Short time in Danang and Hoi An

by Yaxal Vasquez Cabrera (Mexico)

Making a local connection Vietnam

The day I arrived in Danang, I met Hai Pham, my airport uber driver at my hostel, he had offered me the transport services to Hoi an, obviously, like a good Mexican I had my distrust, but then I remembered that he had his number plates, there is an uber record in the history, although it is illegal to hire an uber driver off the platform, there is data that if anything happened it would be easy to locate it. I was encouraged to call him and ask him the cost of Danang to Hoi An when he spoke to him, he was very happy to give him the confidence, “how areee youuu my friend”, thank you thank you, was what he repeated to me at all times in his short English and how little he could understand about him through the phone call. Hai Pham, is a working man who married very young (19 years old) currently has 37 and has two sons, and one daughter. Proudly he showed me the medals of his daughter's math competitions and his son's basketball. Hai Pham is proud of his country, Vietnam is giving opportunities to all the young people in the country, he acknowledged that Vietnam still has many problems, but it is nothing compared to when he was a teenager, he taught himself English by watching television programs like "friends" I asked him what it is to be a Vietnamese, and he told me, a person from Vietnam is a happy person, who respects his ancestors, loves his family, but especially the history of the country, Vietnam has expelled two powerful countries and as the flag of Vietnam the understood balance that a nation must have among its population: intellectuals, farmers, workers, business people, and the military, but above all remember, that the past is behind and always you have to build to look to the future. After having a pleasant one-hour conversation on the way from Danang to the town of Hoi an, passing between rice paddies and the rising sun, between meows of cows and stray dogs, I arrived at my destination in Hoi An Hoi An, is a fantastic town, it is a town to relax and enjoy, give yourself a glimpse of what daily life is like in Vietnam, old buildings, all yellow, worn out by time and humidity, multicolored Chinese lanterns, local people wearing the pointed hat, smiles and lost looks, the noise of the bikes, people calling you "fren" "fren" trying to get your attention so that you buy them either fruits, food or a trinket Hoi an's charm is still a Vietnamese town but the combination of all things makes it very attractive to foreign visitors, eating in their markets, seeing local people, rice paddies, the freedom to walk, enjoy and sit down a Vietnamese coffee either Den (black coffee) or suá coffee (coffee with condensed milk). The possibility of going to the beach (3km away), At night, walking through the old houses and feel to be in a fantasy world