I'm reminded of a song by Sting or it might have been The Police when I walk on the shore of Da Nang Beach. Because of the topography or perhaps some sort of tidal influences I have never bothered to investigate, we frequently end up with some really dangerous looking cloud cover here, yet outside of rainy season, it doesn't really rain all that much.
It looks pretty cool if you ask me.
There is that mountain range that juts out into the sea that is almost unusable that might be part of the reason why the clouds get stuck here or it could also be the weather patterns that have existed for millennia that have lead to the formation of that mountain range in the first place.
On many days you can count on the clouds forming around the top of that range even if there aren't any clouds above. It's actually pretty wild.
Unfortunately, if you do go up there, it is a huge pain in the butt to make that happen and there really isn't anything to see once you get there. I did it once and it was exhausting and a real letdown once you get up there only to discover there really isn't anything to see. I suppose being out on a sunny day and being surrounded by fog was kind of cool, but definitely not worth the sweaty 3-hour hike it takes to get there.
While I was on this same walk I also took the time to revisit this gigantic construction project that has been in the works ever since I moved here back in 2019. They appear to have simply walked away from this project and I never see anyone working on it. There are a couple of security guards monitoring the place, but that is about it.
Down on the southern end of the tourist beach you tend to get away from the crowds and I like that a lot but you can see in the distance from where I took the last picture that there are considerably more people once you get into the thick of things.
I almost never get into the water here and I wonder if anyone has tested it to see how dirty it is. Vietnam is considered one of the worst polluters in the world and I know from seeing one of them being constructed that the peepee poopoo pipes just go really far out into the sea and all of it gets pumped out there. I thought we were past such archaic methods of waste disposal but not in this place. I won't go swimming because of this.
Before I get too off-topic though the point is that the sky looks incredible here and for reasons the clouds will stay gathered here for long stretches of time but it really doesn't rain all that often until rainy season. At that time of year it seems like the rain will never stop!
If you plan ahead and bring a watertight bag or just a bag of any sort with you getting caught in the rain can actually be a pretty awesome experience. If you are like me the heat and humidity already has you sweating so there's nothing wrong with a little pre-wash before you go back home!