Philippine Travel Notes

Done at Đà Nẵng, Vietnam , it was time to hop to my next destination: Phnom Penh, Cambodia . Oh don't worry about that city name, it's actually very easy to pronounce! How do they say that? Locals pronounce Phnom as Pnom [no vowel sound between 'P' and 'nom' ] dropping any "h" sound. Technique: start saying "nom" with pursed lips - the "p" will come out! To my ears, locals pronounce Penh also without any "h" sound anywhere. And, they utter the 'e' in Pen with a very short and guttural "u" (like in b u rn), not "e" nor even "i". For many children, it's even pronounced like "puyn" with just a very faint "y" sound. Easy di ba? Hahaha! Anyway... How to fly from Danang to Phnom Penh? Except for a daily flight to Siem Reap, there are no direct flights from Da Nang to all of Cambodia, and it did not match my planned route and/or departure/arrival...

Is Danang Beach a good tourist destination? My 'expert' answer is: GO! Now na! Let's talk about this famous beach, since this is where I stayed during my visit. Those huts are at Holiday Beach Hotel 's Beach Club . I was at the bar for that photo. In front of all the huts, I looked to the left, and this was my view... Still gloomy and hazy at 0832H. Well, this was Christmas Day. I think on this date, it is also like that in the Philippines, even all of Southeast Asia. I do remember, Bali is. This kind of beach shoreline goes all the way to, almost encircling those hills. That's the Sơn Trà Peninsula (still in Danang) , and there are many things to see or do there! For one, the Inter-Continental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort is there, maybe 15~20 kilometers from this beach club. Then white sands again, up to the Xoan Peninsula . It doesn't stop there, as white sandy beaches line all of Hue , all the way to Nghe An . Yet you don't have to go tha...

Let us talk about Bridges over Danang's Han River . Why? Because, promoted or not, they are all worthy of a visitor's attention - at least 5 of them (since there are many). To better understand what I'll be talking about, let's start with this google map: That is part of the northeastern side of Danang, and I marked the 5 famous bridges. Trần Thị Lý Bridge [ Cầu Trần Thị Lý ] Let's start with the 5th one. That is the Trần Thị Lý Bridge that I passed-by last night when I arrived. It's this same bridge I saw earlier, near the APEC Sculpture Park. Eto: It's a uniquely designed cable-stayed bridge with only one (145-meter-tall) tower that leans (slants) at 12° to the west. It's too easy to spot even from afar. Can you see it? A friend who is both a licensed architect and civil engineer (yes, me ganun) tells me that this bridge is a very challenging structure to make, especially that it is on water. He told me that for comparison, the Leanin...

'Busy' with something else on a Christmas Day, my yearning to peek around Danang decidedly brought me to the Han River . You have partly seen it in 2 previous stories . NB: yes, in Danang or Da Nang City, Vietnam! Not the Han River in Korea :) The reason for opting to walk along the Han Riverside was: it's just near the Danang Cathedral where my group was holding our Christmas activity with the parishioners! Shhh, I did not want to 'escape from' or 'skip' the activity. I am just no expert at what was being conducted. My role/s came before and after the main program activities. So it was time to take a leisurely walk! Bạch Đằng St. , along the Han River is just a block away from the cathedral. The Han Market is a similar walking distance from the cathedral but this was my best choice! Sculpture Park? First to greet me at the promenade were these sculptures, many of them... I'm not good at interpreting / appreciating such artworks but th...