Today we spent far too much time looking for an ATM that would work with our card. We also had to phone Tangirine and CIBC to get authorization to use our banking cards in Vietnam. We did also call BMO and ensure that our card was authorized for Vietnam, which it was. Rather ironic that other years when we notified the various card companies they told us we didn’t need to do so any longer. Did you know that you can also link your bank card to your master card? We also did that when we were talking to BMO. We got lucky on the eighth ATM and between the two of us got out 8 million Vietnamese dong. That sounds like a lot, less than $500. Apparently it is quite common here for ATMs to run out to cash. There are some ATMs that only accept Vietnamese cards. No help to us. We now know that the BIDV Bank ATM works best with our BMO card.
We eventually toured the museum of Cham sculptures. It was quite interesting and ties in with the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. The temples in Vietnam have not survived well due to time and war. Some of the sacred temples in Vietnam are apparently even older than Angkor Was in Cambodia. We saw pottery that was 2000 to 3000 years old. Some of the large pottery was used to bury their dead. They wouldn’t quite fit one of us though.
We walked from the museum to a restaurant / bar and purchased a beer each and an order of bbq beef to share. The beef came in strips with leaves similar to lettuce and sticks of Daikon radish. Wrap a strip of beef and radish in a leaf after dipping the beef in some lemongrass garlic dipping sauce. It was enough to get us back to the hotel. The food so far in Vietnam is definitely not as good at Thailand. We were the only patrons in the restaurant at the time and were swarmed with waitresses. Thank goodness for google translate as we can’t communicate without it. Thank you is “hơn bạn” in Vietnamese. We’re still a bit messed up with our circadian clock, that’s likely why we dined alone
After returning to the hotel we went next door for another beer and cashews. The waitress came to our table for our order and set down 2 glasses of water. Gary said, “Linda want to make tea?” It was very warm. Linda said, ” I guess we look old.” We have an old but ongoing joke between us that only old people drink hot water. Aka grandma &/or grandpa. Haha
Our first beer in Vietnam was served with glasses of ice. It’s quite common and exceptionally refreshing. It’s not even that hot here, 27C and 69% humidity.
Tomorrow we are taking a tour to the marble mountains and Ling Ung Pagoda. We can see the pagoda across the bay from our hotel room and the rooftop terrace. It looks like a tall white statue. We read it is the height of a 30 story building.
We leave our hotel key at the front desk when we go out. They already know us! When we returned this afternoon everyone knows we have a tour booked tomorrow. I guess we stick out from the locals, Koreans and Chinese that make up the majority of their clientele. We were the only Caucasians for breakfast among 60 to 80 people that went through for breakfast today.
When we got back to the hotel we crashed, only to be woken in time for the turn down service. Time for bed! We’re sticking with the plan to do very little the first few days, Da Nang is a good place for that! We walked 9 km yesterday looking around and only 5 km today as we finally decided we couldn’t walk to every ATM! We’ve been using GRAB, the Asian version of Uber, and it’s been great. Quick, economical and the cars are nicer than majority of the cabs. So far we’d highly recommend it. When you use the app you can select what mode of transportation you need, car, motorbike, delivery or food. We won’t be using the motorbike option as the traffic here is crazy and everyone weaves in and out and through all the roundabouts – it’s actually amazing to see and sometimes stressful. The amount of stuff they haul on their motorbikes defies gravity! We even saw one guy hauling a 20+ foot long piece of metal roof sheeting somewhat rolled up and tied on a little trailer attached by a pole to his bike. The one end of the sheeting actually lay on the seat of his bike, basically against his back. If someone ran into the back of him, they’d have cut him in half.
