Cold War Burning

Good evening from beautiful Danang.

Danny, in my opinion, the city of Danang has not let us down. What I recall as a city that had possibilities is indeed, finally and slowly, turning into a South China Sea destination. So, for you soothsayers who thought old muddman was gonna report as the old dispatches coming out of the war zone era, such as Gloria Emerson, or Wally Cronkite, or my favorite, Roger Mudd, well, I’m hear to report on the good and the bad and the ugly. What I see here in Danang is on the good side.

To Brian Nguyen, my Dentist assistant back in Littleton, who was born in Quang Ngai, but grew up in Danang, your fair city is indeed going in the right direction, in my opinion. I see where city planners have torn down entire sections of the old city and rebuilt it with wide streets for traffic, followed by sound looking building infrastructure. It is just as you said, Brian. So, to my good friends from Boulder, Colorado way, no, this is not “urban planning - Obama style,” this is communism tossed aside by city planners with a burning to survive.

We stopped at Marble Mountain on the way to China Beach, photo below, and if you are looking for a beautiful piece of sculptured marble, this might be the place. It won’t be cheap, but the one shop my driver stopped at has huge pieces waiting to be shipped to your backyard garden.

You folks who thought this old conservative guy was in the same category as the above mentioned reporters, who so wanted to report on only “one-side” of an issue, well, you need to reload with ammunition because this area has impressed me. As you have read, much of what I have seen so far has been depressing to say the least.

The above photo shows but a hint of the building frenzy going on at China Beach. Now, the Vietnamese do not like that China Beach name, as it brings back a piece of history they do not like. My guide asked me, “Where did you American’s come up with that name, this is not China?”

This morning, I came from the city of Hoi An by car via the beach highway, a divided 4-lane highway almost all the way to the Furama Resort on China Beach. The resort is a little south of the downtown area of Danang. I recall taking a ride out here to the beach during the war, and it was nothing but beautiful beach as far as you could see. Later today, I took a taxi ride to the north edge of town, to the Danang Bay where I recalled a few MACV advisory buildings were located. The streets on the drive were well maintained and wide with 2-3 lanes. The old MACV area I recall looked to be near a huge bridge construction, where a mini Golden Gate is nearing completion. The bridge crosses over to Monkey Mountain, and the advisory area I recalled has been leveled for the new bridge. See below picture.

Danny, the Mountain looks a lot bigger than I recall, but is still in the center of much activity with little building upon the hillsides. It looks much as it did back in our time. I was sitting out on the Furama Resort beach tonight, and to my left, in below picture, I could see the mountain very clear. I was thinking what might have been your thoughts, if you were here sipping on a beer and listening to the pounding surf.

Well, this old Army grunt toasted, first a beer LaRue, and a second beer, a Tiger beer to you and your courageous U.S. Marines who made this home back in 1965. The beaches today are busy, and built up from Hoi An to Danang, I only hope they do not over-build.

I had to take this picture of Monkey Mountain as clouds were rolling over on a beautiful afternoon. My photo does not do justice to what I saw from the Furama Resort.

Tomorrow I take a city tour on a rickshaw … cycle bicycle, then plan to come back and prepare for my final stop, Hanoi. I am looking forward to observing how the folks up north compare to the great people here.

Well, here at the Furama, where rooms are a bit steep, so also are the beer prices and almost everything else, including Internet time. It is too Americanized, and most prices on the menu are in USDs, not VNDs. All other hotels had free Internet access, but not here. Um, maybe they are a tad to capitalized, just as my fictional book describes. How could I be so right-on?

A picture of a section of the interior to the Furama Resort. a beautiful resort in a beautiful spot.

Another picture at the Furama, this one looking out through the main entry to the very large and private beach area. The surf coming in had waves up to around 5-7 meters, a hotel employee made that observation. I have no idea how that relates to California or Hawaiian surfing.

Danny, if you ever make it back here, I would sure recommend staying at one of the resort hotels on China Beach. Most have a grand view of Monkey Mountain, and Marble Mountain to the south. The old chopper airfield is still in plain view from the Furama. I took a picture of the rounded hangers and airfield sitting next to the beach. The airfield has not yet been replaced, but the Monkey Mountain area, I understand is controlled by the Vietnamese military and thus the reason not much building shows on the south side where my pictures were taken from a distance.

The below photo was directly south of the Furama and across the main road to Hoi An. You can see the American landing strip if you look at the break in the trees. You can barely see old hangers off to the left and to the rear of the trees in the foreground.

Okay, time to check-out for tonight.