This guy’s travel writing is superlative. Could you publish a book with all of his essays for 52 Places in 2019? I would buy a copy for myself and all my friends. Thanks, Sebastian, for a very enjoyable year with loads of ideas for my future travels!!
Excellent article! Da Nang is a lovely city. My son and some of his friends from Da Nang made this video while living there a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vTUnLZgGgc
Thank you for this lovely description of DaNang. I was there in 2010 and it was just getting built.The resorts and casinos were going up. But I remember the airport. I felt the ghosts of past military passing through. There were still bullet holes in some buildings. The rest of Vietnam was becoming modernized but DaNang was just starting. But Hoi An is still the most charming place.
I arrived in Danang in January, 1964. The airport then only had a chain link airstrip. The drive between Danang and Hue is well worth it. I saw the imperial capital at Hue before it was destroyed in the war. We only had a small group of U.S. Army advisors in Danang before the buildup. We had the beaches to ourselves. There was still a French community and Danang had great French restaurants. I have been back to Vietnam since then. It is beautiful country with much to see, learn, and enjoy.
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I'll be so sad when your trip is over. I love the way your travel evolved . How you learned to decide to be comfortable fast. Go out with people , nature, food, drink, and just be. Wander, wonder, wunder...
Best of luck on your next adventure and thank you for a year of your life. And I think I said this before: "would you like to meet my daughter? " LOL, thanks again
Vietnam isn't Vietnam anymore. It's not the old Southeast Asian country with streets full of bicycles - it's now a tourist mecca with large hotels, skyscrapers and construction sky cranes everwhere. It all depends on what you want. If you're looking for a five star hotel and streets full of cars, you'll probably be satisfied. Personally, I miss the old Vietnam. It's now another 'spoiled' destination I don't plan to visit again. I'll just have the memories of what it used to be.
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Great to know about this destination in Vietnam. I will definitely put it on my list for when I am in the area next year. I wish the author made these articles less about him (boring) and more about the people and places he encounters (interesting). Perhaps, the hiring team at NYT could look out for such qualifications if the paper decides to continue with this series?
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I spent a week in Vietnam this past summer, and while it was excruciatingly hot, it was my favorite place I have ever visited. We flew into DaNang and drove to Hoi An and stayed a a traditional Vietnamese beach resort that was cheap and wonderful. The old town Hoi An is incredibly magical, and I am so blessed to have visited such a beautiful country! I cannot wait to go back someday!
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Most mouth-watering pictures of the prawns or large shrimp, which I love. Note that the shrimp are cooked in the shell, requiring the use of fingers for decortication. This is a no-no in the manuals of good table manners. Perhaps it is acceptable in street food.
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@Tuvw Xyz It's acceptable in all Asian cuisines that cook the shrimp in the shell. Not about street food, but cultural differences.
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@Tuvw Xyz
That is why I always eat apples with a knife and fork. Lest the 'table manners' police cite me.
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In decades of travel, Vietnam stands out in my memory for the excellence of the cuisine and friendly hospitality of people. I did not have a bad or even average meal there. I remember the hearty hotpot with mountain herbs and foraged mushrooms in Sapa, the breakfast pho cooked by a lady on a street corner in Hanoi for a crowd of office workers, the delicate rice dumplings in light broth in Hue....this article makes me want to go back!
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Oh I loved this article! I have not travelled to Asia, and reading this made me realize I really would like to visit Vietnam. Thank you!
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It has been 15 years since my adventure going from north to south through Vietnam. I remember Da Nang as distinctly different than all of the other cities. I am sure much has changed since my visit. Thank you, Sebastian, for your terrific story and images. You have captured everything that Da Nang is and can be.
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The Vietnamese are possibly the most terrifying drivers I have ever encountered, going the wrong way on the highway routinely, ignoring red-lights, etc. You end up concluding that their belief in the reincarnation must be absolutely certain. Fortunately, Vietnam heavily taxes cars and vans so 99% of motorised vehicles are scooters - you can only do so limited damage on a scooter, even when you load it up with five people (husband driving, wife infant, child in front, child on back.) Apparently the high cost of car ownership is, in part, because the Vietnamese government is not naive about local driving skills and habits.
One day in Hue I was so amazed to see the moving swarm stop at a traffic red-light on a major avenue that I asked a passer-by what was happening? He pointed to a large building and said:
"police headquarters"
"so they'd get arrested for running the light"
"oh no, but right in front of the police headquarters would be rude and disrespectful" (he also used the French expression, in communist country "lese majesté.")
I will say great food. One odd point, the Vietnamese do not refrigerate their beer usually, but rather add ice. A Vietnamese/American restauranteur in Hue taught me something of crucial importance, how to recognise factory ice as opposed to ice from a bar/restaurant's freezer; factory ice comes in cylinder shapes about 2 inches (5-6 cm round.) Only accept factory ice (and bottled drinks) - the bar/restaurant's can be digestively catastrophic.
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@MacK
Greeks are quite entertaining as well. Been in one scooter accident in Vietnam, T-boned actually. The most common one is getting rear-ended by a scooter driver on a cell phone & a cigarette.
@Asterix
Yes, Greeks are entertaining, but how does that bear on traffic problems in Danang?
A couple of guys who lived in Da Nang actually made a music video about mi quang! It's called the Mi Quang Song on YouTube and it's fantastic
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@Calvin My son was one of them! Here's the music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vTUnLZgGgc
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Mr Modak- your writing is getting better and better, more evocative and informative and confident, as this journey continues. I love my Tuesday fix. Thank you
I have to ask this question and hope (really hope) it gets a response. How many of those that you meet and stay with know your true identity? It can't be nobody- but I wonder how many. How much of this trip, do you think, has been colored by the fact that you are a travel writer for the NYT?
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I gave a good part of seven years (1968-75) to VN and returned in early 2018 to that beautiful country, ravaged by millions of still-buried unexploded mines and bombs. Yes, the food was great but even more memorable were the gracious Vietnamese. My welcome to Hanoi was from a hotel bellman who asked if I had been there during the war. When I answered in the affirmative, he replied, "Thank you for trying to keep us from becoming communists." While not a democracy, VN seems to enjoy (?) a Chinese-style entrepreneurial economy that has resulted in remarkable growth, especially in the old RVN. In particular, Saigon (HCMC) and Da Nang are now sky-scrapered metropolises, unrecognizable from the place I left in 1975. For what they have done for bringing VN into the world community, John MCCain, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama are national heroes.
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If the eats in Vietnam is news a better glimpse can be gained by tuning in to the coolest guy next to James Bond Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown . The food looks yummy especially if one likes spicy , but all of that street food in a country with lower cleanliness standards suggests at least Montezuma's Revenge if not worse .
Get all your shots first .
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@VB I never had problems with food there.
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I beg to differ. The standards might be different, but I eat in all kinds of establishments and am rarely ill with stomach problems. Come see for yourself!
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@VB I’ve never been sick while traveling and eating in Vietnam and I mostly eat street food. It is probably the most charming country I’ve ever traveled in and the people are very friendly. This article brought back many great memories.
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I am a Vietnam vet, now retired from work. I have been thinking, regularly, about taking a solo vacation to see Vietnam. The ones who seem to be the most energized about Vietnam are Vietnam vets. The VVAW has established a library there. We know how wrong that war was. The Vietnamese people are very gracious to both us and the US and it's tourists.
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@Stoneynt All the Vietnam veterans I've spoken with expressed a love for the beauty of the country and wished they hadn't had to be there in the middle of a war.
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Anybody else now secretly planning to move to Danang? It sounds absolutely wonderful! Foodie paradise!
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1965 Monkey Mountain 620th TCS. How long ago.
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How is the surfing in Da Nang?
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@Tim Ask Robert Duvall, and, anyway, Charlie don't surf.
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Anything else to say besides food? Especially street food, there we go again.
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This is what always amazes me. We fought a war there and you are concerned about noodles. Imagine being caught in the rain, for the 20th day, while people are trying to kill you. The war was a mistake. But please do not forget about the Americans and vietnamese pushed into a war the pentagon fabricated, and their absolute loss. What a destination!!! Not so 50 years a go for 18 year olds from Atlanta and for those from the North, a trip down the Ho Chi Mihn trail.
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@one percenter :
I am a Vietnam Vet and I agree.
Ridiculous comment. So you posit we stay inside our literal and figurative bubbles, never meet, never mix, never experience each other’s cultures, never experience each other as individuals?
You note the war was a grave mistake. Yes, it was. But where is there evidence that that the works has forgotten? Your response to a travel piece is more isolation and misery. It’s inappropriate and no solution at all.
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@one percenter - you call it the Vietnam War - they call it the American War - just another in a long history of invasions - having evicted the French colonialists before the US, and their main historical antagonist has been neighbouring China.
While the American War has its museum of atrocities (not by the Vietnamese) - their proudest historical conflict I believe involves defeating the much larger Chinese invasion fleet in Hạ Long Bay by teasing them onto underwater spikes which sank the enemy's boats.
'In 1288, General Trần Hưng Đạo stopped Mongol ships from sailing up the nearby Bach Dang River by placing steel-tipped wooden stakes at high tide, sinking the Mongol Kublai Khan's fleet' - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%E1%BA%A1_Long_Bay
The American War is a footnote in Vietnam's long history of repelling invaders - and not the one they hold most significant.
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I have been to Danang. What a place. Great beaches. There were seafood restaurants along the beaches. They are not the kind of classy restaurants, more like large shacks on the beach. Go there. The freshest seafood you can get anywhere. Literally, people pointing to the large shrimp in knee high tanks and having a debate, which one to choose. There were atleast 100 different varieties of seafood to choose from. For six dishes, the bill came to $25.
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"most livable" is less than encouraging, and really does not give anyone a good view of the very interesting and diverse country that is Vietnam.
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Great article. I'm heading to SEA in March and Danang and Hue are on my list. Very much looking forward to it. Thanks for the helpful tips!
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Mr. Modak's travel articles simply become more superb as he continues on his travels, this is so well-composed and interesting.
I admit to conflicting feelings reading this, as I was posted to Danang during the war; although I never had a chance to be inside the city but only passed through to our camp close to "The Ridgeline", I had two or three views of the city's layout. And I passed over the Ridgeline and Marble Mountain many times when heading out and (thankfully) returning from extended long-range patrols in the mountains. The city was so poor in many places of course, and overrun with refugees from all appearances. But even glimpsing the area, and happily given one too-short afternoon on China Beach upon returning from a mission, I could feel the magic of the city...romanticizing a bit at the time, perhaps, but I did talk with two or three residents whose love of their city was so obvious. I don't know if I could return, this article makes me at least consider such a thing.
Thank you, Mr. Modak, for yet another well-written, thoughtful and sensitive article - in every one that I've read, you have treated the places and people with utmost respect. The NYTimes is fortunate in selecting you for these stories.
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@Houston Houlaw
I am a Navy Vietnam Vet and have thought about vacationing there many times
@Houston Houlaw If you were there during The War, I strongly urge you to return. The Vietnamese, I believe, are the friendliest, most pragmatic people on earth. Except for some of the war widows, they have this philosophy that we were "all in it together." Stay long enough (months), and you can get to know some Charlie. It'll change you forever.
@Houston Houlaw If you were there during The War, I strongly urge you to return. The Vietnamese, I believe, are the friendliest, most pragmatic people on earth. Except for some of the war widows, they have this philosophy that we were "all in it together." Stay long enough (months), and you can get to know some Charlie. It'll change you forever.
DeNang and all of South VN is beautiful. If I remember correctly, November is the monsoon season, hence the torrential rain... Enjoy the food!
November is the dry season. I just returned from 3 weeks in Southeast Asia and had exactly 5 mi utes of rain.
Kudos to you for a beautifully written article. Bought back fond memories of renting a scooter in SE Asia. Couldn't agree more with you regarding the freshness of food in DaNang.
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