A White girl in Da Nang

Being a white girl in Da Nang makes me somewhat of a celebrity the locals stare at you and everyone wants to say hello. I have been told I am beautiful more times than I can count which is great for my ego but I have also had just as many inappropriate comments by young and old Vietnamese men. I am such a novelty to the Vietnamese people that today while I was riding my motorbike a guy on the back of another bike got out his phone and filmed me as I was riding along.  I have loved the chance to talk with the locals at work and out on the street the people are really friendly and genuine which is a refreshing change to other Asian tourist towns. I do worry that it won’t last for long, not with all the new beach side development which will be a huge shame to see such a wonderful city change.

Settling In

This weekend I finally settled in and am starting to feel like I actually live here. I have my own motorbike, have just moved in to my apartment found some expats my own age. There is nothing like driving in Asian traffic there are no rules and no one seems to be aware of anyone else on the road but somehow it works. The trick is to take it slow and look around you, there are no such thing as lanes and even traffic lights don’t really apply, all this on top of the fact that I now have to actively think about which side of the road I am supposed to drive on makes it all a little crazy. But I love it I could ride around all day weaving in and out it just makes you feel alive.

My motobike

My apartment is a the perfect sized 1 bedroom apartment its big enough to not be cramped but small enough to not be lonely. Living here is now achievable I still miss home but I am loving this adventure and I’m excited to see how it all turns out. 

Bedroom

Bathroom

Kitchen/dining

Lounge room

Lanterns, Dragons and Bicycles

On the weekend I headed to Hoi An to catch up with Alison and just chill out after an exhausting week The weekend in Hoi An was exactly the break I needed to remember why I love Vietnam so much. The beautiful ancient town is bustling with people and it has the most amazing restaurants but the thing I love the most about Hoi An is that the food stalls have English and Vietnamese writing on them. I no longer had to just nod and hope I was getting something I could eat. It was great to have a little taste of normal especially after being homesick. My favourite street stall in Hoi An had to be the fruit shake stand they made the most amazing mango shakes for just 15 000 dong (about 70 cents).

I spent the weekend riding around and just loving the place I could not get the smile off my face. Hoi An has the best atmosphere and it is shopping heaven. As it turned out it was the perfect weekend to be in Hoi An, it was the Luna festival of something and there were dragons and drumming everywhere. We headed down to a great little restaurant overlooking the river. There was happy hour (2pm - 9pm) where the cocktails were $2 instead of $3 and the food was great.  

Exploring on my bike

Vietnemese shop keepers

At the markets

The ancient Japanese bridge

Kids Practicing their dragon dancing

The lantern covered bridge over the river

Then the dragon came! We could not have had better seats to watch the whole thing unfold. You could see the crowd as it began to cross the bridge, following the dragon along and stopped directly in front of us. The dragon began dancing to the traditional drumming and danced right through the restaurant. We were impressed and thought that was it, boy where we wrong. They stacked two large wooden discs down on the street and the dragon continued its dance right on top of the discs. A group of men then lifted the smaller disc to shoulder height, at this point we noticed a pole hanging off the second floor balcony with money attached. The dragon was nowhere near high enough to reach the money so another group of men proceeded to lift the larger disc up to their shoulders. Still not high enough to reach the dangling money the man who was the dragons head jumped atop the shoulders of the guy acting as the dragon back. It was crazy but o so cool. The dragon danced for what must have been at least 20mins before moving on.  It was an experience I will never forget.

Alison and I 

Dragon Dancing at the resturant

Dragon tamer

Dragon Tower 

Hoi An has amazing food and it is also cheap. I have found the most amazing dessert shop that sells amazing little cakes for $2 or $3 each. I ended up eating there twice over the weekend. 

Dessert 

The most delicious cakes ever!

I returned home Sunday with a renewed love of Vietnam, glad that I am living in Da Nang rather than Hoi An because I got that sick of the phrases “you buy, you buy” and “come look in my shop”. I may not be able to read the menus but at least I don't have to deal with hawkers. 

Hoi An Lanterns

When its not always sunshine and lollipops...

Da Nang is great place to live, you are not harassed by hawkers that try to get you to buy what ever it is they are selling like you are in Hoi An or other towns on the backpacker trail but when you first move here it can be incredibly lonely.  There are very few expats living in Da Nang and seeing another westerner is a rarity. Don't get me wrong that is why I came here I wanted to experience what it was like to live in Vietnam not in Australia, I just didn't think I would ever feel as alone as I did my first week of work, I truly hadn't considered it and that is probably why it hit me so hard.

My first day of work there was much confusion of what I was doing here and what work I would be doing. It seemed to be completely in my hands this overwhelmed me as I had no idea about the environment I was working in, what the skill level of the lifeguards was and was unable to communicate with most of the people I came into contact with. This just left me feeling so incredibly alone that I just wanted to go home. This situation was not helped in the slightest when I out went for dinner and asked for a table for one the waitress responded with "just lonely", I replied yes just lonely and desperately fought the urge to burst into tears all over again.

Tuesday was a significant improvement, after talking to the aussie expat that was the driving force behind Da Nang Beach SLSC it turned out I did actually have things to do and I felt a whole lot better about my abilities to actually complete the assignment. All was well I had even found an apartment to live in things were looking up. Then Wednesday morning hit me like a tonne of bricks and all I wanted to do was go home and hang out on the couch with my family and friends. I regretted my decision to work as a volunteer rather than go backpacking and spent another day in tears. I'm not normally a crier and the possibility that I would ever feel like this had never crossed my mind, I am a happy, bubbly person and I can handle just about anything by putting on a brave face but it appears that when I do fall apart I do it really well. Nothing like being alone in a foreign country to find that one out!

By Thursday I had resolved that I had to pick myself up and get on with it, going home was not an option especially during week 1. I jumped online and read about culture shock, homesickness and a few south east asia travel blogs and this lead me to believe that this would pass if I could look to the short term rather  and distract myself. So I began a countdown to when I would see my family and friends next and made plans for a weekend in Hoi An.


I worried about putting it out there how depressed I felt and I did feel depressed the only thing I could liken it to was grief. It was so intense that the word home or family put a catch in my throat and tears to my eyes. I think it is important to put on here just how bad I felt both for myself and for future reader of this blog. The one thing that truly puled me out of my slump was reading that other travelers had been through similar feelings and that they got through it so hence I have shared my story. I still miss home so much but I can't live there forever and it's time for me to get out there and see the world, home will still be there and my family and friends will still love me when I get back.Now is the time to open a new chapter of my life and I have come to realise that it is not as easy as it sounds but that is what makes it all the more worth while.

UPDATE: I have now found a great bunch of friends and am absolutely loving life here, it does pass it's just part of the adventure. Life isn't always perfect but life in Da Nang is coming pretty close.

Hi I'm Steph

Hi I'm Steph, I am headed to Vietnam to complete a 12 month assignment as a Lifesaving development officer. I will be helping to set up Vietnam's first surf lifesaving club from nipper right through to establishing a management structure as well as training lifeguards for both resorts and local government. During my time in Vietnam I will be exploring all over South East Asia and here is where I will be posting my adventures.

I'm a 23 year old girl from Stanwell Park, NSW, Australia. I have just finished a degree in Civil Engineering and have taken a year off to take up the opportunity of a life time to use my lifesaving skills in Vietnam. I have amazing family and friends who I will miss a ridiculous amount but am excited about the adventure that awaits me.

Week 1 whirlwind

So I have been in Vietnam for a week and all I can say to sum it up is wow what a whirlwind. It took 27 hours and 5 different airports (Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Seim Reap and then finally Da Nang) for me to actually make it to Vietnam. If I ever had to be stuck at any airport for hours it would have to be Singapore there is a free movie theater, endless shops , free tours of the city and a Butterfly garden that kept me amused in my sleep deprived state. The benefit of coming to Vietnam as part of a volunteer program was that I had a travel buddy Alison who had a much better clue of where we meant to be than I did. Alison is a physio who will be working with disabled adults in Hoi An.

Butterfly Garden at Singapore Airpot
 

Waking up on your birthday always feels like a little adventure add that feeling to the fact that is your  first morning in a new country and your just blown away. Being part of a volunteer program meant our morning was filled with health and safety briefings and how to deal with a Vietnamese workplace, super exciting. I was most interested in my mango smoothie  which was so thick I could eat it with a spoon YUM! 

Eating mango smoothies with a spoon is one of my strongest memories from my last trip to Vietnam 

By the afternoon when we started our first Vietnamese lesson I was exhausted and left the lesson overwhelmed and completely confused. There are 5 different ways to say each letter in Vietnamese depending on which accent is added to the letter ,pronounce chicken wrong and you could be saying train station. Seafood in Da Nang is amazing we went out for dinner to a local seafood place by the beach with Chris and Kylie, fellow volunteers from Hue. I was given the biggest bunch of roses i have seen in my life and ate the most amazing seafood.

Chris, Hein myself and Alison with the roses

Sea snails, jellyfish salad and steamed clams 

As our in country orientation continued we learnt more Vietnamese, had a go at house hunting, learnt how to cross the road and ate a wonderful selection of street food and a sneaky hamburger as well. Sunday was time for Alison and I to part ways she was headed to Hoi An and I was headed to Furama resort to live the 5 star life for 2 days.