Scenic elevated view of Marble Mountain Road near Danang

This scenic elevated view shows a mountainside cut by the winding, high-altitude Marble Mountain Road near Danang. Danang is roughly midway along Vietnam's North-South coastal road, south of the seventeenth century (pre-French era) capital of Hué. Because the western or interior areas of Vietnam are so geographically rugged, all major roads and cities were built along the coasts or major river ports. Vietnam has over 2,000 miles of coastline, the areas easiest for expanding earlier populations to reach by waterways and settle.