Da Nang

 Grab is the Vietnamese/SE Asian version of Uber and every single time I get one I go to the wrong place to get picked up and they call me to ask me where I am, but obviously I don’t speak Vietnamese so they say something, I say “I’m so sorry, I don’t speak Vietnamese, I’m here” they say sometime I say “sorry I don’t know” they hang up. Then I run around reading license plates trying to find my car for what feels like an eternity. It’s so hectic lol, every experience is like that. 

Anyway, I headed for the hostel and arrived around 7pm. Another girl on my flight ended up in the same hostel and room as me and we quickly began chatting and decided to go for dinner together. She’s German and we are doing a very similar trip so have some plans to meet up along the way in different parts. She is a travel agent in Iceland and it was really cool to hear about her experiences there. 

After a dinner of street food we walked to the beach and chatted and enjoyed the water and views. It’s a really touristic city and very westernized, while still being pretty Vietnamese. It’s quite interesting. Lots of tall building and clubs along the beach, but the water is perfect. 

The next morning I went for coffee and when I came back to my room a few girls were up and chatting. We went for breakfast together and me and a British girl headed to Marble mountain. A very aptly named tourist attraction. It is a marble mountain that you climb. There were some cave you climb through to get to the top. It was really neat, but it also so crowded with people which took away from the experience a bit. After we walked for 15 minutes to a Buddhist temple which was so quiet and lovely and really enjoyable. That was a much better experience and I really enjoyed walking around the grounds. 

Afterwards we came back to the hostel and rested a bit before heading to the beach. We walked along the beach enjoying the beautiful landscape and views. When we moved to the boardwalk we found lots of little dance groups along the walk way. Some were dancing choreographed dancing all together like a fitness class. Another group was a bunch of people dancing it was a song “dork dancing for mental health” I of course joined, because dork dancing is really just the best description of me. 

We got dinner and the girl I was with went back to the hostel and another girl joined me and we went to go see the dragon bridge. Every weekend night the bridge breathes Fire and Water in a huge display and there is a big night market. It was really cool and fun and soooo crowded, but it didn’t feel as stressful as some other places. It was quite the display and at the end you could tell who didn’t know they were going to get spray by water cause there was a large group of people under the spray zone just sprinting away. It was pretty funny. 

The next day I decided to have a bit of a chill day. I think I might be catching a cold, cause I’m extraordinarily tired, but I’m also not sleeping very well so it’s hard to say what is what. Anyway, I spent the morning puttering around the neighborhood of my hostel and then I met a friend and went to her hotels rooftop pool. It was a beautiful day for laying by the pool. In the late afternoon I got a massage and it was incredible. I’ve had prolonged neck pain for months and it reduced it significantly. It was a bit more expensive than the last one I got, but still only $9, I gave her a 50% tip though cause it was life changing. I wish I had time to go back to her. 

I spent the evening resting on the roof in a hammock, working, and chatting with other hostel guests.