After a sea day to recover from a late night in Hanoi, we docked at Chan May, the Princess port for Da Nang and Hue. The dock is small and simple to get around world a short walk to meet private excursions. It is the alternative to the much larger Da Nang port.
We exited the ship and made our way past several tour busses to meet our tour guide, Uli, a 25 year-old young woman. She and our driver helped us load into the car and we began the hour long ride to our destination, Ba Na Hills. It was interesting on the drive as every vehicle seemed to be driving at exactly the same speed, about 45-50 miles per hour. There was no weaving by the drivers. The other interesting part of our driver helped was going through the Da Nang-Hue tunnel which is just short of four miles long.
Ba Na Hills sits on top of a 4,500 foot mountain and was originally developed by the French as a vacation spot. They called it Banane, because of the banana trees that cover the mountainside. The Vietnamese began calling it Ba Na, which can mean my mountain. After the French were ousted from Vietnam, the resort fell into disrepair until the Sun Group, Vietnam’s largest real estate developer began remodeling it into a theme park resort.
The quickest way to reach the top is by one of six cable cars that take approximately 20 minutes. Uli, knew our biggest interest was visiting the Golden Bridge, so she chose the Hoi An (05) ground station and dropping us at the Golden Bridge, after a beautiful ride over the valleys and trees.
We got to the Golden Bridge early enough that we could dodge the crowds of the afternoon. It was great timing as I was able to capture some images of the two hands cut out of solid rock that hold the bridge. It is a wonderful look and an amazing view over the mountain. We wandered towards the gardens and then back to the bridge. By our return crossing, the crowds were high and it took everything to get through the mass of people. Everywhere you turned there were people posing and taking video blogs.
Uli took us to the short cable cars from the Golden Bridge to the French Village and built like a medieval town complete with a town square, cathedral, fountain and cobbled streets. There is so much going on. Uli gave us time to explore the shops, entertainment, the streets and the temples at the very top. It was like being in a small theme park.
Sharon ventured to the top to see the temples and the White Buddha that overlooks the valleys from the top. The scenics are amazing.
We had a buffet lunch of Vietnamese food that was offering so many choices. Sharon and Uli rode the mountain coaster afterwards. We then chose a different cable cars to descend an a rode above a beautiful waterfall before getting back to the car. Ba Na Hills is impressive, but the cable cars ride and the Golden Bridge is worth every penny of admission.
After a sleepy drive back to the dock, we explored the vendors beside the dock. They had so much souvenirs for sale, elephant pants, shirts, North Face bags and clothing, down to a couple of food stalls. After wandering a bit we remodeled the Coral Princess. We are on our way to Hong Kong for Easter with friends.
