Trip over a beautiful mountain pass on the coast - again in a private car!

From Hoi an via Da Nang is not a very long distance but leads through a gorgeous coastal area. Between Da Nang and Hue is a mountain pass with great views of hills and the ocean. Unfortunately the modern need for fast highways prompted the government to build a tunnel through the mountains which does not offer any kind of sights. So the solution was to hire a car and head over the Hai Van pass.

On the way we drove through the marble mountains, which today are no longer exploited but the local town still has some leftovers and produces all kinds of souvenirs.

In Da Nang (does anybody remember the name from the Vietnam war?) has a large Cham museum with many of the statues and sculptures from My Son.

Later in the afternoon, after a lunch in a beach resort, we arrived in Hue. Hue is the old imperial city and was also a major French colonial site. Unfortunately it suffered greatly during the Vietnam war though much of it has been rehabilitated in the meantime. It is here, where so many people suffered greatly from the war, that I became aware of the Vietnamese ability to forget about the past and be content with the present.