19th April 2024 - Sitting tight in Da Nang

Perhaps I could have left Da Nang earlier than I did, but I didn't. I had spent the majority of my time staying at the same hotel and visiting the same coffee shops, interspersed with long walks and mostly being powered by banh mi's and matcha lattes. There was the occasional Vietnamese coffee in between, but for the sake of my own health I had decided to keep these treats to a minimum. I wasn't sleeping well enough as it was.

    There is an obscene number of coffee shops in Da Nang, many of which look great and will undoubtedly serve a good brew. However I seemed to have struck gold with the hotel that I had stayed in, aptly named as it happened "The Gold Hotel". Its location was not far from the busier, more tourist focussed side of town (more recently becoming a popular destination for Korean visitors in particular), but it was also in close proximity to a decent laundry, surrounded by great food options and had a coffee shop opposite that was close to perfect for what I wanted at the time. The Coffee House was spacious with a relaxed environment, with plenty of good places to sit with a laptop and full of locals doing just that. I spent many hours there over those days and weeks, comfortably working on what I could that would hopefully lead somewhere. Drinking and eating whilst also racking my brain about how I could possibly start bringing an income back in to offset my depleting funds. I have not managed to nail that last part yet. I should have drank more coffee, or maybe I should do less thinking and, like Betty Boo, just find a way of doing the do.

    I did briefly consider moving up through the country, maybe going to Ha Noi for a couple of days and then dropping back down to Ninh Binh, but ultimately I decided that I would just sit tight and head directly back to Bangkok nearer the time of my flight back to the UK. A large part of this decision was down to the long overdue realisation that I was no longer enjoying doing these things alone any more, or and also not doing so in the same enthusiastic way as I had in the past (although even then I had been lucky to have spent periods of time with awesome people). There has always been times on previous travels where I have thought how nice it would be if someone else was at the same place and able to experience the moment that I was experiencing. The sights, the sounds and the smells. The changes of temperature at altitude or when the day shifted to dusk and beyond. I have been witness to some truly amazing things, but if it's only me that knows first hand what it was like to be there, then can anyone else ever fully relate to it, past perhaps an imaginative or empathetic response.  Any medium that I use to try and paint a picture to cover an event or a time and place, this is all it ever is. No matter whatever merits it may to may not have, without a personal connection, it will only ever be just a picture. 

So there. 

    As I looked back towards Bangkok, the idea of being there over Songkran started to fill me with unease. The temperature there was also sitting at around the 37 degree mark on most days, which when directly compared to Da Nang's 32 degree peaks, further made the idea of heading there early less tempting. My decision to wait until after the festival though brought other implications. The cost of flights between the 2 locations suddenly became much more expensive over the coming days and beyond,with the usual one and a quarter hour flight more quadrupling (or more) from what would usual be a £70 ticket. Eventually though I had to break cover and the price didn't look to be dropping any time soon. Exploring various routes and options (it was actually cheaper to travel to Singapore and then Back up to Thailand on some days), I eventually booked to fly directly back on the 19th April, giving me then 5 days grace in the capital.  £170. Ouch.

    Apart from the cost, the flight was pain free. Da Nang airport is small enough to navigate quickly and easily with enough shops and coffee places to spend a little time and use up the rest of the local currency. I was the last to board, suddenly remembering that I needed to get some overpriced water for the VietJet air flight, so that's one more off of the experience list. All this meant for me was that there was no space left in the cabins overhead locker for my carry on bag. Instead this now had to go in front of my seat and sun-kissed two-toned legs. A place that was also a little cramped.

    At least if we crashed (I thought) I was already positioned in such a way that I wouldn't have to waste anymore energy bracing for impact.   

 

29/03/2024 - (A not so) Quick trip to Hoi An.

I was told that I was to be picked up from the hotel that I was staying at 10am, but at 9:41 the phone rang loudly and the voice on the other end informed me that the bus was waiting for me outside. Luckily I was mostly prepared, I just took an extra bit of time to collect a second injection pen with needle as backup, just in case something was to happen to the primary one that I was using. Thankfully it’s not an overly common occurrence for something to go wrong, but sometimes a pen may break or a needle bend and weaken, so having another in reserve and in easy reach is sometimes bast practice. This is especially true when going further away from where the rest of the supply is being housed.

Outside the hotel I was ushered into the front passenger seat of an awaiting car where my knees were soon to be pressed firmly against the dashboard, allowing for space in front of the seat directly behind. I wondered if perhaps there had been a slight mistranslation with regards to what I had been told about the vehicle type, as the driver drove around Da Nang collecting a few more people at different hotels locations. I began to hope that maybe the journey might just be a short (albeit slightly cramped) trip to Hoi An for those of us now confined within the car itself.

Those hopes were soon, much like my knees. Dashed.

At the far end of Da Nang the driver pulled into the last of his hotels and signalled towards the full size coach that now sat in front of us with luggage doors wide open. With a bit of a confusing scrum happening outside, I sought reassurance that this bus was going to Hoi An, and not Ha Noi which I think I kind of received. I wasn’t overly happy though. The bus itself was a sleeper, meaning that rather than simple seats being in place, there were instead a bunch of beds at both floor and upper levels on each side and down the middle, all seperate bays. Once inside with shoes removed and bagged, it was a case of locating a bay that I would feel comfortable getting into, most of which had probably been slept in and vacated from just before. I found one that I thought was acceptable enough and hauled myself up and into it whilst still contemplating the notion of getting back off and writing the trip off as a bad endeavour. I could try try again at some point over the next few days maybe. This wouldn’t be the only time that my mind filled itself with similar thoughts. 

At just after 10:15 am the bus pulled away and for what I expected to be a 30 or 45 minute trip along the coast, hoping that I could still make it Hoi An at a reasonable time for breakfast. But it wasn’t long before I felt those hopes slipping slowly away. We had been on the road for just under twenty minutes until we stopped and pulled over, not far from the Marble Mountains but still a way away from where I had envisaged I would be by now. With doors now open again, discussions then started to take place outside between the driver and a some of the passengers, and then the luggage compartment was opened and the passengers took out their bags and placed them onto the pavement beside them. It seemed for a short while as though they were just going to be abandoned there, far from any notable hotels or obvious destination, but following more discussions everyone was soon back on board and we set off again. Only this time we were headed back towards Da Nang.  

My best guess is that the driver had missed a drop off point a few miles before, and at this stop I again contemplated just getting off and walking back to my hotel as it would still only take about half of the time that I had spent on the journey so far.  I decided however to stick with it though as it was time I wasn't going to get back. Twenty minutes after the first turn around, we again started to make headway with new scenery passing by, finally arriving at 11:34 am. 

I put my shoes on outside the coach whilst minding the school of taxi drivers that were beginning to circle around their newly delivered chum. Everytine I have visited Hoi An it has felt like the drop off point has gotten further and further away from where you want to get to, and I have started to wonder whether if being dropped so far out from the centre of things is part of a grander scheme to help drive the local transport economy. As usual I decided to make my way to where I was going by foot, although it was nearly a mile before I came across a landmark that I recognised with the temperature starting to rise considerably. The local museum which also had a bunch of taxis around it was somewhere I had spent time at some years before. 

The central Hoi An area itself (ancient town) is still distinctly Hoi An. Some shops and restaurants may have moved or been created in places that they weren't before, but those newly created businesses were utilising buildings that had long been in place rather than new constructs. The whole waterfront area felt like it had received a new lick of paint however and the riverside area now sported many more tour boats than I remember there being, but memory alone can be a flawed measure. There had definitely been changes though and everything felt a little more organise, tidy and accessible, at least as far as the water edge went. The main riverside drags seemed to be both wider and less cluttered for both pedestrians and vehicles alike. Whilst tourism had undoubtably grown over the decade since I had first visited, everything seemed a little less chaotic at the same time. I was only here for a few hours though, so this was only a snapshot and perhaps isn't a as true a reflection as the times I have spent longer there,

The one big surprise I had when revisiting was to see the Japanese Bridge fully covered over as I stood on the other side of the river looking at it. I had never really managed to get a decent picture of this most famous of landmarks before, and it seemed that today was going to be no exception. Passing it by in close proximity however I was truly shocked to see that most of the bridge itself was no longer there at all, having been dismantled in the name of preservation and restoration. Whilst the work was initially projected to be finished by the end of 2023 (taking no longer that 360 days), it seems that this target was not achievable. It’s obviously when being there just how much work has had to have been undertaken and I feel somewhat fortunate to be able to witness and observe these efforts first hand. I can only imagine that the quality of repair and workmanship was always going to be of paramount importance for such an iconic structure and and integral part of Hoi An's identity.
https://vietnamnet.vn/en/hoi-an-restores-heritage-for-longer-life-2109731.html

Another thing that Hoi An has a reputation for is the food, and whilst I had managed to miss the opportunity for breakfast, that wasn’t going to stop me finding something else on which to feast upon. My initial plan was to visit “Cargo”, a place that I had eaten at many years before on more than one occasion and a place at which I had fond memories, but upon arrival there it had changed a little more than I had anticipated. Again, if my memory had served me correctly, it was previously somewhere that was split into 2 linked parts, a restaurant on the right and a more relaxed cafe just to the left (and where I was hoping to sit). Whilst the restaurant side was still present and correct, the cafe had been fully replaced by their bakery, which although I am sure is an awesome place to get food from, it wasn't the kind of experience that I had been after. 

A couple of streets away I found one of the Hoi An Roastery cafes, a small local chain where I would have drunk coffee previously, This time however it was the food menu that caught my eye and I was soon sat inside in the cool waiting on my food and drink to be presented. I had chosen both Cau Lau (noodles) and White Roses (parcels) as well as a matcha, the foods being known as local specialties. I may have over ordered somewhat, but the food itself was even better than I had hoped. The cuisine in Vietnam is very often amazingly good. That found in Hoi An has all too often been this and a little bit more.

The only disappointment of the visit for me was that the hotel that I had stayed at on previous occasions hadn't been available to book whilst I was planning on going, and if it had maybe I would have tried to stay in the town for a few more days, rather than few hours I had decided on. Unfortunately (I was to learn before I went) this hotel (and its sister hotel in Da Nang) had not reopened fully since covid had forced closure a few years prior. Both were amazing hotels with amazing staff and I would have loved to have had the opportunity to visit them again and to say hello to those that had looked after me so well at those times, and had added so much to my previous travel experiences, but it was not to be. I hope that all that were involved in both the Nhi Nhi and Orange hotels are doing well. Maybe I will be able to drop in cakes again in the future. Unlikely maybe, but you never truly know.

I decided to get a taxi back to Da Nang, but in order to do this I needed to head back away from the hub Hoi An and back towards the museum. The centre of the ancient town does not allow motor vehicles at certain times of day, so to make my life easier and and seeing as the museum was where I had noted taxis picking up earlier that day, I decided that was the location to get to and order a Grab.

The trip back was not as eventful or as frustrating as the one in the morning. The driver was young and eager to communicate with me, but again I unfortunately know little Vietnamese and he wasn’t exactly fluent in English (although was still more adept at my language than I was at his). We did manage though, partly using google translate and partly using broken english and photographs to show where I had or had not managed to get to during my past visits to the country. The conversation, although limited, was warm and friendly.

But then in Vietnam, they mostly seem to be that way for me, and  I am going to miss it for sure.               

It definitely still feels a little too much like a farewell tour.

24/03/2024 - DaNang-a-Rang

 It's fair to say that I have enjoyed being back in DaNang again. It's a place that I have been through several times in the past and with each visit it somehow feels like it has improved in some way or another, but it's sometimes a little difficult to put a finger on exactly why that is. 

Things started off a little bit ropey. My hotel is not located exactly where I thought it was, an error on my part when checking the on-line map at the time of booking. This error led to a slight disorientation with me initially thinking that I had been dropped ay a different part of DaNang, and that drastic changes had happened over the preceding 5 since I was last here. Things started to fall into place mentally once I checked my current location on a map once again and realised that instead of being slightly north the Dragon bridge over the river, I was in fact slightly south. 

Fate though was smiling again. Right opposite where I was staying there was a pharmacy that I was able to score a months worth of medications, enough to get through to the end of the trip without fear of running short. I thought the price that I had paid in Thailand was reasonable enough at about £100 for 2 months worth. In Vietnam however, the equivelent cost by volume worked out to be around a 1/5th of the price when worked out like for like.

Almost everywhere I walk here changes are in progress or are already subtly different. Buildings have been knocked down or constricted, cafes have moved or changed but are more numerous now than they ever were, and some of the shops are more recognisable western brands, noticeable especially in the city's main mall. Lights at traffic junctions are now widespread and pedestrian crossings are accompanied by green or red men indicators to assist in crossing the highways without being sideswiped. A green man does not necessarily mean that it is not fully safe to cross the road without care however. It's more a suggestion that now might be a good time to take a punt and go for it, as with a bit of luck might be stopping in one of the directions. It's a bit like frogger, but with no water and double the traffic to get past. There are also additional bikes in-between the cars, lorries and vans and just the one life available with no extra credits.

Maybe.

I have walked a lot more again since arriving here too, something that was not easy to do so much over the last few weeks thanks to both oppressive heat and humidity. Traffic and walking paths not being necessarily conducive to being able to navigate anywhere safely or easily also played their part. With the exception of the middle of the day here, it feels more comfortable to be out and about and putting some steps under my belt. There is often a cooler breeze to blunt the edge off of the 30 degrees temperature, but whilst I am still sweating somewhat after walking for long enough around the edge of the river, it's not pouring out of me to the same degree that it has done in some of the places that I have been to. 

I had hoped that my body might adjust to the temperatures over my time here, but I am now resigned to the fact that it isn't going to be so easy. I never used to perspire much when I was younger, but in my mid to late teens it was something that would frequently manifest on nights out, in over hot pubs or clubs that had poor or no air-conditioning. Dancing was always a no go activity. I had put this down bodily changes due age and growing up, but I think that I mat have conflated this fact with diabetes being diagnosed at 15 years old. There is a condition called hyperhidrosis which can be prevalent in diabetics due to the underlying hormone imbalance. It doesn't make it any easier to deal with knowing this. There are tablets that may be able to control it to a certain degree, but they would need to be taken at regular 4-6 hour intervals as I understand it, plus there would be the risk of other side effect and complications I am sure.  At some point I guess you just have to say that enough is enough, but I will make some enquiries at some point to see if there is anything available that might help a little.  

With that said I have a month now before my flight back will drag me back to the UK and I plan to make the most of that time if I can. Thoughts at the moment are to travel from here to Hanoi and then head back to Thailand whilst also doing a bit of groundwork to help when the time comes to re-enter the job market in one way or another. 

Suddenly the remaining time here seems to be running down ever quicker. This is frustrating in a lot of ways as I never really managed to get myself going in a way that I would have liked to have done, or perhaps tried hard enough to find a route that might have enabled me to stay away from UK for longer whilst generating an income to both thrive and survive on. 

Time and tide though. Time and tide.

 

      

          

21/03/2024 - 2 legs, days and matcha lattes.

The taxi to the airport arrived early in the morning, ready for me to begin my odyssey towards Vietnam that would run over a couple of days.  On my previous trip to Yogyakarta, the airport at which I arrived at and subsequently departed from was older and smaller, that was conveniently located close to the centre of the action of the city. The newer airport which had been built to better handle international flights and larger aircraft was located just over an hour away by car, but the amount of time it took would be largely dependent on traffic. Indonesia in places can get a little busy, but today it seemed that the gods were with us. 

The airport itself whilst grander in scale than the older terminal was, but still small when compared to many of the others that I have been fortunate/unfortunate enough to have traversed through over the years, with some of the big city ones perhaps just being too big and complex for their own good. I arrived two and a half hours before my flight's departure time which was going to be more than enough for a newer airport of such scale. Check-in was fast and and painless and it wasn't long before I had cleared the first security check of the day and was sat at the airport's Starbucks with a hot matcha latte. This was only  only slightly delayed by the national anthem falling starting up at exactly 10:00 am, the same time it does every day.  This is a time when everything just stops until the tannoy'd music has run its course. 

With the flight not due until 11.45, I took my time and made sure that everything was set for my arrival at Kuala Lumpur later that day, with all the documents that I might need at immigration and beyond saved to my google drive and readily accessible offline on both my tablet and phone. It’s at times like these that you realise how much travel has changed over the last decade since my first prolonged trip out of the country. Some things for the better and some for the worse. The fact that I can easily pay for many things with a simple tap of my global debit card without incurring extra currency conversion charges is something that definitely falls into the “better” category.

Post drink the rest of the journey to KL was smooth and easy. There was no need to take everything out from my bag when having it scanned through at the departure lounge and boarding was similarly straightforward. I had booked myself a front seat onboard the AirAsia aircraft as that option was still available at the time, being all too aware that ordinarily the leg space that they allow for tends to just be a bit too cramped for me to sit comfortably. I also pre booked myself a mushroom wrap which came with a small bottle of water. I reasoned that this would be adequate provision to get through the two and a bit hour flight time, but as usual I was also carrying a tube of sweets in my shorts side pocket for quick access to cover any diabetic concerns. The front seat location of course would also allow for a quick exit from the plane after it touched down, which thankfully it did a little ahead of schedule.

I had been wondering if I was going to run into any issues here at immigration, as one of the new requirements that has been recently introduced for entering Malaysia is the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card Card (MDAC) that has to be completed online no more than a few days before arrival. I had realised the previous evening that I had entered my passport expiry date incorrectly on my submitted form, and with no option that I could find upon revisiting the website to allow me to edit that previous version, I filled in another and hoped for the best, carrying the knowledge that there would now be two forms vying for attention when I arrived. I need not have worried. It was not questioned at all. It does make you wonder though as to just how much this new system is actually being utilised. 

On previous visits, certain things I have needed have required cash to be used in payment, including a pre-paid local SIM card and KLIA express train in and out of the city, and to this end I needed to visit an ATM before I could head out any further. Unfortunately the only ones in the immediate vicinity were ones that carried additional charges when used, but it was a day on which I was willing to accept them. I took 200 Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) out to cover the overnight spend, however things had changed the short time I had been away. I could now pay for the SIM card using contactless and the train to the city had also managed to make it into the 2020’s, with benefit of there also being a 20 percent discount applied if using a non Malaysian payment card when tapping and paying at the electronic gate. So 55 MYR became 44 MYR and the freshly dispensed cash stayed in my pocket until it would needed at  KL Sentral.  Here my contactless streak would come to an end as I would need a little small change for the short MRT journey get me near to the hotel. A return trip to the mall in the evening was the only other cash that I needed that evening, bringing my used total 5.30 MYR. The evening at the hotel was spent just booking my hotel ready for when I arrived in DaNang, and also reserving a flight ticket out of the country for a couple of weeks later. The documentation for these were once again uploaded to my online folder and again I made them so that they would be available offline if needed. After this all that was left to do was prepare my bags and clothes for the next day's early start, clean and try to get some rest. I may actually have been asleep before my head hit managed to hit the pillow. 

I was awake before the first of my alarms went off at 6:00 am ready to take my cold shower on the chin (and over the rest of me). It’s not that I particularly like this kind of thing, but as the water in the hotel was not in any rush to get itself up to a more welcoming temperature, I had to do what was neccassary. I did not have the luxury of indefinite time. I left the hotel at 7:00 gave the ever grateful ticket machine the 1.30 MYR (cash) required for the trip back to KL Sentral. where I again could catch the express train back to the airport terminal. Baggage check-in was seamless and barring a slight delay at the immigration counter, there was nothing much to grumble about. This in itself was welcome. Past experiences of using both KLIA 1 and KLIA 2 over the last few months has left me not ever looking forward to revisiting but today nothing was a problem. Before finding a place to stop until the  boarding gate was opened, I took the opportunity to change up any leftover Ringgit for some Vietnamese Dong at the currency exchange. This modest amount amount would still be more than enough to get a taxi into the city, some food in the evening and stock up the hotel room to cater for any emergencies. Just a bit more of a safety net. 

In the airport Starbucks I settled down again with matcha latte as I had some 24 hours before, but this time with added croissant. Whilst I’m not the biggest fan of Starbucks in general, sometimes needs must and their saturation of the marketplace (which I mostly hate the idea of) does mean that they are to be found at pretty much every turn and juncture. I do find that I appreciate the handwritten notes that are sometimes found jotted onto the side of the cups by the staff however. It’s those kind of little things that that can just help take an edge off of a day. Well it is for me anyway. 

It was here that I decided it was time to catch up with the times myself and went about trying to get an e-Sim installed onto my phone. DaNang Airport as I remembered it was not the easiest place in the world to sort a sim card when I last visited in 2019, but this was a flight that also had arrived late in the evening. I remembered the stands for sim card vendors being in the baggage hall, but their being no ATM’s to get money from until you made it to the outside of the airport. Thanks to the newly converted currency that I now had stashed away safely in my wallet, I was not overly concerned by this detail for this visit,  but I still decided that I would like to at least try to make that change away from a relying having to find a physical Sim every time that I landed in a different region.

I had looked briefly at options and plans whilst in Penang some weeks before, but at the time the options were both limited and more expensive when directly compared to the physical options available where I was going to be headed. For Vietnam however the prices seemed much more reasonable, with $13 USD giving me a 5gb plan covering 30 days and plenty of different add ons available if if I wanted to tailor the feature set further. I followed the install instructions the best that I could, but I was not going to be sure how successful those efforts had been until I had landed on the other side. With everything set and rest time up, I walked the short distance to the departure gate, passed the final security check and boarded the Batik Air plane that was waiting patiently. Unlike the AirAsia flight from Yogyakarta I had been unable to get a seat with any extra leg room. Thankfully however, the standard space given was also unlike that found on previous AirAsia flights. I noted that my 6D seat was actually positioned only 5 rows from the front of the fuselage, indicating that the seats had not been positioned as close together as perhaps they could have been. 

       

The landing at DaNang was smooth enough, but the immigration process was much easier than I had expected it to be. Vietnam had previously been one of the countries that I had needed additional documentation for over the years, and this was something that I had prepared for in advance. This time however it was one of the easiest experiences I have had to date in any country that I have visited, with nothing more required from me other than the presentation of my passport to be duly stamped. After this it seemed like it was only a couple of minutes wait until my bag and I were reunited again and I was able to exit past the various telecom stands, stubbornly ignoring the fact that I was still struggling to get my mobile phone to connect with the new method. Outside the airport I finally cracked it, but in doing so had accidently enabled my UK sim for a very short time, but it was still enough time to receive a few texts and a phone call from the UK telling me that my house was eligible for some solar panels. 

One of the more noteworthy SMS notifications that did manage to come through before I reached my spend limit was one from HSBC. It was a fraud alert in relation to the card I had used to pay for my $13 sim card at Kuala Lumpur and because of this they were putting a stop on the card until I notified them by phone that it was a payment I had authorised. The last time I had to deal with stuff like this was in 2016 when I was also in DaNang. A fitting end to a mad couple of days travel. 

It still felt nice to be back here again.