Too Little Information

Information is everything, and we didn’t have enough of it on Monday. Our plan was to fly to Danang by way of Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, then drive to Hoi An. We heard about some flooding in Hoi An, but didn’t know the extent of it. We contacted Giau, our tour operator at Kim Travel, who first asked if we could delay our trip by a day, then told us that he had to cancel our tours. That should have been our first clue. Then his next message indicated that we could get to Danang and our hotel in Hoi An. We tried to call our Hoi An hotel (the Long Life Hotel), but got nothing but a busy signal. Giau’s comments sufficiently encouraged us, so we headed to the airport.


Quick flight to Saigon, then walked from the International terminal to the domestic terminal and checked in for the flight to Danang. Three-hour layover, which we filled with a foot massage at the Viet Foot Spa shop in the waiting area. Amazing! And for a whopping $7! The staff (wearing face masks – out of concern for our health or because our feet stank? – we’ll never know) gave us warm neck wraps and eye masks, and offered us an odd, licorice-tasting tea, then worked on our feet and calves for 45 minutes. After 10 minutes or so, I lifted my eye mask and saw nothing but a blurry room – what was IN that tea!? Then I realized it was probably just the warmth of the mask … but for a while I wondered about some odd Far Eastern herbal infusion that induced total relaxation (including temporary blindness). Just an overactive imagination!


Boarded a Boeing 777 for Danang, and arrived a hour later. And then the fun began. We had flown into a torrential rainstorm! Walked down the (covered) steps off the plane and into a waiting bus. Rain was coming down in sheets! Drove a very short distance to the terminal, and into a very small baggage claim. While we waited for our bags, I checked with the Transportation Desk only to hear some very distressing news – Hoi An was flooded and it was not possible to go there! Now what? Evening in Danang without a clue where to stay and a lot of stranded tourists. The woman at the Transportation Desk offered to arrange for a room, and off we went, sharing a ride with two older French women in the same predicament. We had to take off our shoes and wade through one foot of water just to get to the taxi!


Pulled up 10 minutes later in front of the Golden Gate Hotel, and checked into the last two rooms available – on the fifth floor, with a broken elevator. Our rooms were flophouse specials, with the added touch of windows that would not close (letting the rain in and onto the floor, and a bed with a bottom sheet, no top sheet, and pillows with rough covers that read ‘Golden Gate’ on them. But it beat a night on the linoleum at the airport. I just figured it was camping out, and a lot better than a bunkhouse at a Canadian canoe outfitter.


Now for dinner … Danang rolls up its sidewalks pretty early, and by this time it was 9:00 pm or so. Most of those shops that normally stay open later were buttoned up tight on this rainy night. We had NO idea what part of town we were in, or how safe it was. We had just spent five nights at fairly swank hotels in Bangkok and Siem Reap, and now were in a flophouse. We looked to the prospect of finding some chow with some trepidation. Fortunately we had a Natty Bumpo (savvy guide, for those not up on your James Fennimore Cooper) in the form of one of the French women, who actually lived in Singapore with her husband (a chemical engineer) and two daughters. She marched us into the darkness with confidence (and umbrellas).


A short walk later found us at a very local restaurant (Chinese oriented cuisine). A little tentative eating, especially when we saw a small Chihuahua like dog that bore a striking resemblance to the chicken on our plate, but the beers were good. Gran’s Tiger Brand beer was not cold, so he asked for another. The same beer came back to him a few minutes later (only slightly more chilled), with a Heineken cap sitting lightly on top – the waiter faked taking the cap off, as if it was a new beer. We got a kick out of that one.


Safe walk back to the hotel, even if we did see a couple of scurrying rats in the shadows.