Calling Da Nang Home

Da Nang is a fantastic city, it is vibrant, emerging and has everything you could want in a Vietnamese city without the craziness of Saigon or Hanoi. As a tourist it has a few key sights to visit and that’s about it but as a resident there is so much more to the city than you could absorb in a brief stay.

My little friend Noodle

There is the beach which is empty and abandoned during the heat of the day but at dawn and dusk is filled by people swimming (wading thigh deep in the ocean), playing sports, exercising and just generally chilling out and enjoying the beach. There are the fishermen who occasionally store there boats on the road when big surf comes through, who haul in their nets by hand after lounging in their hammocks all afternoon and then sell their catch by the side of the road in buckets.

Fishing boats 

Friendly fishermen

There is Big C where people go through your trolley as you shop just to check out what the westerner is buying, pinch at your cheeks or arms and where you are bombarded with loud music promos,  flashing lights and even more sounds leaving you feeling a little shell shocked as you face the mosh that is the checkout line. This is contrast to the markets which are not hugely different you still stand out like a sore thumb and  instead of light and sound displays the smells, yelling and sight of the meat market will shock you.

Fresh chicken

There is the riverside bars and restaurants that are an amazing place to spend your nights. The city and its people are truly amazing. I have never felt unsafe only ever uncomfortable  and awkward. The street food is delicious, the seafood by the beach doesn't get any fresher and the people are fantastic. Of all the places to live in Vietnam, Da Nang has to top the list it has everything you could want in Hanoi or Saigon but is nowhere near as busy and is right by the beach, doesn't get much better than that.

Chilling out by the river at the Golden Pine

Rocking out at on the radio

My Quang, one of Da Nang's specialty street food dishes

One of the most beautiful ways to view this amazing city is to drive up Son Tra and take a trip to the white Lady Buddha which stands guard overlooking to city. This beautiful statue is the biggest statue in Vietnam can be seen from Hoi An.

White Lady Buddha

Son Tra

The beautiful temple is surrounded by amazing carved statues and has a very spiritual feel, I left feeling very much at peace. There are many Vietnamese visitors who go there to pray and leave offerings, I personally  felt like I was intruder on their rituals but they were friendly and helpful and I am very grateful for the experience. The surrounds of the Lady Buddha are just as spectacular as the Buddha herself Lotus pools, statues and the wisps of incense  smoke trailing air all enhance the amazing views of Da Nang. It is a must visit if you travel to Da Nang.

White Lady Buddha

The view back to Da Nang from White Lady Buddha

Surrounds of White Lady Buddha

Lotus flower

Lotus flower

Snake and Crickets, because you have to eat something crazy while in South East Asia.

Eating crazy food in Asia is just one of those things you have to do, you won’t like it, you don’t really want to but you have to cross it off the I traveled Asia list. It’s up there with ride a motorbike, get your nails done or a massage for a dollar and eat at a street stall. I have to admit when going to have snake for dinner was suggested every part of me wanted to say no and the only reason I found myself sitting there was because I just had to do it for the experience and because there was no way in hell I was going to do it alone later.

So off we headed psyching ourselves up and no one looking particularly excited. We drove miles out of town and pulled off onto a little dirt road to arrive at a concrete compound that was the snake restaurant, this was definitely the tourist type of restaurant, it was genuine Vietnamese. On offer was snake, lizard, frog and insects, YUM.  

First up was preparing the snake, this involved taking its head off  and draining the blood out. After the trauma of watching them kill the snake we were then offered the still beating heart and a bottle of vodka infused with the blood of the snake, needless to say none of us girls were going to eat that, my gag reflex was working overtime.  Andrew decided to be the brave one and swallowed it whole and beating.  The vodka was put away for later when a significantly larger amount of alcohol had been consumed and another round of beer was ordered, we were all to sober to experience this.

Once we had all recovered briefly from the snake heart our plate of crickets was brought out as the entree  The look on all our faces said it all and we all apprehensively picked up a cricket with our chopsticks, took in a big brave breath and crunched down. For all of you that know me well you know that I am irrationally freaked out by cockroaches, give me a spider any day  but a cockroach will send me jumping on the table, even the word make me shudder. A cricket’s legs look remarkably like a cockroaches and crunching down on the spiky little thing with its spiky little legs is an experience I hope to never have for the rest of my lifetime.

Our snake dishes were up next, snake in leaf and fried snake. The snake in leaf looked perfectly harmless and kind of like the beef in leaf I had eaten a few weeks earlier if I hadn’t known that it was snake it would have been fine but no I knew it was snake, snake that had been alive and slivering until very recently.  It tasted like sand in leaf more than anything, turns out the just crush up the snake bones and all so you end up with snake sand and its not really nice at all, even wrapped in a leaf.

We all left the restaurant a little traumatised and headed straight for the golden pine shots were needed!!!! Many shots! The night continued and we had all recovered and were having a good time, then someone remembered the snake blood vodka. No amount of alcohol could dispel the fact that blood, real blood was mixed in with that vodka and it is quite possibly the worst shot of anything I have ever done, it messed with your head and tasted terrible anyway. Yuck!

So I did it I have eaten my fair share of weird and terrifying foods in Asia. I have eaten jelly fish, sea snail, frog, cricket and snake. I’m almost relived knowing that I have survived the creepy food portion of the things you must do in Asia