Outside the airport exit, there are a few taxis waiting for customers. Their initial asking price is $10, but I offered $4 or use the meter. The guy decided to use the meter. Unfortunately, he was not able to find where our hotel is, and went too far. Good thing I had google maps! I was able to redirect him back to our hotel, though the total for the trip came out to be 120,000 VND, which apparently includes 10,000 dong for airport surcharge.
The receptionist for our hotel was a very nice young man who spoke some English. He was very helpful in helping me buy a sim recharge from the lady next door (a small shop that sold some random things).
My room is a bit small and musty, but there is air conditioning, hot water, and working and clean bathroom, as well as a blow dryer! Water costs an uncertain amount of money (5000 or 10000 per bottle), so I opted to buy water outside (15,000 for 2L bottle). The unfortunate part came in the evening, when a cockroach the size of my pinky finger came out from the other door! I freaked and called the receptionist, who was this young man who spoke a little English. He did not know what I was talking about, but then I showed him... And he subsequently used a piece of tissue, picked it up, and threw it out my window! He offered to change my room, but given that I was already on the fourth floor, I was very skeptical if it would matter at all. Also, I was ridiculously tired to be dealing with this.
The bed in my room is also terribly hard, which apparently is standard for most Vietnamese places. I ended up feeling very itchy for the rest of the evening, but I was not able to find any signs of bed bugs. Fingers crossed that it's the laundry detergent and not bed bugs!
The rest of the first day involved some exploring. The city of Da Nang reminds me of Shenyang, 10 years ago. It is very loud, as most drivers and motorcyclist don't follow any rules. The streets are full of tiny little shops that sell various items. The road is dusty. There are various markets that sell the goods you need. There are perhaps a few more tourists, but that's it.
We initially tried to walk to the beach to find our attending's friend. But that was aborted when we realized that it was likely going to take >1 hour. We were able to take a taxi. She lives in a beautifully quiet ara by the beach (see above). We had the best mango shake there. It was so thick it was like ice cream!
The shop owner Tam is an interesting woman. She was a young girl during the Vietnam War and worked in an American camp, and subsequently learned to speak English and made friends with many Americans. She loved telling people her stories and love foreigners. She apparently rents motorbikes and have some small tours, but we were not interested in those.
Tam pointed us to Han's Market, which is a fairly decent sized area of shopping, which reminded me of a smaller and dirtier version of Wu Ai market in Shenyang. They sold everything from clothing to food to household items and knock off bags. The prices were a bit higher than what I would expect, but I suppose it is because we were foreigners. I was able to buy a pair of flip flops, as Da Nang is very humid and wearing closed shoes was not very pleasant. Also, this area is where jewlery shops are at, which is a good place to exchange money.
I came across this interesting statue by the river, before hitting the dragon bridge (it's in the background). Don't worry, that's not full frontal nudity, there is a leaf covering the important parts. I am uncertain what these statues are doing by the side of the river without any markings of an exhibit, but I suspect they are related to the fact that Marble Mountain is nearby and these are suppose to sell to tourists? According to Tam, the marble in the area is not actually from Marble Mountain as it really hasn't been used for marble production at all. These are likely imports from else where, including China.
The beach in Da Nang was somewhat dreary. The waves are very strong, but there is a lot of sand in the waters. There were people fishing in the waves. Are there actually fish in these angry waves?
Last, but not least, the food adventures! Challenge number one was a street corner where lady with cart was selling roasted corn and sweet potatoes. The corn was 10,000 dong each, and she will roast it again for you. The sweet potatoes were about similar, though it was weight based. The corn is Asian corn, which means it is more starchy but not sweet at all.
The lady would periodically light up incense and stick it in the corners around her street corner, which I wondered if it was for good luck. Right there and then, more than ever, I wished I spoke some Vietnamese and find out from her what she is doing and why. Alas, no such thing and we wandered off to Bihn restaurant, which apparently specializes in Bahn My.
We got the Mi Guong (a type of wide rice noodle with different meats and mixed with peanuts mint and greens), the bahn mo Bo ne (a self serving mixed beef bahn Mi?), as well as the sua cha Da (yogurt drink, with yogurt made with condensed milk.)
The food is nice and cheap, and this restaurant looks mildly cleaner and more upscale than the run of the mill shop with the far too low for legs table and chairs. Given how close it is to our hotel, I fully intend to return and try some of the other food.
The day concluded with the unsettling witness of the gigantic cockroach and itchy sleep. Tomorrow, off to Hoi An.
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