Da Nang

Xin Chao Cac Ban! (Hello everyone/friends- forgive me for omitting the diacritical marks)

Its been almost a month and a half since my last post (despite my desire to keep this thing up to date, the gaps seem to be longer and longer between each post.. Hmmm. Hopefully that trends stops!)

Anyway, the week after I "conquered" Mt. Fansipan with Josh, I headed off to Da Nang and Hoi Ann with several other Fulbrighters (Erik, Brenna, and Diane, for various parts).

I left after class on Thursday (approximately 11:00 am) and after various mishaps (telling the taxi driver "airport" only for him to take me to international terminal rather than the domestic one), I arrived in Da Nang at about 11 p.m. (long trip). Erik was waiting to greet me in our spacious but cheap hotel room with some "stews" as he is fond of calling them.

Erik overseeing our domain

Delicious, delicious banh beo. You scoop it out with a spoon and dip in the sauce

First things first, we hit the beach! Initial impressions of Da Nang were extremely positive. It was warm (but not hot), humid, windy, and had the beach. For you East Coasters, it reminded me a lot of Virginia Beach. It was undeniably a city, and a rich one at that. Its kind of unreal that a Fulbrighter was placed here last year (Da Nang has an international airport, one of 3 in Vietnam) and is clearly a culture center. It ranks highly (if not 1st) on all quality of life surveys and has the most expats of anywhere in Vietnam. Overall- I really really liked it. While I can't seem myself living abroad ever again right now (those 4:25 am Packer games on Monday mornings are killers), I can definitely see why so many ex-pats choose to reside in Da Nang.

A marble mountain (its about 9 stories to the top)

After the beach, we went to the Marble Mountains, a series of karsts south of the city. They are these giant mountains that stick out of the beach. I'd love to know the origins of their formation (but am too lazy to look it up!). For lunch, we had what was probably one of my favorite meals so far in Vietnam (probably 3rd- 1st would be Thanksgiving, 2nd would be eel soup in Hanoi). We had Banh Beo and Banh Xeo. The former are little rice-y mouthfuls with fish sauce and the latter are yellow rice pancake-things. Sadly, both are only southern dishes (aka do not exist in Lao Cai) but are incredibly delicious.

After lunch, Erik and I went about an hour south to Hoi An. On the public bus, the ticket lady tried to overcharge us, but Erik (who probably has the best Vietnamese of the 10 of us who arrived without knowing any) bargained her down. Later, she told us that his Vietnamese was excellent and mine was terrible. Sigh. True (and a couple weeks later, when teachers from my school met Erik at a regional conference, they would ask me why I couldn't speak as well as him, haha).

Hoi An is a tourist-y city. Every building is hundreds of years old and preserved for tourists. Its kind of a Colonial Williamsburg for Central Vietnam. Hoi An is an old trading center, so there were lots of market houses and stuff like that. Later that night (this is Friday evening) Diane met up with us and we had Cao Lau, a specialty food of Hoi An. Diane lives in Hue, a huge, very historical city about 3 hours north of Da Nang.

James is based in Dong Hoi. Diane is based in Hue.
It takes about 3 hours to drive from Hue to Da Nang, and 1 hour from Da Nang to Hoi An.
It takes about 1 hour to drive from Hoi An to Tam Ky (where Erik is based).
Lastly, Paul is based in Qui Nhon (which I definitely want to visit).

Hoi An was cool (definitely recommend) but many of the attractions were similar (i.e. the Huong family house; the Chinese market) and once you saw 5 (included on one all-entry pass), you don't need to buy a 2nd pass.

Old gathering space for chinese trading delegation

Hoi An is known for its lanterns!

The next morning we headed up to Da Nang to meet up with Brenna (who was flying in from the South to take her GREs).  We went to a Cao Dai temple (an amalgamation religion that tries to mix from all the world's major religions and is unique to Vietnam) and Diane headed back to Hue.

5 major religious figures from the Cao Dai temple. Can you name all 5?

Later that evening, we went to a 36th floor Sky-bar (hey, I told you Da Nang has money) and debated ethics and whether or not something was "bourgie." Later, we saw the famous Da Nang Dragon Bridge breath fire!

The next morning (at Erik's insistence), we got up from our deluxe suite (they upgraded us because Erik is a relentless schmoozer) to watch the sunrise on the beach.  If you know me, you know I love sleep. I craze sleep. I hate not sleeping. However, I have to say, it was an amazing decision. The sunrise was beautiful and the weather was perfect. We finished up with a quick visit to Da Nang's answer to Christ the Redeemer and then I headed home.

Onward. Always Onward.
Daniel