Some observations as I sit at the lovely outdoor cafe/restaurant of my hotel: although this is winter season here, it is 27 degrees today (celsius), and while not so many flowers in blossom as there would/will be in spring and summer season, there is still alot of lush natural greenery everywhere I can see. There are alot more tourists here in this part of the city where I am, than when I was here last time about 6 mths ago (between covid border restrictions and the area of town I was in then, I was one of very few tourists).
Vietnam is like what Florida and Mexico are for us Canadian "snowbirds", only here it is mostly Australians and New Zealanders, as well as Koreans and Chinese, and Europeans, who flock here for the warm tropical weather, fantastic beaches, jungles, resorts, ancient Buddhist temples, and much cheaper prices for everything. The streets are lined by coconut palms and other tropical trees, and with a plethora of hotels and outdoor cafes on either side...from luxury to low budget and everything in between; it is very friendly and safe, with really low crime rate, and of those crimes most are petty thefts and crimes of "opportunity", like leaving your phone unattended in a public space and/or within too easy a quick grab for someone who needs money by reselling it ( but thankfully even those thefts are not too common at all).
Image: My delicious 'Ca Phe Sua Da' (chair across from me was occupied by a lovely Vietnamese woman named Rose who I just met and shared this table with. 😊 )
Da Nang has one of, if not the fastest growing economy in Asia, and construction of new hotels and other businesses is booming, although covid pandemic hit them really hard for 2+ yrs and sadly lots of businesses relying solely on tourism had to shut down ( but which that sector is now recovering as border restrictions are lifted now). Vietnamese coffee is the BEST in the world, and one of their biggest exports, and I am now fully addicted to "Ca Phe Sua Da" (with lots of different accents on those words, but my ph won't let me put them there, or at least I have not yet figured out how to, lol), which is double shot of fresh strong local coffee mixed with sweetened condensed milk, and served over ice, and like drinking rich dark chocolate combined with a most luscious and delectable coffee taste; and my final observation I'll write about for now, haha!, is...it is just so very cool and exotic to me to see locals walking past or riding bicycles wearing a "Non la" (traditional Vietnamese straw cone hat), as well as some women wearing what looks like a complete "ninja" outfit whilst riding their scooters. It's so neat! I am loving it all!! (and so very thankful I am here to experience this still whole new world to me)🙏🏽👍🏽😊💗 Da Nang, Vietnam.
Image: My brunch. Scrambled eggs, salad, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and onions. Delicious. Cost 95,000 Dong (just over 5 bucks CAD)
PS> When greeting or thanking a Vietnamese person it is the custom to bow your head in respect...and the older the person is the lower and more slowly you bow. The Vietnamese language is so very different from English, yet they use the same alphabet as we do. It is very "tonal" and I heard that one simple word like "bo" could mean something like 10 different things depending on how you accentuate it. Very tricky language for we anglophones to get hang of! I hope to learn at least a tiny bit though, as my it'd be so great to not only learn at least a bit of another language but to be able to talk with my grandchildren and daughter-in-law in it sometimes...although they all speak both English and Vietnamese. And my son does very well with it too I think, but he'd disagree with me on that, lol. He said he feels he should be more fluent...but that's because he's too hard on himself, imo. I think he does amazing! It is such a VERY difficult language to learn, and by all accounts that I've heard of. So far I have only learned to say thank you...and not very well at that, haha!
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