I’m sitting in a Cafe right now in secluded place in Da Nang, where it’s mostly locals around me. They pay me no mind and go about their day. I see Vietnamese all around me, cats and dogs randomly roam in and out the cafe. The internet is alright and suffices for most part. It’s been 3 months since I’ve first arrive here, yes 3 months has passed since I first arrived in Da Nang Vietnam. It feels like yesterday and at the same time feels liks I’ve been here for so long. I wanted to write about my experience here before I leave for another country, the experience has been truly unique and I struggle to articulate how best to describe my stay here, and will try my best to give an honest raw experience of how it was.
The heat is no joke, when I first arrived here it felt like I’ve arrived in the worst possible heat wave I can imagine. It was surreal. I grew up in a tropical country, the Philippines, and was relatively accustomed to the sun but nothing would prepare me to the level of heat Vietnam had to offer. And that was considering we were staying near the beach, I cannot fathom how hot it could get within city centres. Now that the heat has subsided and now we are now entering the more rainy season, the breeze is nice. The weather comes and go, it’s could be pouring like there’s torrential storm one day and the next it was perfect day at the beach. It felt utterly sporadic. At one point, I had a severe migraine because of the level of extreme heat. I learned from the locals that tourist come here and specifically figure out which were the best months to go due to the extreme heat, I went in blind and thought “how hot could it be?”. I was shocked to say the least. It was also weird to find out that certain parts of Vietnam actually snowed, it was more the northern part, you never think about a county in southeast asia to have snow, and simple google proved me otherwise. I did not however attempt to go, as I was worried that the extreme changes in weather might not be the best idea.
There is a strong coffee culture here, both the coffee was strong and that people in random hours of the day just sat around coffee shops. The coffee came in all random variety, from avocado coffee, egg cream coffee, to my favourite one the salt coffee. There are several stories behind the origins of the salt coffee, from a custom recipe passed down from generations, to a random barista who made a mistake of using salt rather than sugar. Whatever the true origin of it was, salt coffee is definitely something one should try when visiting vietnam. A word of advise though, coffee in Vietnam is no joke, if you drink too much there is a risk you won’t be able to sleep at night and I lived in Australia for almost a decade, so you will just have to see for yourself how strong Vietnamese coffee really is and take that with a pinch of salt (pun intended).
Food was one my favourite things in Vietnam, the sheer size of servings and just how much vegetable there was every time was something I thoroughly enjoyed. The delicacies are unique. The Banh Mi in most places lived up to it’s name and you start to understand why it was able to reach overseas.
The tourist spots were subpar and is not something you would go thousands of miles for, they had several tombs of previous old kings and bridges, but it does not scale well with other well-known places to visit. I guess this is why you rarely hear of them. But, if you consider your bang for buck here and how affordable the cost of living here is, then it’s good for its value. We did stay for the most part just in Da Nang, because we were warned from the locals about how dangerous it could get in the main cities of Ho Chi Minh, so my perspective might be skewed. When locals are the ones telling you not to go, I guess the tendency is you just listen. Ha Noi was a place we visited while staying in Da Nang which was less than an hour of drive, and is a cultural overload if you want to see and truly experience what Vietnam culture has to offer.
Other than all that, Vietnam offers a place to truly focus as a digital nomad, with the affordable cost of living, healthy food, and average facilities, it’s ideal if you want to slow down your burn rate while you are figuring things out or just starting off. Overall, Vietnam has been a good place for me and my wife as a place where we started off our journey. We’ve also documented our travels in our youtube channel if you are interested, and a more visual documentary of experience in Vietnam.
Golden Visa Book
Golden Visa, is a book I wrote that explores the intersection of entrepreneurship, global citizenship, and the nomadic lifestyle. This book provides invaluable insights and practical advice for individuals looking to embrace a new way of living and doing business in today’s rapidly changing world.
