A Morning Orgy of (de)Light and surviving TRAFFIC, (48 hours in Da Nang)

I still wake up at 4 a.m. I don't think it's jet lag anymore though; more excitement about being in a new place.

At 5:15 I'm at the beach and I'm amazed that the hotel staff was already awake and that there already are people at the beach.

fishing boats

My  hotel (brand new) In less than 5 years this will be a solid  wall of beach-front hotels

Thinking not much more would happen, I return to my room.  By accident, I glance out the window a few minutes later and my heart almost stops. I frantically throw open the windows to get a shot not fouled by condensation.  There are probably toooo  many pictures of this here, but I've  never seen anything like it. 

The sunlight is ERUPTING from a VOLCANO of clouds !!!

And then, after over 1 hour of dawn and sunrise, the sun is out:

After borrowing their bicycle 2 days ago and playing monkey on it for a bit, I ask the receptionist where one could rent scooters.

It seems I can rent one at the hotel for 150,000 (CAD 8?) per day.

The tank is almost empty.  Mute Busboy (he actually says a few words but he might as well be mute for all that I understand) points down the road.  At first I'm stupid enough to look for a gas station sign.  Realizing my mistake I look for someone sitting on a curb with 3 plastic 1 L bottles filled with greenish liquid (gasoline).  Then busboy drives me there. 
 They used to have these pump-action fuel-filled glass cylinders in Germany for 2 stroke engines 30  years ago.  I get a few liters for 50,000 Dong and now the tank indicator says half full, although since neither the indicators, the speedometer, or the rearview mirror works, I won't trust the tank indicator too much.

As soon as I'm riding, I notice a slight purple glow on my skin where I burnt myself yesterday. No No NO,  this will NOT do, I need a long-sleeved shirt.  I head straight to the market, which is even busier than yesterday and find a dress shirt in size medium for 170,000 Dong (~CAD 10)

HINT: If you just rented a scooter / car and park it among dozens/hundreds of pretty much  identical looking devices make sure to take a picture of 1) your ride, and 2) the location.  This can save you from quite a nightmare !

After  a quick shirt change at the hotel  my inner elbows are protected from more sun and I dare to drive into the inner city's crazy traffic. Surprisingly easy though ;-)  If in doubt just brake.

I find the HSBC bank machine in exactly the spot that Google Maps advertises.  Good, I won't run out of cash.  

The supermarket  and shopping complex are next but first I stop a few times on both sides of the Dragon Bridge, which is en route.  

My guide My (Yes, that  is confusing) yesterday told me that I should visit the bridge this evening, because it should  be spewing water and fire. 

I won't go back in the evening, because I will be here again when the bridge will definitely be spewing fire. Tet 2016, and this is what the bridge will look like ;-)

Da Nang's 'Wheel' is much larger than the one in Hong Kong

hand-woven fishing tubs, more modern fishing boats, and modern Da Nang

First I have to drive into an underground scooter parking complex though, with attendants handing out time stamped mag-stripe cards. I spend about 30 - 45 minutes  in the mall and pay 2000 Dong for parking. Yes, parking set me back 12 Canadian cents ;-) In an electronics store I get a USB cable and a couple of flash drives (I take too many pictures).   

My first time in an underground scooter parking complex ;-)

 In the Supermarket I try to get some Nivea, but experience a shock. Regular moisturizing lotion is not to be found; 95% of the products being sold contain WHITENING agents.  This is SO fucked up and might be a remnant of the French colonial times. Now I finally realize why I have seen quite a few people with pale skin with what looked like burns. No matter what shade, Vietnamese women are so bloody gorgeous, and some bizarre plot causes them to self-mutilate to look like westerners.

Downtown Da Nang

I ride to a Thai restaurant recommended on Tripadvisor, actually find it, but it's closed for renovation.  The Waterfront Pub and Restaurant, which I only go to cause I'm famished, at first looks like your typical tourist crappy  joint, and it is not cheap (not expensive either, this is Vietnam!) but the Rose and the Moneybags are fabulous !

A glass of Rose and Moneybags in a touristy restaurant

On  the way back I briefly get lost,  but Da Nang is REALLY EASY to navigate because of the Ocean, the peninsula, the  set of bridges providing simple orientation means along the EAST WEST and Monkey Mountain telling you where NORTH is.

Today is the 12th of December and a rest day.  I have been running around Asia for 2 weeks now.  And I can feel it ;-(  Good thing I didn't plan anything for today.  On the other hand, in 8 days I will be standing on Canadian soil again.  NEED to SEE MORE !  A rest day is good for that.  My remaining flights  are booked and I will touch down in 2 more never visited countries in the next week.  Almost every day is pretty much planned, but nothing is really written in stone.

Did I say Rest Day? I fall asleep for 2 hours.

I head to my room to eat an instant Vietnamese Noodle Soup (YUMMY) and then head down to the lobby to smoke.  There is a Viet guy in his early 20s in the elevator. The elevator doors are polished to clean that they act like a mirror.  At  6 feet and 170 pounds, no one would ever think of calling me fat.    In the reflection that shows me standing next to the Vietnamese guy I look like an elephant!

Hungry again. I walk over to Be Man B again and this time order something without knowing its price.  Ah Well, I did find a bank machine today.  I decide to put one of these crabs out of its bound misery!  Of course when I try to order French Fries I again run into the fact that NO ONE in this restaurant speaks any English.  I have to drag the holding my crab in a basket into the kitchen and point at a cardboard box full of fries.  Tomorrow I'll know better because I googled fries  in Vietnamese: 
khoai tây chiên    The fact that the food is to be delivered to table 36 is communicated by me at first holding up 3 fingers, followed by 6 fingers.  The only thing easy to order is Beer.  Bia LaRue I say and they instantly nod.

I point at one  of the crabs to seal its fate

et voila

Different day, different sunrise

When I finally complete this post on January 1st 2016, I realize HOW  MUCH I miss being able to walk to a beach at sunrise, take my shoes off, and wade through the surf.  There is a polar bear swim in Roberts Creek today, but that is not quite the same ;-(

When I get  back to hotel all of a sudden the internet quits on me. It's been doing that sporadically, but then I notice that all the lights went out too.  Power Failure !

Now how do I call Grandma?   No internet.  Vietnamese phones don't have their power supplied through the line or that one went down too?

I take the scooter and ride to  Be Man B. Their internet is ON so they must have power.  I grab the laptop and make my phone call from the street.

People give me slightly strange looks standing at the edge of a wire-mesh fence  that surrounds a restaurant hunched  slightly  forward and shouting at a small black rectangular object in my hands that is obviously NOT a cell  phone.

I take the scooter downtown and eat again. Actually I only eat half my plate but I finish the TWO  glasses of Rose while  uploading gazillions of photos. The price is outrageous by Vietnamese standards, but the place is exclusively occupied by Westerners watching Ultimate Fighting or whatever the show with muscular  hunks feeling each other up is called, who would pay US$ 16 for a full English Breakfast and  2 glasses of Rose without batting an eye lid.  For that price I got an entire chicken killed, plucked, cooked, and served together with a cold beer only two days ago!

When I stumble out, I get accosted by a man with  a familiar looking  auto-motive device. The front fender carries a metal sign with the words Easy Rider.   But it is not My (pronounced Me) from 2 days ago, it  is Trang this time, as I find  out after he  gives me his card.  Middle-aged balding men must be their target audience if I have been selected twice in 3 days!





I get to the hotel (still no power) and at noon fall asleep like a log. I awake at 1:30 pm hearing the sound of the air-conditioner.  Power has been restored !!!!  I drink tea to restore consciousness and then check weather forecasts: Vancouver Rain Warning AND Wind Warning.  That  is about the  10th storm this fall.   But I'm sure your typical gullible Vancouverite still believes the assurances that that is normal.  Da  Nang  RAIN, starting Tuesday evening. Heavy  rain too.  But I'm  not worried.  They've been forecasting rain for a while now and I got hit by 5 water drops so far in Da Nang.  And I'm leaving on that day ;-)  For a place where it will be 33 degrees Celsius ( I feel I have to add the Celsius all the time so that any US readers living in areas where it is 33 degrees Fahrenheit right now can rest assured that water is not about to freeze where I am) and a mix of sun and clouds no less.

Nothing better for waking up than hopping into the ocean.  There are red and yellow flags up but I'm not sure what they mean and I have the usual attitude of "I know better". I only go in as far as I can still stand with the top of my shoulders out of the water.  Waves are breaking all around me, foam is bubbling all over my body, and I'm having the time of my life floating in this warm fun elixir.  After about 5 minutes of fun, I put my feet back on the ground and start walking to the shore. Hang ON. I TRY walking towards the shore.  I am getting a first hand demonstration of what the words "Vicious UNDERTOW" mean.My shoulders are out of the water, I'm being supported in my efforts by waves hitting my back, so what's the deal with my feet being sucked backwards out from under me.  I've never experienced an undertow, only ever heard the word, but the second you experience it, you know that this must be the experience connected with the word.  After a moment of panic, I realize that I can easily walk during the moments that the waves hit my back and that I should keep both feet on the ground when they are not.  Easy!

After lazily drying for a while on the hotel-provided wooden loungers, I get the bottle of Da Lat Vietnamese white wine from my fridge.  I am reminded of that T-shirt sold by The Man in Seat 61 (Thank you, Man in seat 61, without your site this trip would only been half as much fun!)

Fortunately, there are two receptionists on duty right now, because when I lift the bottle and point at the cork, one just gives me the look that a cat gives you when it just failed the uncooked-strand-of-spaghetti test.  Blank Ignance!  But the second receptionist instantly makes a twisting hand motion to explain to the first what is wanted by the strange foreigner. They even have one in their desk drawer!

The wine from Da Lat tastes like nothing I had ever tasted before I had that very first glass in Hue. But I liked it so much I bought a bottle and it doesn't let me down this time either ;-)

Propeller Head

I start to understand why Karl Lagerfeld always wears HIGH collars

I book a hotel for the last night that wasn't spoken for on this trip. Another night in Hanoi. I'm not heading back to my usual abode. Not only because the train-ticket affair but also because the room  lists for over 100 CAD on the travel websites. I know I can get it for US$35 if I e-mail the hotel, but why not try something different. Might be even more fabulous, so I book another moderately priced room with a balcony in a hotel close by. 

I head out for a cigarette.  There sits a 60 year old Aussie who  works in the Mining Industry.  Seems his 2 to 3 week shifts pay so much,  he can spend every one of his 1 to 2 weeks off in Thailand but this time it is his very first  time to Vietnam.  He has travelled far and wide, can tell me tales of many countries and places (Vietnam apparently is like Thailand was 20 years ago), has had his mind opened by the diverse people and locations he encountered, but is still puzzled why his Vietnamese lady friend is upset after he said that the Americans came to Vietnam to help  the Vietnamese.

Talk about putting one's foot into one's mouth!

This is the time to put my foot on the street and head over  to Be Man B again where I duplicate the dinner of 2 days ago (Soi Ma with fries).