Perhaps I am taking my life for granted. From my balcony I can see the beach that people spend loads of money to come and visit and in the 2.5 years I have lived here I have NEVER gotten in the water. I very rarely even go down there and when I do it is either to be able to walk my dog in a straight line with minimal danger of being run over by a car, or because my friends want to go down there for beers.
There are a lot of reasons why I don't go down there but one of them is that beaches just in a general sense don't really do it for me anymore. I have lived at a tropical beach for 3/4 of the past 20 years and I guess you could say that I just don't appreciate it anymore.
To a lot of people, this is probably paradise but there is one thing that I have noticed in my time living in what is considered a beautiful place: People that live in beautiful places do not go and take advantage of the beautiful places, nor do the particularly consider it to be beautiful.
One thing that always chaps my ass about going down to the beach with friends is that as soon as you cross the street to the boardwalk, the price of everything doubles. My friends like to go there to drink beers near sunset but if we were to sit at chairs that are literally across the street at a bar over there, the cost of drinks is cut in half. I love having sand stuck in my shoes and all over my legs as much as the next guy, but this is just pure lunacy in my mind. It is particularly stupid because none of us ever get in the water, nor do we talk to anyone else that we weren't already meeting there. So why are we paying twice as much for the pleasure of sitting 50 meters closer to the beach?
I complain about this every time we go down to this place but somehow, it became a standard meeting point for our small group of friends. There are other pubs we could go to, some of which still have a view of the beach that cost a lot less, but for some people, I guess they think it is worth it.
I'll go ahead and say this about the beach in Da Nang as well as most of the other places that I have been in Vietnam: They aren't particularly special. Sure the sand is nice and in most places they do a decent job of cleaning up the rather insane levels of plastic waste that goes lying about, but the water looks the same as it would just about anywhere else in the world. Plus, if you enjoy surfing or boogie-boarding, these waves are damn near useless. Combine this with the fact that swimming is only allowed in certain approved areas that are inundated with tourists, and it just isn't very much fun. I'm not joking about this, if you go into the water more than knee-deep and you don't have a surfboard with you, the lifeguards are going to violently blow whistles at you until you move to the roped in areas they have designated.
I don't know about you, but I find no joy in paddling around in a tiny area with dozens of other strangers kicking and splashing around me. They don't even let you go out very far either. Once I get to about chest level, the roped in area ends and you are not allowed to go any further. I realize that this is to prevent drownings but at what expense? No one is allowed to have fun?
I continue to live in Da Nang not because of the beach - the beach is completely meaningless to me. I only stay here because I enjoy not moving around and don't know anyone anywhere else in this country that isn't in Da Nang. Moving is a hassle, particularly with a dog in tow.
I think my dog enjoys the beach considerably more than I do and when I do go down there, it is for her, not for me. I would much rather be on the roof of my building where I can also see the beach, and be in a swimming pool that is devoid of sand.
I guess you could say that I don't understand the allure of this beach or why it is that they continue to build thousands upon thousands of new hotel rooms. If I booked a vacation to here and this was the beach that I arrived at instead of the obviously photoshopped pictures they advertised, I would be pissed. Give me the mountains any day. Beaches are overrated.
I was assigned to work in Penang Island in 1998, and also Port Klang in 1999. And you're right, for that 2 years I haven't been dipping into the sea AT ALL 🤣 I don't mind soaking in the bathtub watching TV with my girlfriend. I don't know how you like the sand between your toes, but I hated having sand all over the property after a beach walk. The workplace in 1998 was a mall by the beach. We literally eating KFC with the sea behind us and nobody even take a picture of such a cool place 🤣 you know what my friends insisted me to go back to my workplace(that mall by the beach), I told them shut up and take my cooler box with them in their truck, drive there and be that Ahole sitting on the truck drink beer whilst others eating sand spin up from our truck tyres.
Many years later, met my ex-girlfriend(now wife 🤣), and we went back to the same beach. I think the perception changed, it's not really about the beach. It's now we're living in urban city, going to the beach is "holiday". Somemore years later, to the same beach with wife and kids, explaining to them how bad daddy used to treat people eat sand, meanwhile all of us getting sand blasted by some rich young punk driving their truck flyby whilst drinking beer.
Oh and that mall by the beach, is now by the parking lot behind a man made beach 🤣 I tried my very best explain to them how cool it was, the kids be like "meh", it's just another KFC by the parking lot 🤣
I get it man, it's overrated at this point, at this circumstances for you. Perhaps the picture of Nadi enjoying the beach, is the one thing that you should remember how beach do good to your memory for the rest of your life. Apologize for the long winded reply. I have a thing with
bitchesbeaches 🤣no need to ever apologize for that. I like hearing the stories of your past bro.
Kids are never impressed with what they hear someone did in the past I think. They'll experience the same when they get older too. :)
Very beautiful beach. I like this beach all photos very amazing beautiful and clean beach.
Well, that's really great to know about the house that you own on the beach. That's pretty cool by the way! I don't know why I am saying that! But I suppose having a beach view does makes it exciting! But if I am being honest I like more quite places.
On the other hand I sort of feel the way you are expressing your thoughts. My area from where I am is filled with Tea Garden. literally all the borders and we have huge Tea garden covering our district. Since I have grown seeing all these, it does not really attract me that much. But people who comes outside of the city of mine they really enjoy exploring in the garden. I suppose every new things seems to attracts us quite a lot.
People that live near the beach or anything else that is lovely quickly forget that it is lovely and don't even notice that it is there. Just like your tea gardens. To be honest I don't really even know what a tea garden is so I am going to have to look that up now!
Yes, her face is really enjoyed because the beach is beautiful. She is so cute. Have a wonderful day.
I wish I lived that close to a beach, I really do. The ocean is my favorite place to be. I'm currently an 8-hour drive from the nearest beach. With that said, all of those rules would spoil that experience I'm sure. I am with you on hating how everything is more expensive at the beach. I'm surprised there isn't a more private beach close to you that doesn't have rules that way you can bring your own drinks and swim as deep as you'd like.
There are beaches where you can do whatever you want but they are kind of far away from everything. You would need to drive or ride a little way to get to it. Hey, your state has great skiing and white water rafting.. you ever do that?
Of course, which introduces drunk driving or extra costs for a ride. I see why you prefer your more convenient and cheaper spots.
Actually I just went white water rafting again less than 2 months ago. See here. Rafting season just ended and I don’t ski, so now not much to do here.
I want to say that the two big ski resorts are called Snowshow and Silvercreek. We went to Silvercreed a few times because it was cheaper. I have fond memories of that and was really impressed with the West Virginia nature. We had ski resorts in Virginia but they were nowhere near as good as the WV ones.
I’ve been to is Snowshoe a few times. It’s super nice, but damn is it cold in the winter especially when it’s windy. I’d much rather go up there in the summer. I do love a lot of things about WV, nature being near the top of that list.
It's pretty rare that I go swimming in large bodies of water. My in-laws have a pool and it is only occasionally that I go in there. It isn't that I don't enjoy swimming. I just rarely have the time to enjoy it I guess. If I had the choice I'd probably rather swim in one of the great lakes versus an inland one. Inland lakes you need to worry about swimmers itch and all of that :P. I totally understand what you are saying about the tourist prices on stuff. It's ridiculous. I keep thinking I should get some of my dad's old photos from Vietnam to share with you, but I have a feeling he would overwhelm me with content if I asked :)
i have never heard of this. I've heard of sea lice
It could be really similar. You usually see it with inland lakes when there is a lot of duck and goose poop. It's some kind of bacteria that basically causes you to get a rash and itch. Most people I know take a shower right away after they swim in an inland lake. Just to be safe.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/swimmers-itch/symptoms-causes/syc-20355043
poo poo can be dangerous! I never would have guessed that this was the underlying cause. Sea lice is actually very small plankton-sized creatures that have stinging mechanisms similar to a jellyfish. It's kind of shocking when you go through a swarm the first couple of times because you can't even see them and you tend to go face-first when scuba-diving.
Oh gosh, that sounds horrible. I was always freaked out by jelly fish when I was a kid. I was afraid I was going to get stung by one no matter what type of water I was in!
This is true wherever you live as how many places do you really visit? When we lived in England I didn't go into London as much as I possibly should have purely on lack of interest plus the cost. When you live by the sea it is nothing special as it is something you look at every day and only miss it when you live inland.
don't know what you got, till it's gone comes to mind. I think I would probably use the beach here a lot more if there weren't so many rules there.
There are those who appreciate the sea and those who appreciate the mountains, there are those who open both. You said a very right thing, when you get used to something, even if it is beautiful, it becomes normal. Great reflection.
⋆ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇᴀsᴛ ᴀsɪᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴏɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ
⋆ sᴜʙsᴄʀɪʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ
⋆ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
⋆ ᴅᴇʟᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʟɪɴᴋs 25 ʜᴘ⇾50 ʜᴘ⇾100 ʜᴘ⇾500 ʜᴘ⇾1,000 ʜᴘ
Nadi looks like she prefers watching humans crowded in roped-off swimming corridors, it's concentrated entertainment for dog eyes I assume, but doesn't sound like a joy for any potential swimmer. I've never swam in big city beaches here in Cambodia, mostly because there is almost no coastline here, but in Sihanoukville, the only big town with proper sand beaches, has unfiltered sewage flowing into from illegal poo pipes that the government seems to not care about.
Well, I guess if you spend the extra money, you can justify it by seeing Nadi's joy in loading her fur up with hot sand.