Big Lady Buddha, Dragon Bridge, and a Neon Skyline: A Day in Da Nang

Matt and I resumed our journey southward through Vietnam, stopping next in the port city of Da Nang. Reputed as the commercial and educational hub of central Vietnam, Da Nang is also well-known to Americans as the beach where US troops first landed in the country in 1965. There are famous images of battle gear-clad US soldiers arriving in Da Nang by water, ready for war but pleasantly surprised to be greeted by beautiful, traditionally-dressed Vietnamese women brandishing garlands of flowers. Despite the city’s importance in the Vietnam War, Da Nang is now more recognized for its industrial power and resort-laden beaches. We fought the heat and explored Da Nang by foot; there are few formal tourist “attractions” so most of our exploration focused on taking in the overall feel of the city.

Our simple yet very affordable hostel was perched above a coffee shop and conveniently located near Da Nang’s river and commercial downtown. Upon arrival, I immediately noticed that Da Nang was much bigger than I expected! With a population of 1.2 million, lofty office buildings and fancy hotels make for an impressively-dense skyline. Iconic, uniquely-designed bridges connect the “city side” of Da Nang to the “beach side” across a wide river. One of the bridges, built in 2009, is shaped like an enormous dragon and features a constantly-changing light display in the evenings. Apparently on the weekends, the dragon bridge boasts a fire, light, and music show each night. We missed the show as we were in Da Nang on a weekday, but the standard color pattern was still fun to see, with its lights reflecting on the water below. In fact, the whole city seems to light up in rainbow, neon colors at night. Buildings are decorated with lights and a handful of boats coast along the river, also lit up. In the distance, we could see a huge Ferris Wheel changing from red to white and back to red as it spun around.

During the day Matt and I walked along the “city side” of the river on a brick-lined pathway. We also wove through the busy city streets to pass restaurants, coffee houses, hostels, street food carts, and markets. After grabbing a meat-filled banh mi for Matt, we crossed the river on the Dragon Bridge and walked through a somewhat dead zone with little activity on the “beach side” of Da Nang before arriving at the popular tourist area with beaches and resorts. I tried to picture in my mind the American soldiers arriving at the beach; it must have looked so completely different then without all the large hotels and hundreds of tourists enjoying an afternoon swim. We hadn’t planned to go swimming, so we simply gave the beach a quick look-over before ducking into Ka Cong Café for a refreshing, do-it-yourself iced coconut coffee (see the picture below).

Walking along the "city side" of the river in Da Nang, with the Dragon Bridge in the background.

Crossing the Dragon Bridge. Lots of boats and a view of the other bridge behind Matt.

Close-up of the dragon's head!

"Do it yourself" coconut coffee components: Coconut ice cream, espresso, and sugary coconut chips to sprinkle on top.

We negotiated with a cab driver to transport us to and from one of the city’s most well-known sights: Lady Buddha Da Nang. Situated on a mountain overlooking the beaches, this white “Lady Buddha” is the tallest Buddha statue in Vietnam with its height equivalent to that of a 30-storey building. Matt had been to this Buddha on his previous trip to Vietnam and insisted that it was worth the journey! He was right; our visit to the religious site was a highlight of our time in Da Nang. Aside from the awe-inspiring towering statute, the area has an extensive bonsai tree collection in a large courtyard, an intricately-designed gate, and a nine-tiered pagoda. We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the frequent presence of bonsai trees in Vietnam’s many gardens, as bonsai is a cultivated ancient art form that originated in Japan over a thousand years ago. Bonsai tree maintenance apparently involves extensive leaf trimming, pruning, defoliation, and wiring to make each plant look like a true miniature of its full-scale version. While at the Lady Buddha, Matt and I mused that we had been so impressed by the few bonsais we saw at the Washington, DC National Arboretum years ago; If only we knew that we would see hundreds of them on our backpacking trip! From the elevated point on the mountain-side, we enjoyed a sunset view of Da Nang’s skyline behind the beaches in the foreground. It was truly an incredible experience, and we tried to take lots of pictures to capture the scene. After about an hour spent milling around the hilltop, we met our reliable cabbie and drove back down the mountain to the city side.

Courtyard with many bonsai trees.

Selfie with the Lady Buddha!

Bonsai growing over a statue of an animal.

Pretty Lady Buddha at sunset.

Matt with Lady Buddha and a smaller "Laughing Buddha" in the foreground.

Sunset over Da Nang - we had a nice view from the distant hilltop!

Pagoda in the temple complex near the Lady Buddha.

Matt and I had a hankering for “western” food after a number of Vietnamese meals in a row, so we indulged in burgers and fries (veggie burger for me, of course!) at a stylish restaurant called Burger Republic. The ambiance was super cool, with a red-and-black color scheme and framed drawings of revolutionaries lining the walls. We named many of them: MLK, Harriet Tubman, Sitting Bull, and more. They had board games at the burger joint so we played Scrabble. Matt was in his element, and I’ll just say the game ended poorly for me. We wrapped up the night with a stroll along the river, enjoying Da Nang’s many vibrant lights that I described earlier in this post—especially the view of the Dragon Bridge. Our single day in Da Nang treated us well! We managed to squeeze in a cool 20,533 steps, tasty meals, and quality sight-seeing. The next morning, we ate mediocre egg tarts and “sugar cheese pizza” at a bakery and hopped on a local bus to Hoi An, located just an hour south of Da Nang.

Panorama of the "beach side" and Dragon Bridge across the river at night.

Matt looking cute!

Selfie with the Dragon Bridge!