Da Nang, Vietnam, Daily Adventures [Part 2]

conradsuperb (67)in #travelfeed • 4 years ago (edited)

Recouped in the room mid-afternoon before heading out for some evening shenanigans. First things first, we had to hit a cambio to exchange USD for VND so we could pay our hotel in native currency to avoid the 3.5% up charge for paying with VISA. We ventured our way, aimlessly at best, in the direction the receptionist at The Orange Hotel had suggested. All we knew is that it was near the Cho Han Market. So off we went, walking into the Vietnamese streets acting as if we knew what we were doing - HA!

We eventually stumbled upon it. There's this thing called Google Maps these days. Who would have known?

We stopped at a few currency exchanges to get a feel for some of the rate offerings. We ended up exchanging for 23,150 VND to the U.S. Dollar, which was the best rate we had gotten thus far. I'm walking around with nearly 5 million Dong in my pocket thinking I'm a millionaire, but sadly, this is not the case.

So we got our money and then decided to hit the Han Market. It was prime time because the entire market was packed aisle to aisle. The market boasted a ton of rich cultural flavors from herbs and spices to colorful silk scarves and trinkets. The aromas were quite strong and immediately became evident as soon as you stepped foot into the market area. Unfortunately, we did not snap any photos at the market, but we may head there again early tomorrow a.m. before the rush to take a better look around.

As we continued our city trek, we headed back toward our homestead for the past two nights. We ended up running into one our lunch buddies from earlier. He didn't have very good English, but we were able to communicate pretty well with each other using Google Translator. I would say something in English and it would spit the reciprocal out in Vietnamese. He would get a kick out of it, still likely gassed up from all those beers he had drank earlier in the day, and then say something back in Vietnamese.

The guy in the blue shirt with his arm around me

We ended up asking him of a good local restaurant joint to eat at. He gave us the name and then we started hiking, about a 15 min. from our current location.

It was called Bánh Xèo Bà Dưỡng, known for their famous fried Vietnamese pancakes. It was off the main road a ways down a side street lined with hole in the wall food places. Cool stuff. We found our place, second to last on the right.

We ordered a Huda beer (the beer the guys were getting loaded off of at the cafe in my earlier post), some fried spring rolls, and the traditional Vietnamese pancakes our new friend had suggested.

The place was nice. The restaurant was downstairs and the family lived just one floor above in the quaint little townhouse. You could tell the restaurant had been in the family for some time. The daughter spoke pretty decent English. When our food came, she showed us how to take the pancakes, roll them up in the rice paper with the proper order of ingredients, and put the finishing touches on by dipping them in the 'secret sauce.' The best meal by far that we have had yet.