Day Trip to Danang

Feeling oh so jolly about our optimistically pending housing situation, we took a day off from the house-hunting circuit to be tourists again.  Ironically our phone continues to ring with leads on houses every day from all of the various folks we met around town in our search.  The plan is to start a real estate service simply by passing off our sim card to whomever is in need of a house.  Whenever the phone rings, someone on the other end will undoubtedly say, "I have a house for you."  This will eliminate the circular conversation that presently ensues. "Who is this please (it doesn't really matter because we've completely forgotten who goes with which house)?...We've ALREADY found a house, thank you....yes, we HAVE a house...no thank you, we've found a DIFFERENT house...no, we have already found ANOTHER house...NO thank you."  In each sentence, John emphasizes a different word in an effort to get the message across that we've already found a house.  The sim card would do someone in search of a house a lot of good.  For us it's just a constant reminder of all of the work we need to do to learn Vietnamese.

To escape the phone for a day, we ventured to Danang on motorbikes.  Danang is about 30 km north on the coast on paved roads.  I felt confident that I could handle the drive to the city.  All was well for the first 20 km.  Then the gas (which I had been assured was full) ran out, and I coasted to a stop on the side of the road.  Fortunately a gas pump was just ahead, and the kids got a cultural lesson in pumping petrol (ooooh...sounding so British already).

Once we made it to the city, I negotiated my way across a too busy suspension bridge and parked the scooter at the first restaurant I saw, Mr. Pizza.  And so began a day of western treats.  To justify parking the bikes right outside the restuarant, we stopped in for pizza and lasagna that were both quite good.  Then our main goals for the day were to find a shopping center/supermarket (to find out what we could buy if we ventured to the big city with a car one day) and a furniture store (to price couches with cushions).  It was not exactly a cultural excursion.

The street scene reminded us that we were still in Vietnam with market stalls selling shoes made from old rubber tires, various shops selling masks for the upcoming Chinese mid autumn celebration, and dogs having public baths (?).

Brianna and Nolan ready to celebrate

Public Humiliation

Then we stepped into Big C and were whisked back to the western world (sort of).  It wasn't exactly teeming with mall, chain stores, but there were stores with displays and glass counters, air conditioning, and prices that were non-negotiable.  Kentucky Fried Chicken sits on the second floor along with a huge supermarket.  The third floor has a department store, and the fourth is a movie theater and arcade.  We browsed through all of the treats available in the grocery store, and then headed to the movie theater - not for a movie, mind you, but for large bags of buttery popcorn and fountain sodas.  We'll save the movie for another day.

Happy Kids

 Adequately fortified for the trip back to Hoi An (both our stomachs and the scooter's gas tank), we left Danang feeling satisfied.  If ever there is a moment of desperation for chocolate, cookies, popcorn or movies in the upcoming year, salvation is just a quick scoot up the coast.