Day fifteen, ending scenes

Posted on by
Vacation is over, but I’m still alive. Just sayin’.

Not much new to experience on my last day in Da Nang, so we just went with the flow and did the things we enjoy here. We had the amazing breakfast buffet at the Haian Beach Hotel as usual to start our morning. Then we embarked on a walkabout that wound up being almost 10K, which is LONG by my low standards. Said farewell to the familiar scenes and saw some things for the first time. After a well-earned nap, then came some city nightlife that included a new bar and a favorite restaurant. We finished our evening on the roof of the hotel we stayed at last year, taking in the views from a 40th-floor perspective (the Haian tops out at 22 floors).

Here are some highlights:

On the road again.
Saying our goodbyes to the Han River.
Another river view.
Signage that caught my eye. Love the name of this place under construction, even though I no longer have any need to hate Mondays. Well, unless the Hash Hare sucks.
I zoomed in to read the fine print. Apparently, it’s a popular restaurant in Saigon owned by a Korean chef. Perhaps I’ll have the chance to visit in the future should fate bring me back to Vietnam.
This is a gated subdivision called “Euro Village,” which I assume is an expat enclave.
I hadn’t intended to cross the river, but what the hell, who knows when I’ll have another chance to do so.
There’s such a thing as too much water for a tree.
Taking the roads less traveled on the way back to the hotel.
We went thataway.

First stop on our evening out was at our favorite beach bar, Maia.

They had a new DJ playing the music.
Some girls have all the luck.

Then we made our way to a place the owner of the 501 Bar had mentioned:

An Irish pub. We sat outside, of course, but the place had a nice vibe—dart boards and pool and a pretty good crowd.
Swan and I both got a kick out of this: Red Horse is a very popular brand from the Philippines. Filipinos love it because it is strong and cheap.

When itis your last night in Vietnam and you are hungry, where are you going to eat?

An American diner named Fly Burgers, of course.
I gave their pulled pork sandwich a try, and they got it right! Better than any of the Barretto versions I’ve had.
Swan got the chicken nuggets. I had them on our previous visit, and they are the best I’ve ever tasted.

So, with our hunger satisfied, we wanted to get high.

Forty floors high to be precise.
Looking down on Da Nang.
The angry sea.
The other side of town. See those black hills in the distance? Those are the Marble Mountains I posted about.
Goodnight, Vietnam!

It’s been an interesting fifteen days. Things didn’t always go according to plan, and I suffered a loss I’m not ready to talk about, but no regrets for having experienced this adventure.

From the October 2016 LTG archives, I write about getting lost in Pattaya. In some ways, Pattaya is like Da Nang, but it is a much wilder town full of girly bars. Da Nang is much more my style. I’ve been back to Pattaya since that first trip for some Hash adventures, and there is much more than the bar scene to enjoy.

For today’s YouTube video, I’ll share a walking tour of all those now-familiar places I’ve seen with my own eyes.

And before I go:

That’s what friends are for.
Honey, you won’t be pretty anytime soon.
Yeah, real life can be funny sometimes, too.

And now it is time for me to get ready to fly. Da Nang (DAD) to Saigon (HCM) to Manila (NAIA), Take off at noon and arrive in the PI at eight o’clock tonight, assuming things stay on schedule. I’ve arranged for a driver to take us back to Barretto, so hopefully, I’ll wake up tomorrow in my own bed. Looking forward to getting back into my routines again.

12 thoughts on “Day fifteen, ending scenes”

  1. When itis your last night in Vietnam and you are hungry, where are you going to eat?

    I had a bad case of whenitis once. Every time I took a piss, there was this burning sensation, and I would reflexively shout, “What the fuck day is this?!?”

    An American diner named Fly Burgers, of course.

    – So, you flew all the way to Vietnam! How was the food?
    – It was, uh, great!

    And now it is time for me to get ready to fly. Da Nang (DAD) to Saigon (HCM) to Manila (NAIA), [t]ake off at noon and arrive in the PI at eight o’clock tonight, assuming things stay on schedule. I’ve arranged for a driver to take us back to Barretto, so hopefully, I’ll wake up tomorrow in my own bed. Looking forward to getting back into my routines again.

    As Saavik fatefully said to Spock, “May your journey be free of incident.”

  2. Re: your trips to Pattaya
    Yup, as you. mentioned, Pattaya is not all girlie bars once you get just a little bit away from the strip or go north or south a bit. Demographics are changing. First it was the Western sexpat, then the Chinese (and Russians) came in droves, now it seems as though there are a lot of Indians coming to explore Pattaya.

    Safe travels back! Good to get away on trips, but always nice to sleep in your own bed.

  5. Brian, on my last visit to Pattaya in 2024, I noticed the influx of Indians. Not that there is anything wrong with it. I was surprised by the large number of tourists from India in Da Nang.

  6. Kevin, I guess I spaced out. That’s just the way itis sometimes.

    In my defense, I drank mostly Vietnamese beers and really enjoyed them.

    The journey was not free of incident, but I made it home safe and sound. I’ll tell the story of the trip in a post later today.

  7. So long as you didn’t blast diarrhea into your airplane seat, I imagine it’s all good.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *