Last year (2024) in November, we first visited Vietnam. While planning our trip, I hardly came across anyone suggesting to visit My Son Sanctuary. But one evening, Parina brought my attention to a documentary on this archaeological site in the Quang Nam province near Da Nang. Initially, we were not sure of its significance, and had our doubts whether it would be worth visiting. But a little more research did convince us to plan a day trip to My Son Sanctuary from Da Nang. And we were so happy later that we did keep a day for this.
We clubbed another interesting site enroute in the day trip- that of the Marble Mountains (Ngu Hanh Son). Starting in the morning by a taxi around 10.00 AM, we reached the Marble Mountains ~ 10.30 AM.
Marble Mountains:
Ngu Han Son, popularly known as Marble Mountains is a group of five marble and limestone hills, about 12 kms south of Da Nang. Literally speaking, Ngu Hanh Son means ‘Five Elements’- metal, water, wood, fire and earth. One can enter the hills through cave entrances and inside, there are Buddhist shrines. Walking through the tunnels and reaching its center was truly a fascinating experience. We climbed the narrow steps inside to reach the top and look around the landscape. (More about the place in a separate article later)
After spending about an hour at the mountains, we left for My Son Sanctuary (~40 kms from there) around 12 PM.
