Signs of Life & Sunny Summer Memories in Da Nang, Viet Nam

Hi everyone, welcome back to Da Nang, a coastal city in central Vietnam. Da Nang is a developing city known for its beautiful beaches as well as a relaxed cafe and food culture. One thing Da Nang is not really known for is its nature, which is mostly found on the outskirts of the city. Despite nature being at a premium around the city center, there are a few landscaped parks spread throughout. Perhaps the largest of these parks runs along the river through the center of the city.

There isn’t much to this place besides some trees and grass running alongside the river, but I like to bring my dog here because he enjoys running down the long shady stretches. The above photo is where we usually turn around, because as you can see, there isn’t much in the ways of shade over here. It is a nice area though, and it is just far enough away to stop seeing high buildings. You could almost forget you were still in the city.This place is quiet during the sunny parts of the day, but is lively at night, as many food and drink sellers will set up tables for people to enjoy drinks by the river.

Despite the grass and trees being actively cared for by the city, you will still see some wild things living in the grass. That creepy looking insect is actually the remains of a cicada exoskeleton (shell), which it has shed before reaching its full adult form. The adult cicada is the one making that loud buzzing sounds that has been synonymous to summertime across many regions of the world. I find it kind of cool that whether its a “reeeeee ree ree reeeee” or a “zzzz zzz zzzzz” their nostalgia inducing drone is like the soundtrack of a lazy summer day that is recognized on nearly every continent.

If you look closely, you can see the crack down its back where it broke free from its old body. These things might look dangerous, but are actually harmless to humans. Despite always hearing these little guys, I hardly ever see them, so it was cool to come across this exoskeleton.

Much less rare to find in the park are frogs. Typically, I will see them at night, and my dog will try to jump on them. The frogs range in sizes, with many large ones, some bigger than an adult’s fist. They are usually pretty chill when you see them, often letting you get too close because they don't seem to be afraid of humans. This is not really smart of the frogs, because they are also eaten in Vietnam and should probably have more of a survival instinct around us.

Now, I don’t have any pictures of the frogs because usually I am focused on the dog not jumping on them, however, I do have something just as fascinating. At first glance I nearly missed it, but upon a second look I noticed the balls of green foam on the side of this pot near the park. I am told these are frog eggs.

I’m not sure what I imagined frog eggs would look like, but it certainly wasn't like this.

I hope you enjoyed reading about some of the interesting things I found around the river park in Da Nang, Vietnam.

All photos were taken by me. I hope you have a wonderful day.