Da Nang, Vietnam (Note this is continued from Hoi An)
In the afternoon we went with Dick and Debra by shuttle bus to downtown Da Nang to do a little exploring. The first things we encountered were Vietnamese women trying to sell us jewelry and postcards. They wouldn’t take no for an answer and glued themselves to Ed and Dick, as you can see in the picture. One of the girls kept saying “for my baby” over and over and pointing to her stomach, which was flatter than mines has been for decades. It was easy for Deb and me to resist them but Ed and Dick had a little harder time.
We walked around the city and found a hodge podge of buildings and people and motorbikes. A handicapped boy was riding some kind of self-propelled vehicle and he followed us around with his deformed hand out, begging for money. The sidewalks were used as parking lots for motorbikes, so often we were walking in the street to get around them. The streets were full of potholes and broken pavement. Crossing the street was an exhausting challenge because, just as they have no concept of politely lining up and taking their turn, they also have no concept of traffic etiquette. There are no stoplights or stop signs so it’s a free for all on the streets. During our port talk on the ship we were advised to put our heads down and not look them in the eye; just go. Coming from our part of the world, that was easier said than done. We had some close calls but we made it. After a very short walk, we were all ready to sit down and have a beer.
Drinking establishments were few and far between. In fact, it was hard to guess what many of the storefronts were there for. Some would have a table with a couple of old people sitting around it, some with just a few pieces of merchandise; it was just a jumble of run-down buildings. I got the impression you would have to live there for quite a while before you could really sort it all out.
Luckily our shuttle had stopped at a hotel and we went there for a beer. We saw a lot of our fellow passengers there waiting for the next shuttle so we had a fine time talking about our experiences of the day.
Ed says I must put this in the blog (Could this really be the highlight of his day?): Last night we met some people for 70’s Name That Tune Trivia, guys against the girls. OK, the guys won! And Ed says he was the one who knew all the answers. He’s very proud of that. Now we girls have challenged them to a re-match. Stay tuned for those exciting results.
Tomorrow we arrive in Phu My where we’re taking an excursion to the Cu Chi tunnels.
In the afternoon we went with Dick and Debra by shuttle bus to downtown Da Nang to do a little exploring. The first things we encountered were Vietnamese women trying to sell us jewelry and postcards. They wouldn’t take no for an answer and glued themselves to Ed and Dick, as you can see in the picture. One of the girls kept saying “for my baby” over and over and pointing to her stomach, which was flatter than mines has been for decades. It was easy for Deb and me to resist them but Ed and Dick had a little harder time.
We walked around the city and found a hodge podge of buildings and people and motorbikes. A handicapped boy was riding some kind of self-propelled vehicle and he followed us around with his deformed hand out, begging for money. The sidewalks were used as parking lots for motorbikes, so often we were walking in the street to get around them. The streets were full of potholes and broken pavement. Crossing the street was an exhausting challenge because, just as they have no concept of politely lining up and taking their turn, they also have no concept of traffic etiquette. There are no stoplights or stop signs so it’s a free for all on the streets. During our port talk on the ship we were advised to put our heads down and not look them in the eye; just go. Coming from our part of the world, that was easier said than done. We had some close calls but we made it. After a very short walk, we were all ready to sit down and have a beer.
Drinking establishments were few and far between. In fact, it was hard to guess what many of the storefronts were there for. Some would have a table with a couple of old people sitting around it, some with just a few pieces of merchandise; it was just a jumble of run-down buildings. I got the impression you would have to live there for quite a while before you could really sort it all out.
Luckily our shuttle had stopped at a hotel and we went there for a beer. We saw a lot of our fellow passengers there waiting for the next shuttle so we had a fine time talking about our experiences of the day.
Ed says I must put this in the blog (Could this really be the highlight of his day?): Last night we met some people for 70’s Name That Tune Trivia, guys against the girls. OK, the guys won! And Ed says he was the one who knew all the answers. He’s very proud of that. Now we girls have challenged them to a re-match. Stay tuned for those exciting results.
Tomorrow we arrive in Phu My where we’re taking an excursion to the Cu Chi tunnels.
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