HOI AN DAY #3

So our flight (thank goodness we had booked a flight back to HCMC) back wasn’t until later in the afternoon, so we decided after checking out that we would start to head to the airport and stop off at “The Marble Mountains”.  I had read mixed reviews about the place, but in the end we were glad we went if only for this one picture. 

So we hiked up just a little ways (and by hiking I mean climbing these stairs…yikes)

and then when we would come to each small mountain with its own cave. Anciently the people built Budda’s in the caves and that is where people came to worship.  The first one we went to was the most spectacular because it had the openings up above and the light was hitting perfectly so that rays were streaming into the cave.  It was pretty spectacular. 

  

Also, along our way, we came across this creature.  The locals around us were totally freaked out and wanted to make sure we kept our kids away.  After reading up later about The Vietnamese Centipede, we were glad they told us to stay far, far away, although it’s not like we were looking to cozy up to it!

Audrey missed all that action since she was doing this:

It looked super uncomfortable, but she was totally konked out.  After visiting a few more pagodas and seeing some cool Budda statues literally carved out of the marble in the mountain, it was time to head to the airport.

When we arrived at the airport, our flight was delayed…a really long time.  We had arrived pretty early too, so I asked if we could get on the waiting list for the next flight.  We were the 2nd on the list, but we needed 4 seats, so it wasn’t looking too good.  The whole family was exhausted and we all fell asleep in the only available place…outside (it was hotter inside). 

We were able to get on the earlier flight, a mere 6 hours after we arrived, but at least 1 hour before our original flight finally took off.  We loved Hoi An, even with the struggles getting to and leaving from, but we were also excited to be back in HCMC because for our last two days we had a few fun things planned.