28.12.2002 - Da Nang By a prearranged deal, there were 2 little men waiting for us at the airport. They took us into a hotel by the dockside. The neighborhood wasn't much (I had high hopes about Da Nang as I had read plenty about it and it's important role during the War as the city where the most furious and important battles had taken place) and the rates were very high in comparison (something like 20usd), but the rooms were clean and very cozy, so no problem. Although I had to manually tune the tv (which only had vietnamese menus) to catch a inhouse movie and there was no hot water for the bath I had been longing for, the warmer air (nearly +25) outside kept me in the mood. We had chinese (I tasted duck; I don't see what the fuzz is about, it didn't taste like much) and went for a drink in a locals' bar. The man selling me the beer cans probably had never served a foreigner, as he had to take a minute to consider of how much money could he relieve us of without too big a hit on his consciousness. The beers ended up costing something between 6k and 7k per can, and the cold beverage tasted incredibly good in the warm night. We watched some soccer and then went to sleep. Summa summarum, Da Nang was a huge disappointment, worst of the whole expedition. 29.12.2002 - Da Nang We got up after seven, ate "breakfast" (honestly, I don't even recall what it was. probably that's not such a loss) downstairs and headed to the railway station to inquire about train tickets to Nha Trang. After a lots of language trouble with the ticketing lady, we managed (weren't so sure back then) to get us berth tickets (hard beds in a sleeping car) to the night train leaving at 4pm. That gave us a whole day to spend. We rented a minibus-like "car" and headed for some sightseeing down south.
	Traffic jam at outskirts of Da Nang on the way to China Beach. Our driver didn't want to spend his day in line, so he cut the whole 5km long line on the opposite lane. I have to admit that my knuckles were white more than once from grasping my seat when we met a grain truck head on at about 30km/h and dodged the last second.
	Well hello, a beach! Now this was something I had been waiting for. China Beach was deserted, since although it wasn't cold, it sure wasn't the weather to slip in a swimsuit, either.
	I sort of felt like going swimming. Notice that Charlie don't surf.
	Scenery on the way to Hoi An.
29.12.2002 - Hoi An and Marble Mountains After a quick refreshment (guess what kind) we continued on to Hoi An, an ancient trading town of the Indians and the Chinese. They charged the tourists some money (50k iirc) to even enter the village, and one would get 5 tokens for it. Those you could use to enter different sites including chinese shrines, buddhist temples and other historical estabilishments. We toured around the city for an hour or so, then bought some drinks for the way back and headed back towards to Da Nang where we would eat lunch and board the train. On the way we stopped at marble mountains to gasp at the numerous craftings. The personnel were very keen on trying to sell us a fountain. They would have shipped it "with no extra cost" to Finland. I didn't even ask what the fountain itself would have cost if the price included overseas shipping :-)
	Local housing in Hoi An.
	A covered bridge built by the Chinese sometime around the 14th century.
	Inspecting the interior of the bridge. There was actually a dress code to enter the bridge as it served as a museum. Good to know your local Heavy Metal Club's shirt would do.
	Showroom at the Marble Mountains, a boring tourist attraction. The works are breathtaking, though, and if one is into marble craftmanship, definitely a place worth visiting. On the parking lot we saw a bus hired by Aurinkomatkat (a Finnish packet tour travel company) and fled.
	I suggested we bought sculptures of two barebreasted goddesses, but the suggestion somehow did not catch much wind.