Vietnam Revisited – Be Prepared for the Unexpected – Chapter 5

The tour guide and driver picking me up at the Danang Airport were much different than those in Hanoi.  Younger and more playful, not quite as experienced but definitely more fun.  We immediately drove to Hoi An from Danang soothing past a smattering of traffic as compared to the massive traffic confusion of the Hanoi proper.  My driver took me to a tailor as requested to begin to catalogue my request for certain clothes and presents to be made over the next two days prior to my departure to Ho Chi Minh City. 

I immediately liked the ladies who were serving me at the first shop.  So I didn’t have the energy or the heart to haggle endlessly with them about price which was not particularly inexpensive to be perfectly honest. Yes, there are many shops that lined this corridor of town that were all waiting for the hoards of tourists to entice.  I could have spent the next day and night looking for someone less expensive or perhaps more skilled.  But there were so many items on my schedule to accomplish over the next few days that I had to concede my tendency for through research and investigation for the sake of expediency and efficiency.  Hope I’m making a good decision.  

A quick dinner with driver and guide at a local restaurant had us all sampling the local Pho.  The cost of the dinner with three local beers to wash down the noodles for the three of us came to $9. That was both a miracle and a great surprise.  

But the real surprise was the hotel that was booked for me by my tour company.  It was a resort on the beach, the Palm Garden Resort, which I was not all that happy with in the original booking. Indeed, I wanted to reside closer to Hoi An to be immersed in the city’s chaos rather than a beach side resort.  After all I live in Hawaii.  But sometimes you have to let things just happen.  

Turns out that the resort is really lovely, modern, massive but well done and charming.  My room was huge and comfortable.  To be sure, the bathroom was larger than the room from the previous night’s cruise ship nightmare.  

Before turning in for the night, I decided to do a little exploration. The biggest surprise was finding a bar with live music provided by two Filipino performers.  Playing a variety of danceable music, my body lightened with the fantasy that some ladies would suddenly appear to dance with.  But that was not destined, as I was the only human there paying any attention to the music or showing any interest in dancing.  In the end, I could not allow myself to just sit and listen, so I asked the singer to dance with me, expecting outright rejection. 

To make matters worse, I had not changed out of my travel clothes; I was wearing my walking shoes and t-shirt covered with the day’s dust glued to the dried perspiration of the long journey from Halong Bay.  I was truly not putting my best foot forward. But what the hell….life is short.

Very poor quality pics of singer in a wig, and musician husband performing at
Palm Garden Resort during Halloween Party

You have to be prepared for life’s rejections but also the serendipitous moments that work in your favor. To my surprise, the lovely singer obliged me and was happy to share the next 20 odd minutes dancing while the male instrumentalist - her husband - was playing for our enjoyment and benefit.   What a great night, ending in pure joy and leaving with something to look forward to for the next two nights since she promised me more of the same - including at the next day's Halloween party.  And I will be prepared to dance appropriately dressed including my dance shoes - since I was lucky enough to pack them for this – just in case possibility.