Decent street art finds on the new "Walking Street"

About a year ago the government decided to dump a bunch of money into turning a bunch of the nearby streets into "Walking Streets." I thought it was a bad idea because there were people that live on those streets and have cars and motorbikes and almost immediately the people started to ignore the signs about it being a foot traffic road only. So now it is just a road that has a large incline entrance that is meant to deter drivers - which it doesn't - and nicer looking stones on the road instead of just tarmac.

Along with the efforts to create a walking street, the area has also been encouraging artwork and nicer architecture: I have no idea how they can encourage or enforce the latter, but it just seems to be the case.

Here is some of the artwork that I recently found there on a street called An Thuong 4, near the beach.

While there isn't anything mind-blowingly amazing about this and it looks like it could have been made by a child, I like that it has a more traditional feel to it rather than trying to be edgy or have some sort of urban hip hop culture to it like most street art ends up being. It just kind of feels cultural in a way and it adds to the ambiance of the walking street feel, as does this next one.

One thing that is kind of funny about being in Vietnam is that when you see people wearing these traditional hats, they tend to be tourists. I'm not saying that there are zero Vietnamese people that wear these hats, but they aren't on everyone's heads like the movies depict. Vietnamese people tend to wear the same kind of hats that people in other countries wear and they normally feature logos of the usual suspects like L.A. Dodgers and NY Yankees logos.

This one is a bit of a mystery to me as it kind of feels Spanish to me. I am not global traveler though so perhaps there is something in the imagery that is tricking me into thinking that. Again, the artist isn't terribly talented, but it is better than a bare cement wall if you ask me.

I don't know about you, but I actually found this last one to be a bit disturbing in a Trypophobia type way. If you don't know what that word means it is "the aversion to the sight of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps" and I don't know if it really applies to this particular gecko, but it seemed like it to me. If you want to gross yourself out or to see if the imagery disturbs you as well, have a search for some of the images.

I kind of like what these "walking streets" where the walking only part of the streets are not being observed by anyone. It will be interesting to see what becomes of them once tourism returns to town - if that ever happens.

If you ever find yourself in Da Nang for a vacation, there is a good chance you will end up in this part of town anyway, but the lower numbered "An Thuong" streets is where this initiative is happening if you ever want to try to find it.