I have taken the train from Hanoi to DaNang and paid for a sleeper which cost 1.2 million dong, and it is a 14 or 15 hr travel, for me mostly night time and I decided a sleeper was good to sleep throughout the night. I have been told there is a nice beach in Da Nang so I am looking forward to this. I think one could get a flight for cheaper and saving much time.

Week one of being here in Danang and I love it, as it has less congested traffic than in the Capital City of Hanoi, this city is clean and again very friendly, happy and honest Vietnamese people living here. In fact at a coffee shop that I go to quite often, I guess I left the cell phone behind or it fell out of pocket bag I had, anyways I went back the next morning enquiring if staff found a cell phone, no one knew about it. All day long missing the cell phone, then in the evening sitting at the coffee shop enjoying a hot cup of joe, the owner came to me with the cell phone asking me if it was mine, unreal it was returned i was so happy.

The Vietnamese are all so friendly with many, many smiles, and greetings of hello or “xin chao,” being white skinned and a so called ‘foreigner’ which I really do not like the word foreigner because no one is a so called foreigner. Foreigner to what … planet Earth, we all live on this planet that we all call home so none of us are foreigners unless planet Earth is not our home and we have come from another planet to visit this planet….got it. So I use the word simply for understanding ok brothers and sisters. So I seem to get much attention as if the Vietnamese people are very interested in me, curious or simply happy seeing a white skinned traveller visiting their country, I am not sure but always making eye contact I simply give a smile and/or a nod with the head, and in return a smile of approval.

There are so many young beautiful Vietnamese women and I do mean very beautiful, I am thinking they are some of the most beautiful women in the world. Now with food in this area especially where I am living sometimes finding cheap vegetarian meals can be difficult, but as I ask and continue searching I am finding more and more places, as I want to find vegetarian meals for only 20,000 – 30,000 dong, by the way 30,000 dong is what I pay the barber every 3 days to razor shave head and face for me, why not, as it is cheap enough and he is fast and no nicks or cuts with blood as I get when I do it myself, 30,000 dong = $1.50 CAD, and 20,000 is what I pay for my coffee.

I am staying at a hostel called Tango Hostel it is very clean, with very hot showers and big modern clean bathrooms, two types of shower heads, the one above which has a fountain of water raining down over the head and body, and a hand held unit also. This hostel is located very near Han River and the Dragon Bridge, the airport is nearby also, when I look at the Google map of this area Tango Hostel shows up with icon locator. The staff is very friendly and helpful and they keep the place spotless clean and tidy. So I highly recommend this hostel as I do like the location, it has many restaurants, coffee shops, eateries, massage and spas in the area, it is a tourists hot spot for seeing the river, Dragon Bridge and having a coffee. Many, many wedding photos are being captured here also with the river and city skyline or Dragon Bridge in the background, as I have seen many new brides here having professional photos taken here. On Saturday and Sunday evening at 9 pm one can witness fire and water coming from the Dragons mouth at the Dragon Bridge for entertainment.

Now this first week I have travelled to nearby Hoi An city which by motor bike took me about 45 minutes I guess, as I went at night to observe Mid-Autum Festival or the Hoi An Lantern Festival, which was very colourful with many colourful lanterns lit up for lighting and in the river many candles floating as people bought these candles to make a wish and then send them floating in the river. It was all very beautiful and picturesque for the full moon evening. I also woke up at 5am to go to the beach. A beach once listed in Forbes Magazine as one of the ‘World’s Most Luxurious Beaches’, the stunning sands of My Khe Beach offer surfers and sun seekers a gloriously unspoilt hideaway.

My Khe Beach is busy at 5:30 am with many, many Vietnamese locals in the ocean, actually in the South China Sea enjoying the waves hitting them, playing volley ball on the sandy beach, walking along the beach, children playing in the sand, yes at 5:30am this is the time Vietnamese enjoy the beach life, before the sun rises and is shining down with full rays of heat, because they do not want tanned or dark skin. Then you have the white skin people like me wanting to tan and getting dark skin, funny how no one likes how they are, everyone and I do mean everyone likes and wants change of some kind, everyone seems to get tired of what they have or look like and time for a change always happens, as the ol’ saying goes….change is constant.

I also motorbiked to a mountain called ‘Marble Mountain’ or perhaps ‘The Water Mountain’ as it was stated on the entrance receipt, and it was only a 20 minute or so travel with the entrance fee costing 40,000 dong, many, many stone stairs to climb, but many caves to explore and views up top of mountain for viewing ocean side or off in the distance Danang city and Dragon Bridge. I have much more to explore in this area and to write about so stay tuned for week two…