Danang

March 30th
Danang

Danang, another Vietnamese port, will be my last chance to see Vietnam. I was hoping to do a shore excursion like I had done so frequently on the Navigator, but due to some different policies here and a boat drill, I haven’t been able to work out any tours. There was, however, a crew tour to Hoi An, a city about 90 minutes away, but due to my hopes for the tour escort thing, the crew tour was booked by the time I tried to get on it. So as I walked off the ship to try to get on the bus anyways, Andres, one of the featured performers on the ship, saw me waiting and asked if I wanted to go to Danang with him (the ship docks about 30 minutes outside the actual city, the only way to get there is by cab or bus from where we were). Considering I wasn’t likely to get on the crew bus, the fact that the port that we were at is totally desolate, and Andres being this awesome Argentinean, I said yeah. We ended up going with the doctor (who’s from Rockford) aboard the ship and the RCTV lady as well, making the total cab fare $10 each for the 30 minute trip there and back. Andres and the doctor where friends and had been to the city before, each time by cab, and knew that the price should be $40 total, so I thought it was a safe bet to go with them. So a guy calls a cab over, we all get in, and the guy who called the cab hops in with us, no one is quite sure why. I didn’t say anything as I thought it was just what happened, hoping that if there were any problems, my more experienced travel buddies would handle it. Well of course, there had to be a problem. This guy, about 10 minutes outside of the port, starts telling us it’s $40 one way, not round trip as my friends understood and knew from past trips. So they’re arguing back and forth over the price, this weird Vietnamese guy in his broken English, Andres who keeps calling the dude “amigo”, and doc. Meanwhile, I’m stuck in the back of this mini van sitting next to our uninvited guest. So after a lot of heated debate, threats to drive back to the port, and a frustrated Argentinean (who’s act on the ship deals with him using whips), the ordeal was worked out to our satisfaction. The rest of the drive, this guy wouldn’t shut up about different stuff in the city and showing us pictures on his phone, and it wasn’t till Andres told him flat out to shut his mouth that he behaved till we got our destination.
We successfully arrived in Danang and exited in front of a silk shop, a place Doc was more than familiar with. We instructed the drive to meet us back at the same location at 4:00 PM, about 4 hours from when he dropped us off, and the group went inside the store. This place was unbelievable. Their thing was embroidery, and they would use these silk threads on a cotton (I believe) canvas and construct the most elegant and detailed scenes I’ve ever seen with thread. The artwork of these pieces was amazing, and the detail of it all, considering the skill and time involved, was just unbelievable. So we toured the shop for a while, a place that seemed like more of an art museum, and ended up on the top floor where they made clothing. The dresses were just stunning, they had some unbelievable kimonos, and really nice silk ties. I ended up buying two ties as I hadn’t brought any with me, and I thought hand made 100% silk ties were worth the $15 each that I paid. We eventually left and made our way towards a restaurant that my friends were familiar with, and had a really nice meal. But by the time we were finished eating, and after the long time we spent in the silk shop, we were out of time for the day. That was the problem I was afraid of when I joined up with the group, but at the same time thought that since they’d been there before, they’d know the interesting places to go. And sure, the silks were amazing and the lunch was great, but I could have covered most of the city in the 4 hours I’d been there instead of the few blocks that separated our two stops. I just really need to find a friend who likes to explore like I do, something I thankfully had on the Nav.
That aside, we hopped back in the taxi for the trip back, and our strange friend who tried to hustle us on the way there was in the cab waiting for us. No one wanted him there, but as he’d jumped in before everyone else to the back seat, no one really wanted to make the scene. So again, I climbed into the back with the guy and we left. But surprisingly enough, our “friend” didn’t say a word the entire trip back, who knows why. Upon our return, I left the price discussion to the veterans of the group and just gave them my $10 I thought I owed. They got it worked out for $48, though not entirely sure why the price was $8 more than it should have been. And after the doc denied the cab driver any additional tip, we got back on the ship.
So all in all, kind of an odd day with more than a few tense moments. It maybe wasn’t as productive as I’d had hoped, but at least I was able to see a new city and pick up some really nice ties. The rest of the day I had off and filled with reading. And that concludes my Vietnam adventures for this cruise! Thanks for reading!