Da Nang museum of cham culture- Da nang- Vietnam 2019

The first structure in what is now the Đà Nẵng Museum of Cham Sculpture was built in 1915.

However, many of the Cham sculptures here were actually collected over the 20 years prior to the construction of this first building. Coming from sites around Đà Nẵng and Quảng Nam Province, they were brought to this site and displayed in what was then known as “The Garden of Tourane”.

The collection of Cham sculpture was begun by French archaeologists and experts from L’École Française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO). Some artifacts were sent to museums in Paris and others to museums in Hà Nội and Sài Gòn (now Hồ Chí Minh City). However, the most typical and precious objects were left here in what was then known as Tourane (now Đà Nẵng).

 

 

Làng Bích họa Đà Nẵng Da Nang Fresco Village

I have just come back from Danang in Vietnam this April 2019, One of the things I look for as a photographer is the unusual and artistic areas of anywhere I am visiting.

Here in the heart of Danang is a community project to combine sustainable tourism and turn degraded houses into desirable homes for the local people.

The project has commissioned more than 30 mural paintings, with the theme being; Culture, beauty and nature and the people of Danang.

The project was started in early 2018 and is expected to expand to other localities across the country by 2019.

Tan Thanh fishing village being the other better known project, which i also visited and will be posting the video of shortly!

If I was asked which was my favourite, i would be hard to choose, but I think the butterflies and the simple images of children playing traditional games that are painting on the school wall.

 

Heroic mother Nguyen Thi Thu

The Statue of the Heroic mother Nguyen Thi Thu
Danang-Vietnam

The Largest statue I have seen to any mother anywhere in my travels.
I arrived here at about 12 noon so the sun was right on top of me, it was unbearably hot, but I wanted to do this woman justice with the light and the one colour granite that she is carved from.

A great monument not just to this hero mother of the communist regime in Vietnam, but to all Mothers of the World, being here gave me a great sense of being a “Mother” and the size and grandeur is fitting to us all. Interestingly inaugurated on March 24th 2015, being my birthday day!

I found it a very calm and restful place to be, huge gardens covering some 15 hectares in Cam Mountain, sadly it was so hot when I visited that I could only manage a small part of this great monument.

Costing a little over VND 410 billion (US$19 million) contributed by local authorities and beneficiaries from inside and outside the country. Inside the actual sculpture is housed a museum honouring the lives and contributions of 50,000 Vietnamese heroic mothers nationwide.

As you approach it from the massive roadside car drop off, you will be met first by it eight pillars sculpted with images of heroic mothers from across Vietnam as well as young volunteers who fought and died in the Truong Son Mountains. houses inside a museum honouring the lives and contributions of 50,000 Vietnamese heroic mothers nationwide. This is followed by four plateaus of steps, with a smooth path running alongside for those unable to manage the very easy steps

 

Cao Dai Temple Danang

From my recent visit to this Cao Dai Temple in downtown Danang in Vietnam, a great place to find sanctuary for the hustle and bustle of the City around it.

Here you will find the concept of a “One World Religion” and I really liked that and the layout and un-fussiness of the whole building.

Founded in Vietnam in the early 1920s, Cao Dai is based on the main religions of the East and West and takes as its saints characters from different cultures, such as Joan of Arc, Victor Hugo, Shakespeare and Lenin. Today the religion has approximately 1.5 million followers. The temple in Da Nang, the second largest in the country, houses representations of the Divine Eye, the emblem of the doctrine, as well as the founders of Islam, Christianity, Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism.

Caodaists believe that all religions are ultimately the same and seek to promote tolerance throughout the world.

Worshippers at the Cao Dai Temple strive for world peace and harmony with beliefs steeped in a number of world religions. Followers must obey the five virtues of Confucianism – humanity, obligation, civility, knowledge and reliability and have belief in the Buddhist principles of rebirth and karma.

Watching Caodaists pray is one of the major highlights when visiting the temple as they dress in long flowing robes of white for lay followers, yellow, blue or red for priests whilst bishops have the Divine Eye embroidered on their headpieces. During worship, men are seated on the right and women on the left with all devotees seated in orderly rows. The building is a combination of Neo-Gothic, Baroque and Oriental design and is very ornately decorated including dragon wrapped pillars, seven-headed cobras and ceilings of sky blue.

Tam Thanh Mural Village-Vietnam 2019

April 2019 I stayed in Danang and had heard about this wonderful Art decorated Village with it’s famous murals.

One of several Art villages to be seen in Vietnam. I nearly didn’t get here because it is about an hours drive from Danang on the road to Hoi An .

As luck would have it, i got a good price and went and don’t regret it for a minute, I was rewarded with some of the most talented street art/Murals I have seen and very friendly people.

As I did this trip independently I was not crowded by the “our buses ” that come in from Hoi An around lunchtime, so had the whole place practically to myself.

This gave me time to explore every nook and soi(tiny alleys) and get some of the not so frequently seen murals.

Tam Than is a fishing village still and there are still fishermen , there boats lined up on the unbroken shoreline.

A wonderful place to go….Tell me which is your favourite in the comments

below!

 

 

Tam Thanh Mural Village

April 2019 I stayed in Danang and had heard about this wonderful Art decorated Village with it’s famous murals. One of several Art villages to be seen in Vietnam. I nearly didn’t get here because it is about an hours drive from Danang on the road to Hoi An .

As luck would have it, i got a good price and went and don’t regret it for a minute, I was rewarded with some of the most talented street art/Murals I have seen and very friendly people.

As I did this trip independently I was not crowded by the “our buses ” that come in from Hoi An around lunchtime, so had the whole place practically to myself. This gave me time to explore every nook and soi(tiny alleys) and get some of the not so frequently seen murals.

Tam Than is a fishing village still and there are still fishermen , there boats lined up on the unbroken shoreline. A wonderful place to go….Tell me which is your favourite in the comments below!

Cao Dai Temple Danang

From my recent visit to this Cao dai Temple in downtown Danang in Vietnam, a great place to find sanctuary for the hustle and bustle of the City around it.

Here you will find the concept of a “One World Religion” and I really liked that and the layout and un-fussiness of the whole building.

Founded in Vietnam in the early 1920s, Cao Dai is based on the main religions of the East and West and takes as its saints characters from different cultures, such as Joan of Arc, Victor Hugo, Shakespeare and Lenin. Today the religion has approximately 1.5 million followers. The temple in Da Nang, the second largest in the country, houses representations of the Divine Eye, the emblem of the doctrine, as well as the founders of Islam, Christianity, Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism.

Caodaists believe that all religions are ultimately the same and seek to promote tolerance throughout the world.

Worshippers at the Cao Dai Temple strive for world peace and harmony with beliefs steeped in a number of world religions. Followers must obey the five virtues of Confucianism – humanity, obligation, civility, knowledge and reliability and have belief in the Buddhist principles of rebirth and karma.

Watching Caodaists pray is one of the major highlights when visiting the temple as they dress in long flowing robes of white for lay followers, yellow, blue or red for priests whilst bishops have the Divine Eye embroidered on their headpieces. During worship, men are seated on the right and women on the left with all devotees seated in orderly rows. The building is a combination of Neo-Gothic, Baroque and Oriental design and is very ornately decorated including dragon wrapped pillars, seven-headed cobras and ceilings of sky blue.

Da Lat Crazy House

One of my favourite places in Vietnam was the hilll station town of Da Lat. Cool and friendly I enjoyed the atmosphere of the town and this utterly crazy and weird guesthouse. Yes you can stay in it and you can just look around if you want to. Very Hansel and Gretal!