China Beach, Danang

China beach was the most American place we could find to celebrate the 4th of July. There were no hamburgers though and fireworks have been outlawed since 1995. Apparently they had had enough with things that go boom in the night. Still, we thought of Uncle Sam and Uncle Ho as buddies and you have to admit that if you took off the stove pipe hat, there is a similarity. What do you think? Uncle Sam, Uncle Ho and Colonel Sanders... separated at birth?

I cant believe we're hanging out on the famous China Beach where the US troops relaxed during the Vietnam War. A starving, unemployed 15-year old Vietnamese kid with a BIG smile sat down next to us. He was skinny and shivering as he came out of the water (even though it was a warm 80 degrees). No body fat. Being so sweet, he tried to speak English, but had a hard time carrying on a conversation. He did better when he used our Vietnamese phrase book. He asked the vendor for a cigarette and he lit it immediately. Then he fumbled around in his pockets "looking" for money. He didn't have any. We gave the vendor 2,000 Dong for his cigarettes ($.14). We shared our rice cake with him and he told us that his family were farmers and very poor. When we got up to leave, he asked us for money to buy a noodle. Paul said, "No." The boy asked, "Why? You're rich. From America." Paul didn't know what to say because the boy was right, so he gave him 5,000 dong (28 cents) for dinner and told him, "Buy food. No beer or cigarettes. Promise?" The boy was grateful, thanked us, and we rushed to meet our friend Maurice. As we walked away tears filled my eyes. He was so skinny and looked malnourished. If we didnt already have dinner plans, we would have taken this hungry teenager to an "all-you-can-eat" buffet with us. Usually we never give kids money, but this was different. It was July 4th and we were thankful that there is peace here in Vietnam.

The 5 Marble Mountains (pictured above) have ancient Buddhas carved into the natural caves. The one in the picture is Tang Chon Dong and Eileen is sitting under a female Buddha at Linh Ong Pagoda. During the Vietnam War, one of the chambers in the caverns was used by the VC as a hospital and the masonry gate has bullet holes in it. The village creates amazing marble sculptures for sale too! One of the Vietnamese vendors told Eileen that she looks Vietnamese wearing her hat, long sleeves and skirt, and an umbrella in the 90 degree heat. What do you think?