Đà Nẵng Việt Nam (Danang, Vietnam)

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We visited DaNang for a couple months and really fell in love with it. On our previous visit to Vietnam a couple years ago we visited Ho Chi Minh City and did not enjoy it all that much. It was a very interesting experience but we did not feel we needed to return there. The city was too noisy, crowded, polluted and did not feel overly safe (not really dangerous either but you kept your senses up a notch).

DaNang is an unusual place, its very laid back, safe (in our experience) and the surrounding mountain area is beautiful. It is well developed with great roads, a dragon bridge and very good internet (I think it was the best we have experienced in the 10 countries we have visited so far, even close to or better than Korea, Japan and Singapore at times).

You will find that most of the businesses are mom and pop (and youngster) operations, where some "restaurants" are basically a tin roof and some plastic chairs. In this sense its very market orientated, and I have to imagine the rate of self employment is extremely high. Many houses convert their street level livingroom into a business like a convenience store, motorcycle repair, parking or just about anything the market will support.

Two of the favorite pastimes in DaNang are drinking coffee and drinking beer. I have never seen so much beer consumed and I am Canadian! They will order a flat at a table of 4, finish it in one sitting and order more (at lunch!). The beer cans just pile up beside the table until they are done. They sell beer by the FLAT(24 cans) in restaurants! The locals seem to be able to handle their drink well, we really did not see any drunk people stumbling around or rowdiness at all.

The most unique part of the experience is how little the locals bother with you. It is like you are just another Vietnamese (even though I am 6'2" and white). Rarely are you pestered. Even at some of the local touristy markets the sell is pretty soft compared to other cites and countries. Never once was there an inkling that a cab driver would overcharge us. Restaurants do not have separate prices for foreigners. All the typical scams you see else where you just do not see here. If it does exist, it is rare. This makes for such an enjoyable experience.

Danang is friendly toward foreigners as you will see in this video where people will say HELLO! But unlike most other places this is generally not a prelude to them selling you something or scamming you, they just want to say hello! The children especially are happy to see foreigners and say hello but do not pester you. They just wave and say hello. I really miss this!

We love DaNang sooo much, what a classy place with really cool people! With investments like the Dragon Bridge, new airport and infrastructure DaNang is really set to take off!

Hai Van Pass, is unreal!

My favorite thing to do was drive my scooter (or automatic motorbike as they call them, scooter is a western term apparently)around town. Video:

~Jason