We arrived into the bright city of DaNang at 8 PM on the dot on Wednesday, February 17th. Well we first attempted to get in the tiny passageway several times while running aground and then waited within 100 yards until 8 so we could motor in exactly at 8 PM to time the celebrations correctly. As noted in my previous blog, we were welcomed with a huge reception, drums playing and crowds of people lined up. Then it was up a red carpet to a stage where lots of photos were taken. This must be how the celebrities feel!
After our warm reception, it was to the Novotel Hotel across the street to get cleaned up and then over to Bar Luna where we had some drinks and yummy pizza! It is amazing how the Clipper folks always seem to find one bar that everyone goes to each night. That was Bar Luna for us this stopover and somehow it was already discovered on the first night. We eventually headed back, but managed to get stuck in the elevator on the way up to our room...well we forgot to push a floor number so entertained ourselves in the meanwhile until we figured it out.
Celebrating being on dry land!
We had way too much fun in these elevators the entire stopover...
...too much...
...I have no idea how long we were in these elevators for...
DaNang had a number of activities set up for us to participate in which we signed up for while on the boat beforehand. One of these activities was a 5K run. Huw and the crew thought this would be a great thing for me to do, 1) because I exercise on the boat everyday and 2) they thought it would be a great way for me to release some energy! Mind you, I love working out but I hate running and no idea the last time I'd ever run as long as a 5K. So the next morning I decided I would test it out at the hotel gym to see if I could even run a 5K. Slow and steady at a whooping 40ish minutes, I completed a 5K on the treadmill. High five me since I haven't had real cardio exercise since July! I was feeling great! ...however, hours later I was hobbling around as I could no longer walk on the outer sides of my feet! I suppose next time I should work up to the 5K and not go all in at once.
After my run and breakfast, we were back to the boat to start the deep clean and Karri and I were on the kites checking for any damage and doing repairs. By the end of the day I could barely walk so Karri and I decided to head to the hotel spa for some relaxation. I, of course, chose the foot massage and Karri went with a facial. The foot massage started out being the greatest thing in the world! Then it turned south...I thought at first she was digging her nail into pressure points on my foot, then it hit me...she was giving me acupuncture! WTH! I did not sign up for that. I've never had acupuncture done and mainly because I am deathly afraid of needles and why someone would willingly poke themselves with them is beyond me! At this point, I couldn't back out so I had to grin and bare it. My only saving grace was that I had a cloth over my face so I couldn't see her massacring my feet with needles! I eventually made it through and hobbled my way out.
Our crew was set to meet up at the Sky bar, which was our hotel roof bar, that night at 7:30 and then head out for dinner. Our crew took forever to convene but we finally did and made our way up the street for some local Vietnamese cuisine. I don't recall the name of the place, but we ended up at a place where we made our own fresh spring rolls. It was decent but not extremely filling and they refused to serve us anything else. I was pooped at this point and could barely walk, so called it quits and went home with a few others.
It is also important to mention that I had an epiphany this night when I saw an "I 'heart' DN" bag. DaNang has my same initials! So I of course had to pick up a bag so everyone would know how much I love DN! :)
Friday, I attempted to run again mainly to work out my sore foot muscles. I managed to haphazardly jog out a 2.5K in excruciating pain at times. The other people at the gym must have thought something was wrong with my legs the way I was running, but I managed it nonetheless.
That morning, Karri and I had scheduled some much anticipated waxing treatments at a local spa. We jumped in a cab which took us somewhere over the bridge to an interesting looking area but a decent looking spa. When we got there, we sat down with the lady who went over everything with us and basically told us she was the only good beautician at the spa so she would handle the more sensitive areas and the other ladies could do the easier areas like the legs. I can't imagine how hard it is to mess up waxing, so we were all on board. The three of us, Ana had tagged along as well, got dressed up in our robes and taken over to a room for a brief foot bath to relax. Then the three of us were taken into a shared room with a tiny curtain between each table...ah, what?! Let me tell you, I am used to my private room at spas, so this whole open area thing is quite new to me. Luckily, I came with two others from my boat so there is really no privacy between any of us at this point anyways, so might as well just let it happen.
Now let's go back to how the lady said the other employees suck at waxing...she was nAt lying! The other women started on Karri and I separately and let me tell you, this was the worse experience in my life! The wax was too hot, my skin felt like it was being ripped from my body and yet no hair was being removed so they did it several times over in the same spot! Oh but wait, the head lady then came over to inspect the job and sees how poorly it was done so then she goes and redoes the entire area AGAIN! WTH! I had no feeling left in my legs by the end of it and hobbled out on my already injured feet. The next day I woke up with discolored legs from where the skin had been ripped from legs! Word to the wise, do not get waxed in DaNang!
After this horrific experience, we were due to be back on the boat to help out, however the whole ordeal ended up taking 5 hours! WTH! So by the time we got back, most of the work had been completed and people were heading over to the hotel lobby bar. I ended up staying back to have a one on one with Huw. After our chat, I met up with the others at the bar. I think I was in such a state of shock over the whole experience from earlier that I ended up having one too many glasses of wine and was sent to bed early. There may have been a bit of a struggle to get me to stay behind, but after much convincing that I should take a nap, they went up to the hotel bar and promised to retrieve me afterwards. But instead, I was DITCHED and they never came back for me! Granted I fell asleep for the rest of the night and would have not known any better. Everyone else continued the night up at the sky bar and then over to Golden Pines which was another bar we frequented throughout the stopover.
Around 5:30 in the morning, the boys made it back to the hotel. Originally, Wednesday was planned for a champagne breakfast day in bed. Since it was morning, I figured no better time then now to order the champagne and breakfast! I took orders from Tino and Pony and then waited anxiously for the food to come. Meanwhile, I went and woke up Lukey who was in the room next door sharing with Pony so he could join us. However, within a few minutes, all the guys were asleep in our room and Tino was outside on the phone. So by the time the food came, it was just me to fend for myself, which I happily did. Tino made it back in briefly and poured some champagne, which he set next to me on the night stand. I didn't actually want any, so left it there to sit. Lukey then woke up and started eating some food. At some point, I moved and my hand knocked over the champagne glass. However, my quick reflexes caught it and swatted it at the same time in mid air as I tried to catch it. End result was that the champagne went flying everywhere all over the wall and floor but the glass didn't break as it gently hit the ground! I have special talents, what can I say...
Passed out
After going back to sleep, I eventually made it out of bed and over to the boat as I promised to be on the boat that day as the previous day got ruined with our waxing appointments. There were a few odd jobs here and there but the main thing we needed to do was with the main sail and that couldn't be done without more people. So, Huw, Amancio and I took a lunch break at the bistro down the street. Afterwards, Huw and I met Sir Robin back on the boat as he was planning to fix our broken bowsprit that day. I ended up helping the two with the fix and now Robin and I are long time hoomies!
So many good drinks here!
Robin and Huw hard at work
After working on the boat, I met up with everyone else at the hotel lobby bar. We decided to dine at Bar Luna again. I made my way back to the boat to help Huw move the boat back and then dragged him along with me to Bar Luna for some dinner with everyone else. There were of course other Clipper folk there, so we had drinks going back and forth between the tables. Soon Patsy got the bright idea to make it a Karaoke night. I'm always down for a little karaoke so I joined Patsy, Matt, and Pony and dragged Lukey along with me. On the way, we took a detour in search of some Smirnoff Ice for a certain someone but it became clear, they just do not sell them in DaNang. We eventually met up with the others at the Karaoke bar and ran into Matt who was wandering the streets looking lost along the way. Lukey and Matt ended up departing right away "in search of the GB folks", but really they just didn't want to partake in any karaoke. The remaining four of us continued to sing the night away. Pony and I ended with "Born in the USA", not recalling the lyrics when we made our selection. If anyone does, you would know that is not an appropriate song to sing in Vietnam. After that lovely song, we made our way home for the night.
At Bar Luna, The DJ was not happy I borrowed his helmit for the photo...
We taught the bar how to make espresso martinis
ATM photo sesh
sing song
Sunday, we planned an excursion to Hoi An on motorbikes! Well we just had the idea to go, but had to track down someone to rent motorbikes from. So the four of us, Pony, Luke, Matt, and I, started our search by walking down the street. Low and behold this guy comes out of nowhere asking if we needed help with anything. So we casually let him know we were looking for somewhere to rent motorbikes. Oh we came to the right place, because he rented them! We looked at each other wondering if this was legit but ended up going with it as he called up some people to bring the bikes over. Eventually, the black intruder, the pink flamingo and the green machine, as they came known to be called, made their way up the street for us to take them out. After begrudgingly handing over my California driver's license for them to hold, we were off on the bikes following the guy to where we could get gas.
Best drink to wake up to!
I have never ridden a motorbike before so I investigated the experience of each driver and I appropriately chose to ride along with Pony who has 15 years experience on a bike. This set some of my fears aside even though I still thought I was going to die with the way everyone drives in DaNang! After a quick stop by the hotel, we were off on our journey to Hoi An. I was gripping on to Pony for dear life at the beginning and closing my eyes at every roundabout, but once we got out of the city, I was starting to feel a little more comfortable on the bike. At which point, I became "Radio Dana" while I danced and serenaded Sean the rest of the way with my horrible country music!
Hoi An was a great little town. Once we got there and parked the bikes, we were immediately attacked by a woman trying to sell custom tailored clothes. Sean decided to be kind and follow her along to her shop. After a 30 minute walk through the little streets, we finally made it to her shop where they tried to convince each of us to get something made. Pony eventually gave in and had two shirts made. We then walked around for a bit and found a place to eat.
Pony trying on his new shirt
Sight seeing
Walked around some more and met up with some other Clipper folks who were also in Hoi An that day. Our original plan was to head back before the sun went down but it happened to be a full moon that night and they do a special candle lantern lighting down the river. So Matt convinced us to stay a bit later to watch. We joined in on the festivities and had some more food and then it was time to make our way through the hoards of people back to our bikes and navigate the dark ride back to DaNang. Luckily, the road was very well lit so we didn't have too many issues and only had to stop a few times to make sure we had not gotten lost. As we came back to the city over the bridge, it was a beautiful sight to see all the candle lanterns drifting down the Han River.
Dropping my candle in
We were pooped but not entirely when we came back, so decided to end the night with a bottle of red and a movie to which we all passed out to. However, Lukey did try to open the bottle of wine with a shoe, which obviously didn't work so I cleverly called down to the front desk to send a bottle opener up!
The next day we had a late start, waiting for Tino to finish up at the boat. Then met down at the downstairs lobby to corral the group to get up and leave! We, Pony, Lukey, and
Tino this time, eventually left and motored up to monkey mountain on the bikes where we stopped by the white lady statute and then up the rest of the way to a dodgy gas station where we saw a puppy, a cat and monkeys! We kept trucking up the mountain on our bikes, eventually the hill was too steep for the black intruder and I had to get off and walk but the pink flamingo was able to support two, so Lugey helped me up the steep parts and then it was back and forth until we finally made it to the top where the Confucius statute is.
Pit stop at the bar before we head out
Monkeys! Playing with cigarettes! WTH
Views from the ride up
Narrow roads up to the top
Top view
We hoomies
That night was prize giving. We met down in our lobby for a few drinks then made our way over around 6. There was a lovely gala dinner waiting for us when we arrived. However, we had to wait through an eternity of speeches before we were allowed food or anything to drink. You see, Clipper is so wisely catching on that you can not give us free drinks before if you want us to sit quietly. When the drinks finally did come, Patsy worked her ways so that we were the first table to be served long before the others! Standard.
Gala dinner
nom, nom
After the dinner, we were bused over to an after party with a DJ and more food! There also happened to be a huge pool in the middle of everything, so of course, by the end of the night, most people had been dragged in. I stayed clear away as I had already managed to tame my cowlick for the night, so getting it wet would do me no good!
Jesse had a screwdriver!
pool = disaster
We had our own fun
The few of us who managed to stay dry decided to continue the night elsewhere. We jumped in a cab that was playing dance music and Pony told the driver while pointing to the radio, "We want to go boom boom!" After a bit of confusion and going in circles forever, we showed up at a night club, where a Dwarf greeted us and led us in. Within a few minutes of being there, we came to the conclusion that it was a gay nightclub. We stayed there for a bit dancing then headed to Golden Pines for a night cap. We had a few more drinks there along with cheeseburgers and noodles. There were some fun stories on our walk back to the hotel which resulted in Pony getting me a prayer towel as a departure gift as we left the docks...
Cab ride fun
Lugey on the PA
Spotlight!
This picture cracks me...it looks like the rando dude on the right is pulling my hair, I'm yelling and Pony is about to punch him...even though none of us are actually standing next to each other...haha
DANCE...
I believe the next day was our food adventure day. We eventually got up and tried out some restaurants that were from a local food blogger given to me by a coworker. Huw, Tino, Lukey, and I jumped in a cab and Pony and Max followed along on their bikes. The first place we attempted to go was closed so the driver took us to another Pho place. We walked in and sat down. No one came to our table, they just started making us food. Eventually we had Pho bowls brought to our table and boy was it delicious! After eating our soup, it was on to the next stop on the list which was a Bah mi stand. Again, we couldn't find the place so the driver took us somewhere similar which actually happened to be the same stand but had moved to a different corner. So we each got a stringy chicken sandwich to try and then walked back to our hotel as our driver decided to ditch us at this point.
I love PHO!
nom, nom
That night was the RTWer drinks gathering. The group was in the mood for some non local cuisine so decided to go to Bar Luna for some pizza. However, that also happened to be the same location as the RTWer drinks. We made an appearance and then headed elsewhere since it was too crowded to eat there. Pony got a recommendation off another one of his crew members to check out Limoncello, an Italian restaurant. So we headed there and had surprisingly amazing Italian food. Pony had the best Calzone I had ever eaten in my life! Although to be fair, I don't ever order Calzones, so maybe I have just been missing out. After that, it was straight to bed as I was still recovering from the previous night.
Carpaccio
My fav!
Yummy seafood soup
Wednesday we were scheduled to be back on the boat to do some more maintenance work. We worked in the morning and then headed to a crew lunch for a free meal that was offered to us. Unfortunately, was not the best food I had ever eaten, but at least it was free! Then Luke, Tino, Huw and I went off in search for some nuts and bolts for the boat. As they were finding what they needed, I ventured down the street to where I had saw some bikes for sale. Push bikes as I think some of you would call them, they are just bicycles to me. I found some sweet bikes for about 900K dong up to 2M dong. I made my way back to the guys and tried to convince Huw to let me transport a bike back to the US on the boat. For some reason, he wasn't going for it...WTH! I also found some American flag eye masks that came in a package of two. However, turns out these were neck pillows that you put in cars. I suppose that makes a little more sense as to why they were so large and there were two of them!
You get to pick out your meal
We made our way back and set plans to meet around 7 to go for dinner. I had ambitious plans to go for Korean BBQ or another food adventure, but we ended up meeting late and decided to stay local and head down the street to a Vietnamese restaurant. We ordered all sorts of food and I ordered more Pho for myself because I can't go one day without eating some. After dinner, Huw and Tino parted ways and Lugey, Matt and I headed back over to Bar Luna to cap the night off with some wine. One glass led to another and before I knew it, I was in rare form. After some good fun with some other Clipper crew, some new vocab words learned by me, and me making drinks behind the bar, Tino was back to escort me to the hotel to end the night.
The next day we had plans to go shopping at the metro and get some personal items for the boat. What I didn't realize was that the metro was a big warehouse type place not near any food. So I had to suffer through the longest shopping experience ever being hungover and without any food! We eventually got all the items we needed for the boat and made our way to the hotel to drop everything off and pick up Patsy before heading to another random local Pho restaurant where I had not one, but two bowls of rare beef Pho!! Oh, so delicious!!
That night was the Parade of Sails in DaNang. So after a small nap, we were all back on the boat for the parade down the Han River. The amount of people lined up down the street was amazing! We had such a reception and all the spectators cheered us on as we drifted down the river toward the Dragon bridge and back up. After that, we all headed out to our favorite venue, Bar Luna, for some grub. However once we made it there, it was packed and we were starving by this point, not to mention the kitchen had stopped serving pizza, so we left after a drink in search of another pizza joint since we were now in the mood. We ended up finding some random "American/Mexican" restaurant...I like how they just categorize the two as the same. It ended up being the worst food I have ever eaten. Literally, every single item we ordered off the menu was absolutely horrible! If I remembered what it was called, I would advise you not to eat there ever.
Hard to tell in this photo but tons of people on the sidewalk watching the parade
Friday, was the last day before our departure, so I was able to sleep in some and make my personal calls before heading off again for the next race. After which, I met the rest of the crew at the Bistro down the street for a late lunch before our fleet crew brief. As standard, we had our team crew brief afterwards and then a few of us met at the lobby bar for some drinks. We ended up gathering with Huw, Dan from Derry, Tino, Pony, and Helen and Carl from Qingdao for some dinner at Limoncello, so we could have the glorious calzones one more time before we left! As we were there, we had the genius idea of ordering pizza for the boat for lunch the next day, but the idea was lost and we completely forgot to put the order in...rubbish!
Saturday, was race start day and we had an early start with packing up and breakfast by 0630. Then check out and boat by 0730 for the final ceremonies. We had quite the audience again for these ceremonies and lots of school children who happily high fived us as we walked back to our boats to slip lines.
Patsy is well prepared for the coming weeks
WTH!
Drummers in the parting ceremony
Patsy high fiving the cute little kids on the way back to the boat
No comments:
Post a Comment