Summer Travel 2023 #2: Vietnam June 26-30

On June 26th I woke up and suffered a bit for drinking from 2-11pm and eating spicy food. I had arranged to check out from Crowne Plaza Vientiane as late as 2pm. My flight from Laos to Vietnam was not scheduled until 8pm. I had some time to kill so I started by sleeping in.

First thing I did after waking up was update Faye on the events of the night prior. She got pretty mad that I had been social with two women. I will expand on that later.

I spent some time working on my blog, finishing my consumables, and walking around Vientiane to see some landmarks. I hung out at the hotel just to read and relax. I got a massage from 3-4pm. Then I took hotel's airport transfer service.

My flight was delayed because of weather so I had to make use of the Wattay Airport VIP lounge, which is the only place in the airport with wifi, to talk to Faye. I will not rehash the whole discussion here. We spoke at length about it and it serves no purpose to report every detail to you. I will say that we were both up late for a few nights hashing this out.

I landed in Hanoi. My 8 hr layover there had been shortened to 7hrs. I was tired and irritated from the flight. But I still did my best to talk to Faye and sort things out. As a result I only got three hours of sleep. Even so I felt worse for her than I did for wear. She was stuck at work every day and not getting enough rest. She had a mountain of stress on her shoulders and I wasn't there to help her feel better. In failing to be transparent in my actions with her, as I was engaged in them, she thought I was being evasive which added to her stress levels and feelings of insecurity. The recent visa rejection was making her feel even worse. I felt terrible for not being able to help her and for doing anything that may have led her to suspect me of wanting to stray.

I stayed in a pod hotel. Pretty neat concept. Every international airport should have one or something similar. Like I said I didn't get much sleep in here but I enjoyed the comfort of not lying on the floor of a terminal (where I killed a really big cockroach).

On the morning of the 27th I woke at 3:40am to check out of my pod and get on my flight to Da Nang.

The flight was quick and easy. I grabbed a cab to Haian Beach Hotel. I checked in a day late from my original arrival plans and had to wait while they prepared my room so I got breakfast.

I took a walk to a local recommended bar to enjoy the activity for which it was named (see the photo below). The varieties and quality far exceeded that which was on offer in Laos.

I walked around Da Nang for a while just taking in the sun and the sights.

I got some wood oven fired pizza and beer for lunch.

I found a Jesus park.

Went for a swim.

This is the last place I saw this hat. It is now lost and replaced.

Then I returned to my hotel to wash up and go to the pool.

Then I went out for a little bit to get my bearings at night. I did not stay out long because I was already exhausted.

This is called the Koto Club in Da Nang. I ended up going here a on the night of the 29th but forgot to take videos inside.

I got a really good massage when I got back to my hotel. It involved hot rocks and some light food afterward.

Got some dinner as well. Just some appetizers as I was still only a little hungry.

On the 28th I decided to take a tour. I booked a day trip to Cham Island and Hon Dai for snorkeling and beachside relaxation.

The tour included stops at coral reefs, beautiful beaches, historic wells, a marine ecology museum, Buddhist temples, and more beaches.

It included a pretty sizable seafood lunch.

After the tour I decided to unwind at another well reviewed bar. I will not share the name but you can see the pictures below. The place had a pretty cool vibe. I got two grams of grass here and although there was no variety like the last place, it was still good quality.

I got a burger at the Road House American Diner. I was disappointed to be here alone. It gets pretty tiring looking at an empty seat across the table. I have a big bed and nobody to slowly push me off the side. Walks on the beaches are just walks. I told all this to Faye.

Despite my best efforts to convey my purest of intentions in making new friends she was still pretty upset.

I explained how I made both male and female friends all over the world by meeting strangers when I travel and I never fucked any of them. That wasn't about to change because I was in a relationship, quite the contrary. I did my best to assure her that I had the emotional maturity to just break off the relationship if I desired anyone else enough to damage it by cheating. I expressed that I did not feel trusted to make good decisions. I told her how much I miss her. How I think about her every day. How I care enough about her not to hurt her like that. I apologized for my lack of timely and transparent communication. I did my best to understand her perspective and respond to the hypothetical reversal of roles. I was in for another day of silence before I heard back from her. It started to wear on my mind.

On Thursday the 29th I was feeling pretty lazy. I slept in, catching the tail end of the breakfast buffet, then got in a light workout and a good run on the beach. With a nail appointment at Saigon Nail Art made for 3:30 I opted to wander the neighborhood and check out some of the bakeries, bars, and shops.

My first stop was Full Moon Bakery. Got myself a carrot cake and iced condensed milk Vietnamese coffee.

Did some roaming and grabbed a beer at this shop on the corner. Had a seat and relaxed for about 30 min.

Then I got peckish so stopped at Umm Bahn Mi and Cafe for a Bahn Bi and a strawberry milk shake.

Then I got another coffee and some pineapple juice at Min Coffee.

When it was time for my nail appointment I showed Annie the design I wanted. She went above and beyond with her attention to detail. It took 6 hours but it was better than what I had hoped for. With both the canvas and the artist going through a form of endurance art, the hard work paid off.

I was so excited with Annie's fantastic work that it did not matter that it took six hours. She was able to take a picture from the internet and adapt it for the shape and size of my nails with little difficulty. Her attention to detail is superb and she is also good at making recommendations to make the work unique.

Showing Faye how excited I was about my nails helped to ease her anger at me. I hope that things are ok between us now. I want to be trusted but I also will be more careful to be transparent with her about my activities. I have nothing to hide. I am also really hoping she joins me in Vietnam next time.

It was 9pm by the time my nails were done. I could not find anywhere selling anything to eat. I got some beers at some bars by the beach and then went to visit the Koto Club for 30 minutes. Koto Club is an EDM night club shown in this video below which is a repost from the one above.

I went inside but forgot to take a video. This place was pretty neat in that they had a DJ, lights, hype staff, and dancers. The music was good to dance to but the place was a bit much and I ended up leaving after only one drink, a nitrous balloon, and 30 minutes of dancing.