Took the new bicycle out yesterday for my first ever "explore" ride. There are bike trails here in town but for the most part these are near the main roads which means you ears are going to be assaulted by the never-ending barrage of horn honking that goes on here in Da Nang, so instead I opt to go "exploring" where I choose a nautical direction, try to avoid the main roads, and then just see what is out there.
For the most part this means I am intentionally riding on roads that are not yet complete, or perhaps aren't going to be complete. There isn't much chance of getting too terribly lost because almost all of the roads in Da Nang are made in a grid pattern. If you start to feel like the road you are on is going nowhere, just turn to the east, head back towards the sea, and you will eventually end up connected with one of the 3 main roads that travel north and south in this city.
At one of the major intersections there is one of the turns of the 4 that has a bunch of barricades in front of it and the road is gravel. Nobody really uses this road even though it goes right along the river. Once I got about 100 meters from the main road it became quiet and lovely down here. Gone were the sounds of the traffic and horns, and finally found some of that good ol' fashioned silence that I crave so much. The road wasn't in great shape but because I intentionally purchased a bike that can easily handle this sort of terrain it didn't really matter as long as you keep your head up about a pothole, which I did.
I discovered this giant temple at the end of this gravel road and while I knew it was there already, I have never gone to is probably because I spent more than a decade living in Thailand before moving here and well, temples just become quite common when you live there.
But as I got closer I took some photos anyway.
Pretty nice looking place if you ask me and I don't know what kind of Buddhism this is as I never approached and just stayed on the bike because the point of this trip was to explore, not go sightseeing. Religious institutions are less commonplace here in Vietnam because most of the population is not religious. They have certain rituals that they perform for good luck but they don't have a building like a church, mosque, or temple.
The back end of it was slightly less awesome looking but I guess that area is for large gatherings to keep the people out of the sun.
What was so lovely about being here was that on the backside of this popular structure, there are no roads big enough for even most cars, let alone the tour busses that were all parked at the front.
The grounds were nicely kept and nobody seemed to mind that a sweaty foreigner was keeping his distance and taking some photos. I do make sure to always keep my distance when I am dressed in sport attire because I am aware that there is normally a dress code here and also because they almost certainly charge people to get in here and if a load of people turned up on the secret back entrance they might start to have a problem with that.
Nearby on the opposite shore of this temple there was a lot more activity and population going on.
There were loudspeakers and commotion going on across the river from where this temple was, and it was a nice little example of the juxtaposition of what Vietnam is like. The temple was intentionally quiet yet right across the river was some area that they were making as much noise as possible. I am happy that I was on my side of the river.
The great thing about this explore-trip was I had never been here before, didn't really have any idea where I was going when I chose the gravel road, and wasn't in any sort of hurry. I just found this place by accident and at least to me, this is the best kind of discovery and it would only be possible on the sort of transportation that I brought with me.
The day was also perfect. It was almost entirely overcast but it wasn't at all threatening of rain. There was no chance of rain but also no chance of sunburn. The absence of direct sunlight also kept my core body temp down, which is a real problem with me that I don't really notice on a bicycle because the movement and the wind that comes along with it, keeps me nice and cool. It isn't until I get stuck at a traffic light that my body reminds me of how hot it is as I drip on the floor.
Of course Nadi (my dog) can't come with me on these trips so I am sure she spent the entire 1 hour or so in absolute misery back at the house in one of her 6 or 7 beds that I have arranged for her.
I'd imagine that most of her time was spent like this, staring at the front door and waiting for the sound of me taking my shoes off on the other side. I do enjoy how excited she gets when I return and I always give her a treat that she definitely doesn't deserve when that happens.
So I guess day one of exploring was a success, that was the first attempt at going south. My next objective is going to be going north a bit and see what people do up there off the beaten track!