Another record breaking day in Da Nang!

Da Nang, Day 52

Now I feel I need to correct a previous statement that I made about R and his tardiness in shifting his butt at times. I don't want to mislead my readership into thinking that he is always slow in moving because when food is involved, I think he'd leave Usain Bolt in his wake. So fast forward to this morning and I'm still a little tired as I couldn't get to sleep until after 2.30 am (due to last night's late coffee, I think!) and yet his nibs is up, dressed and practically out the door to get breakfast. So maybe I just need to rethink my methods of getting him moving on our leaving days....by tempting him with some sort of food reward!

Breakfast

Anyway, the breakfast room was pretty busy today as I think there is a big tour group in the hotel, but we managed to get a good table with a sea view and enjoyed the breakfast.

The weather is looking dry, but the beach is looking quite rough still. We fill up on a great breakfast, and then I have to deal with some admin stuff before we can head out again, to explore some more of the city area. We cross over the Dragon Bridge again and then turn to the left section of the city area. We first take a little side street, which is quite busy but has lots of shops and scooters moving through it. We get stopped by a few school kids who, obviously seeing these strange tourists, decide to practice their English on us by saying hello and asking our names. They were so sweet and full of smiles that it made us smile too.

APEC Park

We went for quite a while before deciding to start heading back to the centre area via the APEC park area. From the Dragon Bridge, you can see the APEC Park area, which is located on the banks of the Han River. The park was originally built in 2017 as a cultural work preserving the unique cultural features of 21 economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

In 2020, the Danang local government decided to expand the park as an effort of the city to increase trees and green space in public parks and residential areas to achieve the “green and smart city” goal by 2030. The new APEC Park comprises a public park, a stroll garden associated with an existing sculpture garden, a main stage, a water fountain, a stage for organising cultural events, a playground for children, green areas, a parking space, a lake and underground public toilets. The park is built in an area of more than 8,600 m2, next to the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture. Since its inauguration in January 2022 until now, the APEC site has become an ideal place for many cultural, artistic and other activities.

Now the weather had been fine up until this point, and then the heavens opened up and my Pac-a-mac came out again. There had been several tourists and possible vendors in the APEC area, so there were a few of us trying to shelter under the area from as much of the rain as possible. We then had a lovely vendor come over with his brolly to shelter us, and we had a funny conversation with him using Google Translate (as he didn't speak a word of English and we had no idea what he was trying to say to us). We informed him via Google Translate that we are from Scotland and quite used to the rain, and he laughed when he read it. The rain didn't last too long, and as soon as it eased off, we made our exit from the area. As we were leaving, we saw a sheltered area underneath the structure, and I think this is what he had been trying to tell us about....

Coffee Stop

We wandered around the areas so more until we needed a little rest break and we came across another one of the many charming little coffee places that has the tiny little seats and tables that look onto the streets. I guess this is more for people to perhaps smoke outside and chat with their family and friends, but we just love the whole people watching and seeing the world go by aspect of this.

This time I ordered a coconut coffee and R ordered a mango smoothie. As is quite normal in a lot of places, they automatically give you a complimentary drink whilst you are waiting for your order. It's usually some sort of light tea, like Chrysanthemum tea or a tea with honey in it. Having looked into this, it seems that it's deeply ingrained in the Vietnamese culture as a symbol of hospitality, a way to show respect to guests, and is considered a refreshing beverage that people enjoy frequently throughout the day, often making it a standard offering in restaurants, shops, and even on the streets, reflecting a sense of community and generosity within Vietnamese society; essentially, it's like offering a friendly gesture to anyone who walks by. 

On this occasion, R was not too keen on the tea as he said it tasted 'metallic' to him, but I thought it was fine.

Then our drinks arrived, and they looked like something out of an Instagram post!

They were both absolutely divine and we thoroughly enjoyed sitting watching everything going on in the street as we sipped our fancy drinks which cost a grand total of £2.24!

After being refreshed and rested, we set off again to look at some other areas. We passed lots of the usual shops, cafes, hotels etc. and then we decided to start heading back towards our hotel as R was getting a bit hungry again.

Not knowing where to go and because we are still quite careful about where we eat, we decide to stop off at the Vincom shopping market store, which has a food area (similar to your Morrisons or Tesco restaurant).

I wasn't that hungry (as I had a big breakfast and my coconut coffee was like a meal in itself too!), so I opted for a bowl of chicken soup and R went for a fried rice dish.

Mine was a very filling and tasty, gelatinous chicken and vegetable soup (kind of like chinese egg drop soup) and not like the can of chicken soup we are normally used to! R's was ok he said but it lacked a little salt.

Back at the hotel, we showered and got ready for an online meeting that we had arranged. Then later in the evening, we had a wander around a few areas but nothing was quite jumping out at us, so we opted to just get our trusted back up of the Bahn Mi from the little cafe area close to us which were delicious!

Then that was us for another step walking, record breaking day! I think the slightly cooler temperatures are allowing us to walk a little more without feeling exhausted by the heat!

Da Nang, Vietnam

10 January 2025