Good Morning Vietnam! (yes, that was necessary =) )

First things first, breakfast. About half of our team had arrived by Friday night, so we decided to meet up in the morning and get acquainted over our first meal in Danang. After eating the not-so-vegetarian-friendly airplane food for the last 24 hours, I was actually pretty excited for some cereal and eggs! I had also heard great things about Vietnamese coffee, and was looking forward to a nice burst of caffeine to start the morning strong…that being said, you could imagine our surprise when we were greeted with pho, chili tofu, bread, dragon fruit, noodles, and bok choy at the breakfast buffet… Not to say that the food was bad, it was just not what we had expected! Note to self: don’t expect eggs at breakfast, unless it’s scrambled in the fried rice.

After a somewhat filling breakfast (I secretly snacked on a Fiber One bar for added nutrition) and a very caffeinated cup of black Vietnamese coffee (they weren’t kidding when they said it was good!) we piled 7 strong into a cab and headed for the beach! I had heard Vietnam had some gorgeous beaches…see for yourself:

If you squint you can see the tallest lady Buddha statue in the world  (white marble) in the background on the left

Local fisherman catching pretty much anything, including jellyfish!

A little bit of down time before the work starts!

After a peaceful walk on the beach and a nice cold drink, we headed straight to the famous Marble Mountains – a set of five steep mountains made of marble and limestone. The mountains housed beautiful and serene temples tucked inside the hollow caves and many pagodas.

One of the many aforementioned temples

Pagoda posing

A few of us decided to be adventurous and climb to the peak

Naturally, the mountains were surrounded by a marketplace of marble stores where you could find pretty much anything carved into the stone. You know those massive marble lions that the more wealthy people in the USA park outside of their houses? If you ever want 2…or 100…this is where you can find them!

Tomorrow…we are off to Hue!

-R