Dragon Bridge

Possibly the most famous landmark in all of Da Nang is the Dragon Bridge, which spans the Han River from east to west. The Dragon Bridge is, as its name suggests, designed to look like a dragon, and breathes fire from its mouth every weekend at 9:00pm.

Just across the Dragon Bridge is Vietnam's answer to Singapore's Merlion, a dragon-carp that spits a stream of water.

It was a hot and very sunny day when we explored Da Nang on foot. We crossed the Han River Bridge, walked through the eastern side of town, and then crossed back on the Dragon Bridge. This gave us a great tour of the town, and we got to have some beautiful views of the Han River.

I can't get over how different Da Nang is from Hanoi. It's like a totally different country. Hanoi feels so very Vietnamese. Cold (even when it's hot outside), dark, rainy, grimy, historic, ancient, and very Communist. Da Nang is so modern, international, relaxed, colorful, bright, and laid-back. It's got a huge expat population, and it really does feel like an entirely different country. I had only visited Hanoi before, so I  thought that it really encapsulated Vietnam. I guess I was wrong! I will know more once I get to Saigon (HCMC), Vietnam's biggest city, but it really seems so far that Hanoi is the anomaly.

Da Nang even has its own version of the Lovelock Bridge, like that bridge in Paris. Couples will buy a lock to attach to the bridge to symbolize their eternal love.

I really do feel that Da Nang wouldn't be a bad place at all to be an expat. At the very least, I can definitely see myself visiting on a visa-run every year or so. What a beautiful city!

 

Couples secure their lock on the bridge and throw away the key, symbolizing that their love will last forever.

 

After crossing the bridge we visited a very small Buddhist temple. Unlike in Hanoi where most temples are Taoist, here in the central region, they are almost exclusively Buddhist. 

This temple was under refurbishment, but it was still a really atmospheric spot to visit.

This was a long, tiring day! We also visited a bunch of museums. By the afternoon, I was exhausted (and a bit sunburnt). The most interesting museum, though, was the Museum of Cham Sculpture. Champa was a Khmer kingdom that ruled southern Vietnam for hundreds of years. The art at this museum is distinctly Khmer, nearly identical to that at Cambodia's Angkor Wat.