Da Nang, Vietnam, 5 nights and some boy business
I had afternoon flight there from Singapore and having window seat I could see city from above on approach. It pretty unique, while most cites are happy to have mountains in the background, or beach or great river, Da Nang has all three. And as a bonus, itās airport is right I the city. I doubt itās more than 1 hr walk from terminal to the beach, if that much.
That did not prevent taxi driver from offering me āpromotionalā fare to my hotel of 20 $. Shortā no, I will walk thereā resulted in reduction to 10$. I just kept walking and easily found guy or rather guy found me offering ride for 7 $,. Still too much but I accepted it and at hotel got 25000 dong change from my 200 000 dong bill.
1$ = 26000 at time of my stay so we are dealing with lots of zeros and it needs a bit of mental adjusting as at first sight everything seems to be soooo expensive until one realizes that 30000 for sizable portion of ice cream is only 1.15 $. In short, Vietnam is very budget friendly with bonus on one feeling like Bezos or Musk dealing with those millions.
My hotel was close to a beach, perhaps 200 m walk the most but during my stay sea was very choppy and I did not see many people wading into water. Visited night market by the Dragon Bridge to eat something and exchange money , 100USD produced 2 601 000 dong, now we are talking thought I. Never inclined to waste time I took circular way back to hotel and in process located Hero spa offering man to man massage, place recommended by BKKMFJ who spent few moths in the city.
Steps from there was restaurant where I had a meal and while checking their trip offers it turned out that owner has a car and can be hired for trips to Ba Na hills , Hoi An and Champa ruins in My Son, to name few places I was intended to visit. We exchanged WhatApp as I was not sure about my itinerary, primarily because I want to go to Hue but by train only..
Next morning horror ā I couldnāt find my glasses. After several minutes finally found them ā inside pillow. How they landed there itās mystery , all I know that I was checking forum or Grindr on my phone while in the bed already and took glasses off.
Trip to railway station crossed Hue idea out ā no seats on the train in next 3 days. On my way back visited Champa Sculpture Museum , very interesting but not overwhelming. In late afternoon walk to Hero for that man to man massage. Owner recommended Royal Treatment , 1.5 hr course for 1 500 000, not exactly cheap (60$).
I had high expectancies for that price, partially realized i.e massage itself was super good. When comes to afters, not much , promised body to body did not materialize. Although guy was naked throughout the session and easily accessible what was missing was spark and chemistry between us.
Fault could be mine ā I did not get a choice of boy and one assigned was not my type . Oh well, chalked off to experience and well energized- remember massage was great I walked to find another spa recommended by bkkmfj, Nam spa. Localized it with help of Google Maps but did not go in. Through open door I could see hunky guy in the lobby so thereā some hope thought I .
To be continuedā¦..