Two weeks in Da Nang
After spending the first part of our trip with friends/family, we needed to spend time in an place where we could get some tasks done and not be distracted with sightseeing.
As we had only previously spent a night in Saigon, we knew we wanted to explore more of this city, plus we had to renew passports, so that wouldn’t be the place.
We decided on Danang, as most of the things to do were outside of this city, and we had been to all the big sights except for the city of Hue. This would be on the list, as the last we attempted it, it was flooded as a typhoon came through. Other than that, people come here for the beaches.
We opted for a studio apartment/hotel because we needed more room as we would be spending more time in it rather than a regular hotel room. It also allowed us to stock up on water, food etc., so we can use the included kitchenette for breakfast and dinner. That seemed a god plan, but we found that one could just go to a local restaurant for about the same cost, or to any of the many roadside places that work out to be cheaper than eating in.
First we had to get there, so we opted for the train from Nha Trang to Da Nang. This also helped with the trip as I didn’t have my passport, we hadn't been thinking that way as we booked the train when I actually my passport. We decided on the 5am train as this was a 9 hour train ride. The other option was 1pm, which after waking up at 3am seemed like that would have been a smarter decision.
Aside from everyone’s bare feet around you, the train is pleasant enough as it traverses through farmland, mountains and streams.
We arrived in pouring rain but we were here and ready to settle down, unpack (we’ll sort of) and get down to work.
We sat down and wrote a list of tasks we were hoped to accomplish during the two weeks. We had taxes which needed to be done, blogs written, travel which needed to be researched and booked, laundry, reading, and a timeline for Europe as over there we will be seeing some friends and family and need to be able to provide some dates for when we will be there.
As we still have a few days left, we managed to get most tasks completed.
It was nice to relax and not have the feeling hurried. We spent some days meandering around the city, other days hunkered down, while still having a few days to sight see and enjoying the beaches.
Da Nang itself has grown over the past ten years and the building is at a pace not unlike China years ago. I can’t imagine how different this city will be like in another ten years, nor do we have any desire to come back to witness this.
Da Nang is a nice city with enough of a expat community that you can find western bars and restaurants here if you're looking for them as well, but after two weeks here we’re good, and feel that we'll have no reason to come back to visit.