Well my last week here in DaNang knowing it will go by fast and I will truly miss this third largest city in Vietnam along with many friendships I have made. This is my favourite city thus far as it is a clean city, the traffic is not as congested as in Hanoi or Saigon as to what I have been told about Ho Chi Ming City anyways, I will find out next month when I am there. As far as the Vietnamese people go, here they are very polite, respectable and honest, when I am in Hanoi especially around the Hoan Kiem Lake area being part of the Old Quarters, there are many, many sellers and/or peddler’s wanting the business from the tourists with lots of money to spend thus having expensive prices on their goods or simply taking advantage of some tourists by over charging for rides, street foods, T-shirts, souvenirs and so on. Here in DaNang the same sellers and/or peddler’s do not seem to have the same attitude with tourists and the tourists here seem to be more South Koreans than caucasions visiting, so the prices for things are cheap and reasonable, as I was buying Americano coffee at 18k compared to Hanoi in the Old Quarters around Hoan Kiem Lake where coffee would cost me 25 – 55K. Vietnamese coffee is really good especially if it is more than the usual 2 ounces, yes that’s right Vietnamese coffee is served in a small cup with only about 2 ounces of coffee, so because I like my coffee black without sugar its like drinking mud or an espresso. So the way to drink this small amount off coffee to really be enjoyed is adding sugar and a very heavy condensed cream then one ends up with 3 – 4 oz of delicious coffee. Thus why I order Americano occasionally to get a full cup of coffee.

Where I stayed right near the end of the Dragon Bridge mouth this area is decorated with many bright colourful lights everywhere making the entire area romantic at night, and during the day many, many wedding photos of bride and groom dressed up formally are having their wedding photos taken in this area also especially on a walkway over the Han river. I have seen the professional photographers photographing such wedding pictures starting about 7 am and just about every morning and throughout the day and not only here but at the beach also, many, many weddings daily. The airport is very nearby the city of Danang which is very handy being so close as time wise only 10 minutes away and cost 60K with Grab car.

Again at the beach it is very crowded and busy starting at 4:30am with everyone exercising, playing in the sand, water, taking selfies or photographing, playing sports like, volleyball or shuttlecock kicking which is like hacky sack in Canada, instead of a small bean bag to kick, the Vietnamese game uses a birdie similar to what is used in badminton to kick around in the game to keep it going up in the air from player to player as long as it can go.

I made many friendships once again with students I taught English to and at coffee shops I visited or just about anywhere I travelled. I enjoyed the freedom of using a motorbike to get myself around to explore and I did as a young student named Hòa took me up a mountain to visit a Monk living on the land of a hillside that he had cleared and made into a place to visit, sanctuary I suppose. I sat down and had tea with him and then walked the area for a bit until we both got back on our motorbikes to head further up the mountain to one of the peaks which is at the top of Son Tra Island and the peak is called Đỉnh Bàn Cờ which I think means the ‘chess table’ peak, as there is a statue of a Monk playing chess at a table. and to have a view of Danang from the lookout point. As when we reached the top there were three hang gliders just hovering in circles just above our heads, the view was great but it was an overcast day which led to photographing much white backgrounds instead of seeing a blue one. It was still impressive seeing all of Danang from so high up, the beaches, ocean, airport, river, everything. I think I would like to come back to Danang this is a city worth visiting again and possibly living here for a longer stay.

Now I am off to Hanoi just for a short three day stay before a flight to Phu Quoc Island, I am staying in the Old Quarters area near Hoan Kiem Lake the centre of Hanoi being the most expensive place I believe it certainly is where all the tourists come to visit. The tourists again have lots of money that they need to unload so they do not mind paying some of these outrageous prices that are being asked for by the sellers. For instance fresh fruit on the street will cost as much as 4 -10 times as other parts of Vietnam, as with t-shirts from Vietnam costing upwards of 200K instead off 40-50K, and I had one of these guys riding bicycle telling me he knows where the place is that I am looking for when I asked him for directions only to take me in a full circle and drop me off at the same spot that we started at and tell me that I was standing in front of the place the whole time and he had the balls to ask for 200K for a 10 minute tour that I did not want, I said no then he said 100K, I still refused then he wanted 50K and when he realized that I was not paying due to him wanting to scam me he was pissed. His outrageous rate works out to1.2 million VND per hour I highly doubt that a doctor in Vietnam even makes that per hour, maybe the Bentley I saw was his….who knows.

I was walking around with a local girl for two days while staying at lake Haon Kiem and when I mentioned to her about some of the luxury cars I have seen with her, she replied that there are many Vietnamese that are very rich, I can see it because the tourist keep paying very high prices for everything thus thinking that the guy peddling the bike giving him a ride to where he wants to go needs the money because he is peddling his ass off to earn money for a living thus pay his price he is asking that is 10 – 20 times more than what he would charge the local Vietnamese, and when you see that Bentley go by there is your cyclists laughing away.

I suppose in the long run it is good that the wealth is being distributed around the world more evenly as it should be. But also when these so called ‘developing countries’ continue to get more wealthy with improved conditions, then for tourists and travellers to travel to these exotic countries or developing countries for a bargain, it is gone right, these countries are now equal with others so no more visiting a cheap country… then what, no more tourist and travellers….who knows. But when people come to these countries now because they are affordable and thus travellers can stay for long periods to explore and have fun, I suspect one day the developing countries will develop and no longer a cheap country to visit.