Dang Danang, we aren't sure how we feel about you.
It's tough when you travel to a new city with excitement and find that you are left a little bit underwhelmed. I don't want it to sound like Danang isn't a great place to visit... I think it just wasn't what we were expecting.
Our first full day in town was obviously going to be dedicated to the beach. My Khe is a world renowned beach and as soon as we set foot on the sand, we could see why. It is a massive stretch of pure white, flour fine sand and gorgeous, warm water. It is really unbelievably beautiful. You can rent two chairs, a table and a tent or umbrella on the beach for $5 a day. We really couldn't ask for more. As soon as we dropped our bags, the older kids were in the water and Hugh was covered in sand up to the ends of his hair. It was perfect! We spent the entire morning running around and enjoying the sun. The kids even made a few new friends.
Our challenges started once we left the beach to find lunch. Danang is a city that is on the brink of being a major tourist destination. There is huge construction happening and a lot of new developments going in. As a result... there isn't a lot of food available that isn't local seafood or Vietnamese street food. Neither of which we were interested in. We couldn't find affordable food anywhere near the beach. At all. In an ideal world we would be able to run to grab something quick to eat and then have lunch on the beach so we could keep playing. We ended up having to take a Grab car to the main mall in Danang and even then it was a struggle. We found some crappy pizza and then headed home to put the kids down for a nap.
Our evening was much better. Dave ran out during nap time to get some groceries... which were limited, so I made a quick pasta dinner and we headed out to go see the famous Danang Dragon Bridge. We found out that every Saturday and Sunday the dragon spits fire and water at 9pm and we figured that it would be worth keeping the kids up late. It was!
The kids met a sweet little girl and her mother who are from Danang. The come down to the bridge to meet English speaking tourists so that the little girl can practice having conversations. Watching them work on communicating was so sweet! I love how eager some of the Vietnamese are to perfect their English. It is so inspiring and it was the perfect way for the kids to wait for the show to start.
It was so impressive to see this giant steel dragon shooting fire and water and the kids were so excited. We had kept the entire thing a surprise so they had no idea it was coming. After it was finished we walked down to the mains street to find a Grab car but we got distracted along the way. There was a large group of young locals who were playing multiple instruments and singing songs. A giant jam session. Apparently the young people in the area jam all the time. The kids had a great time finishing the night off with a dance party and we left the bridge with a different perspective on Danang.
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