Viet Nam the fourth: Day 7 Da Nang

A day of exploring the strange wonderland that is Da Nang. After an okay hotel breakfast we took a stroll, the first stop being the Da Nang Cathedral, otherwise known as the pink church. Why is it pink, I don’t know. A quick google didn’t tell me either. It did tell me that the church is around 100 years old, built by the French, and on top of the cross is a chicken weather vane, so the locals also call it the chicken church. Around the walls are a number of images depicting JC in action, and if you thought that western churches had whitewashed his image, in these he was whiter than my legs, and those things just about glow. There was also a statue of JC getting a blessing from Joseph, and interestingly while JC was depicted as European, Joseph had Asian features.

From the pink chicken church we headed towards the river to take some goofy pictures near the Dragon Bridge and the I LOVE DA NANG installation. Again, why a winking marshmallow man has been used for this is beyond our comprehension. We crossed the bridge, admiring the construction in close up, and on the other side, under the head, was a little gathering of locals. Some were getting haircuts by the side of the road, others playing a game involving clapping long poles on the ground to the beat of “We Will Rock You”.

There is apparently a decent sized night market in this area, but at 11am there’s not much to do on this side of the Han River. There’s a lot of through traffic, but few seem to stop at the scattered assortment of coffee shops and hotels dotting the river front. How deserted was it? We walked from the Dragon Bridge to the next bridge north and in the entire stretch didn’t encounter a single lady with a stand selling drinks, nor did anyone stop us to try to sell us anything. Even when we stopped for a rest and drink or water. Maybe it comes alive at night, or on weekends, or at other times of the year, but when we were there, our only company were a handful of men fishing along the bank.

We stopped in for a quick coffee/smoothie before heading back to the hotel for a rest and plan. We were hoping to do another scooter food tour in the evening but that couldn’t be organised, so we booked a river cruise for the evening and tickets to the Sunworld resort for tomorrow (it has a groovy bridge and long cable car).

For dinner we hit the Helio Night Markets, apparently the largest food night markets in Da Nang. The internet promised 150 food stalls in three or four sections, and all manner of delicacies. Maybe that was the pre-covid description, or at peak periods, but for us there were around 40 stalls. We kicked off with the dish known as “Vietnamese pizza”, round ricepaper topped with fried onions, herbs, an egg, and other ingredients, cooked over coals then folded in half. Lots of flavourful crunchy goodness there. Then I went for some deep fried cheese sticks, all the gooey goodness. We had some banh khot, like a pikelet version of banh xeo but with egg, which were good but I do prefer the crunchiness of banh xeo. I finished with some takoyaki, okay we’re not in Japan but they looked good, and tasted good too.

The river cruise is a good cheap way to spend an hour. There are a dozen or so brightly lit boats that leave from the port up near the mouth of the Han, head south under a few bridges before turning around and heading back. It’s an opportunity to take in all of the bright lights of the city, and there are some impressively lit buildings (including the Marriott, which, when we walked past later, realised is still under construction but at least the external lights are working). Our trip started with a short Apsara performance, which was interesting — if it was indicative of the Vietnamese style it was a little faster, and with slightly less emphasis on the hands, than the Cambodian performance I saw a few years ago.

We also met a lovely Vietnamese-Australian family from Melbourne who were travelling around, because there are Australians everywhere. L was hoping that our boat would have a bar, as she is yet to get her NYE G&T, but instead settles for a coconut with a straw. We did consider heading to the Novotel Skybar after the cruise, until L saw that there was an external glass lift, so not recommended if you’re not into heights. Fortunately we know of at least one decent cocktail bar in Hoi An that will be open.

Tomorrow is Sunworld Resort in the Ba Na Hills, where the Golden Bridge, and a bunch of kitschy tourism awaits.