Happy Lunar New Year!

Today is the last day of the lunar year, and tomorrow is the start of the Year of the Horse. Happy Tet! Happy Lunar New Year!

Here are some pictures of the preparations we have seen over the weeks leading up to this very important holiday. The streets are bustling with activity (more than usual) as everyone gets ready for the festivities:

Da Nang - offerings

Da Nang - Happy New Year!

Da Nang - Happy New Year in Vietnamese

Da Nang - orange trees for sale

Hanoi - decorations for sale

Hanoi

Hanoi

Hanoi - shopping for Tet

Hanoi

Hanoi - Lucky money envelopes for sale *money not included :)

Hanoi - shopping for Tet

Hanoi - shopping for Tet

Hanoi - lanterns for sale

~ Christine

On the Road for 130 plus Days and Counting!

Unless you are traveling long term, the idea of getting exhausted from traveling seems to be a foreign concept. I mean, how can you get tired from traveling if you love it? Well you can, and you will.  When you are on the road for months moving from place to place, living out of a suitcase, making new routines everyday, choosing a place to eat for almost every meal and trying to communicate in a language you do not know, it gets to be challenging.

View from Marble Mountain

Iced Vietnamese Coffee

Crabs making sand art

No, we wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world, but it was important to accept that we would need to settle down for a bit at some point in order to rest and regroup before continuing. For us, Viet Nam has been that place. Our resting period has been a little longer than most I would imagine (we have been in Da Nang for seven weeks so far), but the time here has been an experience in and of itself.

Doves at beach - Da Nang

Vendors - Da Nang

Goddess of Mercy entrance - Da Nang

Han Market - Da Nang

Living in Da Nang has been wonderful and full of many pleasant surprises. We first passed through Da Nang a couple of years ago on our way to spend time in Hoi An (where the majority of tourists go when visiting central Viet Nam). We thought the city was less hectic than Ho Chi Minh and looked nice, so when we were contemplating a resting period a couple of months ago, we decided to come Da Nang. Cost of living was also a factor (I mean, we would have loved to have stayed in Japan or Singapore for a while!).

Urban farming - Da Nang

Monkey Mountain - Da Nang

Marble Mountain - Da Nang

Seafood hot pot - Da Nang

We rented a condo giving us more space than a hotel and the option to cook for ourselves again. It feels like home. We have become a part of the neighborhood and the neighborhood has become a part of us. The farmers around us tend to their gardens everyday, the dogs and roosters sing their daily songs, and the children play on the streets saying hi to us when we pass by. When we first arrived in late November, the weather was a little rainy and chilly with few tourists around. Since then, the weather has been warming up and tourists are slowly filling the city.

Da Nang

Fishing boats - Da Nang

Da Nang

Dragon Bridge - Da Nang

Jason has learned how to use a motorbike and get us around the city. It is not just learning the skill of driving a motorbike, but learning the art of traffic here too. When you stand on the sidewalk and watch it, it is hard to comprehend how it works, the fact that it does work, and that you could ever figure it out! Alas, Jason has and we have been able to go shopping at the supermarket, bowling, to the movies, etc. Almost everything the locals do, we do.

Jason & Lan playing badminton - Da Nang

Beach - Da Nang

Goddess of Mercy - Da Nang

Urban farming - Da Nang

Staying put for a while has given us the chance to observe, and live the life. We have also met other travelers and expats to gain their perspective and gather some knowledge as well.  It has been a wonderful experience and great insight but soon it will be time to move along to continue our travels and adventures.

~ Christine

Going to the Movies in Da Nang - Movies and more movies!

Movies Update: We have seen a few more movies in the last month, and thought we'd just tell you what we've had available to see!

Frozen - A very enjoyable movie. We saw a weekday morning matinee of this and there were two other couples in the theatre with us...not a single kid was there! Who says you're too old for a cartoon?! Best part though was the "Get a Horse" Mickey Mouse short that plays before the movie. AMAZING and it was just nominated for an Oscar! Go Mickey!

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - This was an opportunity lost. It felt like we were watching three different movies that were trying to come together. The acting was good, as well as the premise but we felt this was Ben Stiller's chance to have a stellar moment like Will Ferrell in Stranger Than Fiction, but it just never made it to that point.

Lone Survivor - Not a movie I wanted to see, but with a handful of options in English (or subtitled), I said why not. A pleasant surprise. Very well done and I enjoyed it. We saw this on a weekday afternoon. The audience was predominately young (twenty-somethings) which we thought was an interesting demographic for a Navy Seal movie, maybe Mark Wahlberg was the draw?! This had to be the most entertaining movie experience ever, and not in a good way. The amount of chatter, wait, talking that happened was insane. It was not just one person, but most people. At that point, you try to accept it and focus on the movie but it is very distracting when trying to listening to the dialogue. For most of the audience, they were reading subtitles so talking would not have been a distraction for them. What was curious were the points of laughter (this was not a comedy) and squeals at the violence and most inappropriate moments. A frustrating experience but an experience nonetheless - never knew an audience could be this loud!

~ Christine

Cao lầu in Da Nang

Since the first time we had cao lau in Hoi An, we dream about it. Everyone makes it differently but in general it is a small dish of medium-sized noodles, thin pork slices and leafy greens that wades in a shallow clear broth, just enough to keep everything moist. You may be given more greens, chili's and other items to add to your dish or you can enjoy it as is. The real prize to the dish though are the noodles and they even have a story to go with them. This dish is only available in Hoi An because It is said that the noodles can only be made here using water from a particular well there. As such, "this water" contributes to the noodles special texture and taste. Regardless if this legend is true or not, the noodles are amazing, and because you can only get them in this part of the world, it is important to get your fill while here.

Old town Hoi An - cao lau noodles drying in the sun

In Hoi An, Morning Glory is a very popular (and very good) place for cao lau along with other dishes. You can also sign up for cooking classes here.

Old town Hoi An - 106 Nguyen Thai Hoc

Bowl of cao lau at Morning Glory - 55,000 VND or $2.75 CAD

Luckily, the area that you can have cao lau expands a little further than just Hoi An, but you have to search a little harder. Finding cao lau in Da Nang has saved us from making the 30 km trek to Hoi An to satisfy every craving. So when we feel the need to enjoy those chewy, dense noodles, we head over to Tu Quynh. They serve a few other dishes but we have only been there so far for our cao lau fix, and it is good!

Da Nang - 1 Hai Phong between streets Le Loi and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai

The menu can be found on the wall, along with prices (very nice). There are a couple of faded pictures on the wall as well to help if you do not recognize any Vietnamese. Service is prompt and everyone is welcome.

Tu Quynh Menu

Cao lau at Tu Quynh - 25,000 VND or $1.25 CAD

All this talk about cao lau is making me crave it..."Jason, put on your raincoat, and pull out the motorbike, it's time for lunch!"

~ Christine

Going to the Movies in Asia (Da Nang, Viet Nam) - Tèo Em

Up to this point we have been seeing foreign movies while in Asia. Although not foreign to us, Hollywood movies would technically be considered foreign in Asia! Think about that!

We were seeing posters for this comedy, Tèo Em, and were curious about it as the movie is a big hit here. We were excited to learn it is a Vietnamese comedy with English subtitles! Once we found that out, we knew we had to see this while in Vietnam.

The movie quality was excellent, from the acting to the filming and all on a small budget (in Hollywood terms) of about half a million dollars. It was quite funny, and what we found interesting were some of the jokes. A lot of jokes would be those we would find in a Hollywood film, but also other types of jokes that would be considered sensitive topics and therefore Hollywood would not go there. We also laughed at jokes that we would not necessarily respond to if it were in a Hollywood film.

We also found the audience laughed very hard at certain points that we did not find as funny, which was probably due to cultural differences or it was lost in the translation. Either way, we had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the experience!

The trailer:

 

~ Christine

Back to the Barber

Jason needed another haircut, left it a little long this time but it was worth the wait, found the best "babershop" here in Da Nang, Viet Nam. Haircut and beard trimming all for 100,000 VND ($5 CAD). The guy was very friendly and took great care in what he did. Jason will be back to see him again!

"Babershop"

151 Nguyen Van Thoai, Da Nang, Viet Nam (near My Khe beach)

Cutting hair

Trimming beard, nose, etc.

Contraption for a massage?

What is this thing?!

~ Christine