We are docked at Tien Sa Port, Vietnam, 7.5 miles from Danang, the third largest city in the country.  What most remember of this area is China Beach. Why?  There was a TV series that ran for four season from 1988 to 1991, set in an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War  in the late 1960s at My Khe Beach, Danang. China Beach , had a  Rotten Tomatoes  score of 94. Show was actually filmed in California. American soldiers use this R&R spot, and provided the nickname, China Beach. No official length, but a series of beaches over a 21-mile stretch of the coastline beginning in Danang, going south. I was here in 2010.  A quote from my posting. I am now at the Furama Resort in Da Nang. I walked out to the beach, looked one way, and couldn't see the end of the beach. Then I looked at the other end and couldn't see the end of the beach.     China Beach is 20 miles long   and mostly about 100 yards wide. Some of you might have watched   ...

To bring you up to date, cruise one was from Yokohama to Singapore, and the second is taking us from Singapore back up to Vietnam, with a final stop scheduled tomorrow for Ho Chi Minh City, which is the Port of Phu My, and return to Singapore on December 23.  So on to our life on the Diamond Princess. The Port of Chan May can take you to Danang, 58 miles away.  Also can be spelled Da Nang. Became part of French Indochina in 1847, using religious persecution as an excuse. During the Vietnam War, was a major air base of the South Vietnamese and United States.  Was the busiest airport in the world at one time with 2.595 aircraft landings daily. Following the exit of the USA in 1975, grew to become the third most important urban center after Saigon and Hanoi.  Now has a population of up to 1.3 million. The region around Danang has sprouted with major casino hotels.  Perhaps a billion dollars of projects underway, involving Hyatt, Marriott and other worldwide compan...