The Bridges Of Da Nang And A French Village In The Sky

Da Nang is a large and sprawling city, and our time here is very short – plus, we’ve discovered that the sights which we want to visit are a distance apart from each other and are all some way away from our seafront hotel. Sipping draught Tiger beer on our first night here, we are just debating whether hiring a driver for a day might be our best solution, when we look up and see a guy with a plastic wallet full of leaflets making a beeline for us across the road.

“Hello”, he says, “my name is Mister Tony. You want find a driver and guide for your stay in Da Nang?”

Either he’s a mindreader or Tiger beer has some remarkable qualities. So only half way down our second pint of Da Nang’s best we have agreed an itinerary, negotiated a fee, swapped WhatsApp details and put everything in place. Funny how these things work out sometimes.

It’s lucky we’re here at a weekend as we get to see a feature of Da Nang which is a little bit special. Several bridges span the wide Han River which cuts a swathe through the centre of the city, one of which, the Cau Rong (Dragon Bridge) has become something of a national treasure since its construction ten years ago. I mean, if you have to build a big bridge over a city centre river, why not build a giant dragon feature which runs across its entire span, head at one end and tail at the other?

At night, the Dragon Bridge lights up with ever changing colours, but it’s just before 9pm on Saturdays and Sundays that hordes of people flock here to see the spectacle which causes all the furore, because it’s at that time that the dragon breathes fire across the street. Really. It’s quite a sight and one which excites children and grown up children in equal measure, as the dragon’s head spouts long bursts of flame, followed by several powerful jets of water, into the air above the street, the whole show lasting around twenty minutes. The appreciative crowd cheer and whoop at every piece of action.

Around the vicinity, this iconic bridge has spurned numerous beer houses, street food stalls and a thriving night market, all catering for those who come to see the bridge, the event, or both. It’s an atmosphere all of its own. 

One of the admirable characteristics of the Vietnamese is their attention to detail, they simply don’t leave loose ends. When you make an arrangement, they will contact you several times to check everything is still in place, and consequently there is never the slightest doubt that things will go according to plan. It’s a compelling virtue which is one hundred per cent reassuring.

It’s exemplified by Mister Tony, who messages several times on Sunday then arrives on the dot at 9am Monday morning to take us around our chosen sites, first to the Marble Mountains back a couple of miles along the coast road towards Hoi An. This is another intriguing site with temples and shrines hidden within the recesses and caves of these strange looking rocks. Before being made illegal, unofficial miners were extracting the marble in order to fashion statuettes for the souvenir shops: a process thankfully now halted, meaning these centuries old shrines have survived both pillage and war over the last sixty years alone.

After the mountains we head to the hills – the Ba Na Hills to be precise, where the concept of Da Nang being the modern face of Vietnam is taken to a whole new level, in more ways than one. At the foot of the hills is an entrance so grand that we could just as easily be entering a 6-star resort in Miami; next come courtyards and gardens re-creating the feel of old time Hoi An – then, as if the senses aren’t already reeling, we board what is claimed to be the longest cable car ride in the world.

This run brings us to the sight we have specifically come to see – the Golden Bridge. We are now more than 1400 metres above sea level, yet here is probably the most eye catching footbridge we’ve ever seen, an incredible feat of imagination. It takes an inspired mind to dream up a bridge held up by massive hands cupped around the platform and stick it way up a mountain. Well, an inspired mind and considerable financial resource.

In fact, whilst the colossal hands which appear to be holding up the bridge look as if they are hewn from the adjacent rock face, they are actually fiendishly designed from fibreglass and wire mesh – they are not stone at all and they don’t actually support the bridge structure either. Nevertheless it’s a fabulous sight and an engineering marvel, not least because it serves no real purpose other than as a tourist attraction. It’s certainly worked, it’s already an unmissable feature for anyone visiting these parts. If this amazing bridge, completed only five years ago and which curves crescent shaped on the mountainside, appears to be ostentatious, then what comes next puts it into perspective.

Further up via a second, shorter cable car journey, is the Sunworld Ba Na Hills Resort, not yet quite complete and with much construction work still in progress. What a weird, though hugely popular, place it is. Part amusement park with “alpine” rides and the like, the main area is an entire mock French village complete with a Mercure Hotel, a town hall and numerous restaurants, sitting here almost 1500 metres above sea level in central Vietnam. The cable car stations are named Marseille and Bordeaux.

Neither of us have been to a Disney location and neither of us has a desire to do so, but Sunworld Ba Na must be something like one. Apart from a spectacular dance show in the main square, this is not our cup of tea…nor is the fact that a cup of tea, like everything else up here, will cost you about five times what you’d expect to pay in downtown Da Nang. The thing is, though, it’s worth every centime to take the lengthy cable car ride and especially to see, photograph and walk along that iconic bridge. It’ll probably hit some “wonders of the modern world” lists before long.

Mister Tony is waiting for us back down in the car park.

“You hungry?” he asks politely. We’re ravenous as it happens. “OK, I take you to special place, best Vietnamese food”.

Now that sounds good, based on the evidence of the three weeks of food from the Gods which we’ve already enjoyed. He pulls the car into a ramshackle market place back in Da Nang, and walks us through to a food stall with plastic seating (of course) where smells from heaven waft through the air.

“What Vietnamese food you like?”

“All of it”.

“OK. What foods you not eat?”

“Nothing. We eat everything”. He, and the lady cook, are visibly delighted at our answers.

And we are just as delighted with what we get served, one of those uplifting, brilliant occasions where we have no clue what we’re eating and every mouthful is another taste of ambrosia. The fantastic food experience of this whole Vietnam trip has just got even more exciting.

Thank you so much Mister Tony, you’re a good man.