Da Nang

Two days after our arrival in Vietnam, we’re on a plane again. This time, we’re headed to Da Nang, a coastal city in the middle of Vietnam. We would have taken the train (especially Julia), but here, the trains are 10 times slower than the French high speed train (like seriously, 10 times… they’re going 20 mph), so it would have taken us 16 hours to go there instead of 1h30 (well, actually 3 hours since our flight was delayed… as usual). Our homestay is only 1 mile away from the airport, so we walk there. Once there, what a surprise! We love it! It’s clean, lovely, the owner is super nice. We rent her a scooter right away. Julia is dreading this moment because of traffic here in Vietnam, but we have no choice. Downtown is 3 miles away and the places we want to visit are even further away. So here we go!!! The three of us on a scooter amongst the hectic Vietnamese traffic. Doo is driving like the Nepalese (using his instincts and honking at every intersection) and it works rather well.

We park near the center and look for a place to eat. And there, we make THE culinary discovery : the “ban mi denhat”, a sort of kebab sandwich with cabbage and white sauce inside of two crunchy pieces of bread. It’s just delicious! For 80 cents, we have the sandwich and a glass of coca cola. Today Doo is going crazy, he’s having 2 sandwiches (YOLO right!?).
We then go discover on of the bridges of this rather modern city. A dragon bridge (“without wings” Côme will add)! Since it’s getting dark (it’s dark here by 5:30 pm), the bridge lights itself up and then changes color. We are betting on what color comes next. Côme wins, he said blue.

We’re strolling the streets of Da Nang. Doo is enjoying the “local” (non touristy) neighborhood. Julia is slightly disappointed. She thinks the city is too modern. We then look for a restaurant but there are only japanese restaurants in these streets. It looks very good but it’s a bit expensive so it will be for another day. And suddenly, it starts to rain. And here, when it rains… you get wet… like really wet. Good thing we brought our raincoats. We quickly go back to the scooter and stop at a busy street restaurant where people are eating Vietnamese fondue. So we continue our culinary exploration and try it. The verdict: it’s not bad, but it’s not good either…

Next morning, it’s raining. It has rained all night and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop any time soon. And here, when it rains… well, you know. So, yeah, we like our room but we don’t plan on staying there all day. It’s really not what we had scheduled for today so, in spite of the rain, we go out. We have to change our plans though, and instead of going to a distant site in the countryside and then to a beach we are staying in the city. Since it’s already late, we look for a place to eat and we stop at a conceptual (experimental) restaurant. There, we decide to try their signature dish : cold brown noodles with some sort of slurpy and when the waitress brings it to us, she explains how we’re supposed to eat it. Verdict: it’s “rather” intriguing. It’s not bad, but it’s not that good either. It is quite unique that’s for sure. After our lunch, it rains even more (it was already pouring, now it’s like the Biblical flood or something) so we take refuge in a mall. Our new program today: exploring the shops from the mall. We try funny glasses, we buy a small Lego set and a Vietnamese children book for Côme (we will trust Google for the translation or Julien, Doo’s Vietnames friend), we go to arcade games… Côme is delighted!!

After the mall and a quick stop at our local kebab, we go to a fun zone for children we have spotted on the internet. When we get there, we see a building and completely abandonned rides. We go inside the building, a bit skeptical, and there is a gigantic playground with a bunch of experiments to do (water games, sand, immitation games with a “real” supermaket Côme is going to love…). Once again, we are almost the only people there. We will make a friend there though, a girl who will play with us for hours.

After 3 hours of fun and play, the rain has finally stopped and we decide to cross the bridge to see what’s on the other side. That’s where the beach is and the touristy neighborhood. The beach is huge and the water is warm. It’s a shame it was raining all day. But we don’t like this side of the city. There are only luxurious hotels and about thirty huge tourist buses parked in front of seafood restaurants with huge fish tanks showing what you can eat. You can buy about everything you want, from lobsters and giant crabs to eels and even sharks.

So we decide to go back to the other side of the bridge to have a japanese fondue. Unfortunately it’s already late (10 pm) and every restaurant is closed. We then go to a lively street we had noticed yesterday. Sigh, there is a restaurant open. We get in, take a look at the menu and we realize there’s only crab to eat. Côme is delighted. Julia and Doo not so much. So we apologize to the waiter and leave. We are willing to explore of course, but we have our limit… Fortunately, there is another restaurant right next to the previous one and it’s a noodle restaurant. We are all delighted this time. The diner is excellent!

In the end, we weren’t able to visit the places we wanted to today, but we still ended up having a great day together. Especially Côme who played all day. “Doo?! Will it rain again all day tomorrow?”

In Da Nang, Côme:
Did not understand: why on this country people drive very poorly.
Learnt: that children playground was only opening after school.
Loved: the entire day

Julia:
Did not understand: why they put all the fish tanks in the restaurants.
Learnt: that we could eat cold noodles with a slushy.
Loved: our scooter stroll at night.
Laughed: when Côme put 2 baguettes straight away in his shipping kart.

Doo:
Did not understand: why a woman on a bike was driving so badly.
Learnt: that Vietnamese kebabs were so good.
Loved: Driving a scooter in Vietnam.