Relaxing in Da Nang, Vietnam

 We have 9 days in Da Nang, so it’s really nice to have days to explore and days to rest. It happens every summer, but I think this is the place this year where we get tired of traveling and start feeling a little homesick. We miss our friends. I would love to be able to do my hair properly. Liam said he wishes the beach was like our beach at home. Dave has become fixated on juicing again. It would be nice to flush toilet paper. Oh, the little things… The first month traveling is amazing, exciting and new, but we’ve officially hit a wall. Time to have grace with ourselves and each other and enjoy our last couple weeks. 

We discovered this Paris bakery near our AirBnB and have enjoyed their flaky croissants and fresh pressed juices. 

We’ve also been to the beach almost every day. It’s literally across the street from where we’re staying. 

We checked out Vincom Plaza, the local mall and ended up finding a movie theater inside where we watched Minions v. Monsters. It was cute and the kids really enjoyed it. It was in English with Vietnamese subtitles. It was kind of funny ordering popcorn. The choices were sweet, cheese, mushroom, caramel or mix. We asked if there was regular or butter? Nope. We ended up getting sweet which tasted like kettle corn. And it came in a cute minion cup which the kids loved. 

Items in the mall are American prices, so we ended up at Han Market for some shopping and haggling. Dave, Caleb, Josh and I all ended up with new running shoes for about $20 a piece. The littles both got new crocs and croc charms for $5. People are surprised by our big family and it’s become a good haggling technique. Look at all these kids! We can’t pay that much. Or, we’re getting 6 pairs of shoes, what’s the family discount?! 😂 It’s an indoor/outdoor market which means no A/C so it was stifling hot with narrow aisles and a ton of people. You can find EVERYTHING here…groceries, souvenirs, clothes, shoes, suitcases, etc. The sales people were funny and kind. It wasn’t necessarily a relaxing experience, but glad we went. 

Dave found an amazing Indian place for dinner called Indus. We shared butter chicken, chicken tandoori, tiki masala, and an embarrassing amount of garlic naan. We ended our dinner with mango, strawberry, and blueberry lassis! 

We stopped at Tre Tailors to get fitted for clothes. Dave and Caleb got new suits and Annabelle and I both got dresses made. Tre and his wife were very kind. The shop is out of their house so they pulled out snacks and water for us. Their daughter lives in the states, so they speak English well and even had American candy bars for the kids. Can’t wait to see the finished products soon!