Day 12 - Marble Mountains, My An Beach, and Full Moon Festival

Today, I had a classic Vietnamese breakfast - banh mi chay and ca phe sua - and enjoyed it on the banks of the Thu Bon River. After that, I picked up my clothes from the tailor and rented a scooter through the hotel reception.

With the scooter, I drove to the Marble Mountains, which are located 18 km away. The five mountains are actually made of marble and are named after the five elements in Vietnamese - Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth. The mountain named after Water, Thuy Son, can be visited. The Marble Mountains have many caves and crevices, and almost every one of them has a Buddha or Bodhisattva statue or a shrine. In addition, several pagodas and plazas have been built on the mountains. From the summit of the mountain, I had a fantastic view of the surrounding area.

After the trip to the Marble Mountains, I continued further north to My An Beach. This beach and the two adjacent beaches, My Khe and Non Nuoc, were popular recreational areas for American soldiers during the war. However, the locals do not like the term "China Beach" that they created for the long stretch of coastline. At the beach, I rented a beach chair and got an excellent stone oven pizza from The Herbal Pizza food truck on the promenade. I even took a short dip in the sea once. Unfortunately, the rough waves only allowed for a brief cooling off. The strong wind soon made me put on my long clothes again for further cooling. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the beach, the sea, and the sun.

In the early evening, when I returned to the hotel with the scooter, I grabbed my camera and went to the Old Town. Today is the full moon night. New moon and full moon are important days for Buddhists. At the same time, in every full moon night, the electric lights in the Old Town of Hoi An are dimmed. Thousands of lanterns illuminate the night. People buy small candles in paper flowers, which they then let float on the river and make a wish. I not only took photos of the beautiful atmosphere but also took a boat ride on the river and released a candle flower into the water from the boat. Despite the large number of people, the whole atmosphere was magical.