Saturdays

Dear Mom,

I want to tell you about the whole elephant, but as I try to think about how to tell about ALL THE THINGS I am intimidated and my brain locks up.  So let me tell you about a specific toenail on its left front foot, let me tell you about yesterday (Saturday).

At 7:45 or a little after, I boarded my motorbike and noticed a definite chill in the air.  Temperatures in the 70s this week.  We've had a week of only periodic rains, with generous helpings of sunshine, but now it's another storm system moving in.

I met up with brothers from Danang International Fellowship (DIF is our church here), for western breakfast at a restaurant in the tourist neighborhood on the south end of the peninsula.  It's not a neighborhood we spend a lot of time in, though if we get to hankering for western food that's where we'd head.  They even have a western-style Chinese restaurant down there, and the owners embraced the irony by naming it the "Mayflower American Chinese Restaurant."

The guy I'm with in this selfie was among those who gathered yesterday for breakfast.  He was born in Vietnam and left with his family as a toddler.  Now he's returned and is working on getting his foreign-Vietnamese paperwork so he can naturalize.  Neat person.

Lunch with a couple from DIF at our house.  Restful, joyful. 

Oh!  And after lunch I returned some serving pans to this street restaurant.  She had delivered trays loaded with fish/meat/veggies and about a thousand rice paper wraps for a DIY rice-paper-rollup party we had hosted Friday night, and on my errands-list was to return her trays.  We fed 12 people for 830,000 and had leftovers to send home with the kids!

Then after that errand I went and met with a landlord who has a house for rent in the city center.  Not for us--we're very happy with our house here--but for some folks who are visiting in January.  They'll use the house for a week, and although I've seen the house and confirm it's not a scam, I wanted to also meet the landlord and look him in the eyes.  I've had TOO many instances of bait-and-switch with housing here.  Nice guy.  He's the real deal.

Home in time to meet An for a bit when she stopped by after work.  Love that girl.

Then after dinner on Saturday we had extended an invitation to lots of the folks who knew us 10 years ago, and several of them came and we enjoyed their companionship.  

They got a KICK out of playing a comical-competitive game on our Nintendo.  I hope you click on a video to see their responses, because they're such a hoot:

https://youtu.be/fhEDlqiCBTM?si=SKHTVjiuPNbKFDPU

https://youtu.be/lzd6Vh-9rRU?si=YjwZ82bm02NIuE3n

Another busy and FUN Saturday in the books.  That's how we roll!

Love,
Tim/Janet

PS.  

Looking west toward Han Bridge from the high road at Vincom.

PPS:

This is the view from the riverside Marriott top floor.  Starting looking west to the hills, then panning south, east to the Son Tra peninsula, and then finally up north toward Monkey Mountain.

https://youtu.be/L-_B0UvOlrM?si=Tb3v3NvKWTUGIo4a

Moving to Danang

Dear Future Self,

You're moving to Danang!  That's fantastic!  Allow me to share with you the things you/I thought of when I moved here this fall.  Some things below I did and I'm super happy to have done, and others are things I only wish someone had recommended to me, so I'm recommending them onwards.  

First off, let me point you back to this post about coming for a visit:  https://vietnamchases.blogspot.com/2025/10/youre-coming.html

Now, let's upload the advice for moving here, which is slightly different ...

Delay going to Danang:
Your body has a different jetlag response when you're just traveling for a short trip vs when you're moving 12 time zones and flipping day and night.  Instead of hurrying to get to your destination, take 5 full days to adjust to the time zone, rest from the busy buzz of last-minute packing and travel, get physically well enough so that when you do arrive in your destination you are really 100% present.  It might feel like wasted time, but it will shorten the transition time overall.

Delay getting into a Lease:
Arrive and get over jet lag, then move directly into a tiny Airbnb apartment for a two week booking.  Look for housing, but you're in no hurry.  If you find what you like the first day, they'll hold it for two weeks.  If you're still looking after two weeks, get into another place for two weeks.  Easy.

Tell your friends NOT to delay coming:
We've got friends coming at the end of our time here this time around, and that will be nice because we can send some of our stuff home with them.  But it SURE would be nice to go first, get settled, then have a small team of friends come maybe two weeks later, packing your stuff and ready to first-hand experience your new place (so they can be more fully with you sharing your adventures the rest of your time abroad).  In that context, it would make sense to purchase at thrift stores back home things that you *could* just as well buy new in Danang once you arrive but so many of those small items begin to add up to real money when you have to lay out rent and deposit and pay so many other starting costs.  I'm thinking of forks and spoons, kitchen towels, etc.  We actually brought an area rug to Vietnam in our checked luggage this time and it's a happy thing to have.

To bring next time (these are also available in Vietnam)

• Kitchen spatula 
• Forks and spoons 
• Helmet 
• Sunglasses 
• Kitchen and bath towels 
• Quilt
• Chinese chili oil 
• Maple syrup 
• mobile keyboard 
• White shirt

Not available for purchase here:

• Goo gone
• Mashed potato packets
• Cooking oil (Kirkland avocado oil)
• Mushroom seasoning powder (without msg)
• Black slacks and shoes for formal occasions

Shop at Mega, Lotte, JollyMart, the baking stores.  Skip Go, Vincom, Cho Con.

Get an all-over massage at Queen Spa in Danang if you didn't already get that done in your first landing spot.  But actually get it done when you first arrive, wherever you end up going for acclimatizing and jetlagging.  Did I already recommend jetlagging in Dalat?

Go to Danang International Fellowship the very first Sunday and invite someone out to lunch afterwards.

Get Grab app and Zalo App and Whatsapp working on your phone before you leave for your international travel.  Hook up your credit card to Grab app.

Get a 2-week sim card at the airport, but then whenever it's convenient, you'll go get a local sim card with your passport (Viettel, Mobifone, etc).  Once you have that, you can go into a bank (we use SacomBank) with your passport-aligned phone and your passport and foreign currency, and open an account so you can play the pay-by-QR-code game.  It's so important!  You'll also be using this local account to receive any funds wired from home.

Towing a Trailer

Dear Mom,

I'm afraid it just never gets boring (to me) about how to transport goods in this culture.  It's probably because in Oregon I have a fancy truck with a top rack for hauling really long lumber and super long extension ladders, and I have a utility trailer and sometimes I rent a double-axel trailer for hauling earth-moving equipment or for dump-trailer functionality.  So it's a professional interest and a lifestyle intersect, and to have it all be so amazing different here is just difficult to wrap my head around.

Early in our time here I took this photo:

Some astute viewers will immediately recognize this for what it is, but for me it's still a boggle.  This, my friends, is a moto-trailer.  You position the crossbar on your motorbike just behind your tailbone, load the trailer with all the weight forward, take off slowly, and hope you never have to hard-brake during your trip.

In the photo above, and behind the moto-trailer, you can see what is essentially my local ACE Hardware.  They have most of the tools and wall anchors and spray paint that I need.  To buy specialty tools I need to head to the parts of town where those specific tools and supplies are sold.  Did I ever tell you about replacing the hockey puck lights in our dining room?  Finding those lights was an adventure!

Before I show you more photos of moto-trailers, I should add the caveat that not everyone uses a moto-trailer when the need arises.  I bought a couch loveseat from a foreigner and my friend, Nha, arranged a minivan-sized moving truck to transport it for $11.  I saved this photo mostly so I could have his phone number if something else comes up that I need help transporting.

And then early last week I was able to capture all the rest of these moto-trailer photos on a single day before noon.  Two outings, and I got a lucky break to see so many while my phone was handy or when Janet was riding with me and could capture the shot.

Video of a lady with an empty trailer, southbound on the High Road near our house.  Her trailer connection is a little different, because instead of resting on the seat, the crossbar has a bolt down into the back of the motorbike.  I see that style about as often as the ones where the crossbar rests on the seat behind you or where you have to sit on the crossbar (you have to do that when the trailer is empty and there's not enough tongue weight).  https://youtube.com/shorts/c_JOh9VzLK8?feature=share

The photo above shows a guy with a moto-trailer carrying rebar in coils and lengths.  Easily 800 pounds.

And the weight is NOT what impressed me about this guy's load, yet I'm impressed.  And it wasn't even on a trailer--all that styrofoam is just on his bike as he transports it from point A to point B, cool as a cucumber.  I get all wobbly when I transport a metal dining table home from the market, so I'm telling you he has my Respect.

The next three pictures that I took that morning are all one guy's load.  This intersection is down at the Dragon Bridge and the High Road, where we're all about to turn left to go out toward the ocean beaches.  After some of the super-sized or very heavy loads, this one seems a little unremarkable.  Just a normal way to haul some plywood out to the job site.

Now it's several days since I wrote the above, and since I haven't sent the Dear Mom letter yet, I'm adding to it with some additional videos and pics.

https://youtube.com/shorts/TZ5JqYpu_yk?si=TCYpDIMRq4gEC-1P

And every now and then, on the streets of Da Nang I see a truck like mine with a ladder rack and an "extended cab" for additional passengers behind the driver (not really, I'm just kidding). Like this example:

https://youtu.be/rJ-g96j5wiw?si=uz0Hnwt-HhaaTQnQ

Now, some of you might have missed the truck with ladder rack and extended cab for passengers, but I encourage you to watch that clip again and look for the truck driver in a turquoise jacket and white helmet.  Early in my Vietnam time I, too, would have missed recognizing this moto-trailer assembly for what it is, at heart.  

Love,

Tim/Janet