream in a cafe.

(Note from parents: Hội An is known for its preserved Ancient town as a trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. Hence it’s architectural influences include French colonial, Chinese and Japanese, making it a UNESCO World Heritage Site.)