Day 11 - Hoi An - Ancient Town and Night Market

We flew from Nha Trang  .. 

 to Da Nang.

Hoi An.

After we unpacked, we rented a bike and went to the Ancient Town.

This is the view from our balcony.  

You can see the river and t garden below is where the chefs get the herbs.  

There's about fifteen main areas of interest where the public can go into.  There's many beautiful places to see including the Japanese Bridge and a few temples, pagodas, meeting areas and houses around the town.

I like how this place had a pond in the circle of the house with an open roof, it's so zen XD

Night time in Hoi An.

         I felt like I was in the movie Spirited Away when I went to the night market.  Everything was so pretty.  Food stalls were everywhere and were cooking up a storm.  Couples are everywhere in Hoi An, holding hands or biking.

The lanterns shops here were so alluring. 

The lanterns were made out of paper and came in all sizes and colors.  

They lit up the streets and my spirits.

 There was a giant dragon lantern floating in the river O_O holy molies!

Day 9 - Nha Trang: Long Son Pagoda, Reclining Buddha, Lotus Seat

        We took a taxi from our hotel to Long Son Pagoda in Nha Trang.  The pagoda is found at the foot of Mount Trai Thuy.  Our goal is to reach the Lotus Seat.  The Lotus Seat is a large white statue of Sakyamuni Buddha sitting on...well, a lotus of course!

This is the entrance.

        There are over 150 steps from  Long Son Pagoda to the Lotus Seat (Also known as Kim Than Phat To Statue).  There are many things to see and do here.

Around the grounds are plaques with words of wisdom.

       
        Inside the temple lies two worship areas.  One is the Buddhist area.  Do you see the candles? Eeeeee, they are gigantic!  Apparently these candles will be lit up next year on New Years and will  burn for up to 3 months.  Isn't that crazy?

Here is a pic of the other worship place I mentioned.

This is the Hindu worship area.

        I greeted the head monk inside the temple.  He gave me prayer beads.  The prayer beads are the traditional tools used to count the number of times a mantra is recited when meditating.   He is such a kind old fella.      

After visiting the temple, we went to the Shrine Bell where we...

crawled underneath the bell...

sat...

and prayed...

while a person was hitting the bell and began to chant a blessing. 

 Oh my goodness @.@!!!

 They said that inside the bell, the ringing wouldn't be loud but I dunno.  I really wanted to cover my ears but it would have been considered bad luck.

This is what the inside of the bell looks like.

Later, we went to the Reclining Buddha.

It was kinda funny that everyone that made it to the Reclining Buddha wanted to touch him.  This reclining Buddha has reached nirvana.  I love how he has this huge grin on his face.  It's like he's having an good dream.

Finally, we made it to the Lotus Seat. 

The small climb was definitely worth it. 

The statue is 24m high not including the pedestal. 

        The pedestal itself is 14m high and has something special about it.  If you go behind the Lotus Seat, the pedestal has an entrance which leads to what used to be a library.  How cool is that?