Bridges and Bikes in Danang

After a sunny Friday morning in Hoi An, we were driven to Danang. It’s a short journey, so it wasn’t long until we arrived at our hotel. Taking advantage of the good weather, we started walking to the beach. Having not eaten since breakfast, we stopped at the first restaurant that looked like it was serving food. Choosing what to eat was easy as they only served one dish, which was cold noodles and veg with what I think was pork.

On our way to the beach we crossed over the Dragon Bridge. The bridge is used by motorists and pedestrians, and crosses the River Han. Along the middle of the bridge is a yellow dragon, with a large head at one end and a tail at the other. Later, when we walked back across the Dragon Bridge, the lights on the body of the Dragon were switched on, followed soon after by the multi-coloured lights of the other bridges and buildings around the city. The beach itself is really nice and stretches for miles. We walked along the sand for about an hour, before sitting down to look out to sea.

On Saturday morning, we went on a cycling trip run by a company called Path Bikers. We cycled around villages in the area, visiting a herb farm that was 400 years old, observing boat builders who were building a tourist boat, and stopping to take photos of water buffalo, cows, water palms and coconut trees. After a really enjoyable ride, we asked the guide’s recommendation for lunch in Danang. He didn’t just offer a suggestion, but took us to a restaurant and ordered for us. We had pork skewers (nem lui) and rice pancakes (banh xeo), served with peanut (and pig liver – thanks for the info, Fionnuala!) sauce. The food was amazing, and we would never have found the restaurant by ourselves.

After lunch, we walked out of the centre of town and headed north to cross the Thuan Phuoc Bridge. It is the longest suspension bridge in Vietnam (Wikipedia) and provided us with excellent views of Danang and the river. After a walk around the modern Vincom shopping mall, and dinner at a Thai restaurant, we made our way to the train station for our overnight train to Ho Chi Minh City.