Dragon Diaries – A Visual Companion

1. Homecoming

Sunrise just before landing.
The eerily empty plane from Doha to Da Nang.
Views from our penthouse rooftop oasis.

2. And So it Begins – Dealing with the Reality of a Pandemic Abroad

Temp checks at the grocery store.
One of many empty restaurants around the city.
The local market.
The fish market near our apartment.
Dinner at home.

3. Sunset in Hoi An

The coastal road to Hoi An.
Vendors selling street food.
Said tasty snack.
The entrance to the Hoi An night market.
Another street vendor.
A market stall.
A light snack while waiting for sunset.
Some of the beautiful architecture from the ancient trading city.
Diem poses in front of the ancient Japanese bridge built in the mid-1600s.

4. Pandemic and Personal Observations

5. Notes From Vietnam

Da Nang
Vietnam
The sun coming up over Son Tra mountain from our patio.

6. For Those Who Wander

The white box is the trash bin for the building it is in front of.
A Vietnamese lottery ticket.
A ticket peddler.
For those who wander
Diem walking into the shanty town between us and the beach.
Krill, shrimp, and other food items are drying in the sun. A common site all over Vietnam.
We came across these guys carving tree trunks into Buddhist iconography and other beautiful art pieces deep in the shanty neighborhood.

7. Liberation Day

Diem is preparing food during the lockdown and trying to keep busy.
The finished dumplings from above.
The only way out of our apartment. It stayed closed for the duration of the lockdown. It only opened when our landlords came to check on us and the building.
A week’s worth of food on our motorbike. A little precarious, but one must do what one must do.
A look down the staircase to the bottom floor. We are the only tenants.
Our glass double door.
The light well outside the glass door.
From the kitchen window, I could hear children playing in the distance—the first sound outside in weeks.
A family sitting outside enjoying the cool evening.
An altar was set up near our apartment, thanking the ancestors for the good fortune of lockdown easement.

8. On the Road Again

The street view from our apartment.
A soaked Da Nang.
Dragon Bridge.
Dragon Bridge from the Han River Bridge.
Getting some presents before we head to An Lao.
Trying to stay dry behind bags of toys.

9. A Very Different Road to An Lao

A provincial map of Vietnam.
A map of Binh Dinh Provence. The X marks the district border to An Lao, Binh Dinh’s most remote mountain district. The star marks the capital of the district, An Lao.
The very rustic health check station at the district border.
Everyone from the transport lined up for health declarations and temperature checks.
The district border gate as we push deeper into the district.
An Lao
Almost to the family home.
The local doctor’s office.
The local police station.
Children flying a kite on a graded dirt pad across from the police department.
What a reunion. It has been a tough couple of months.
Fresh Bananas from the yard.
Mangoes are also in the yard.
Coconuts in the yard.
Fresh ginger pulled from the garden.
A banana flower blooming and beginning to fruit.
The main dining room.
The side porch and side patio.
The main entrance to the family home.

10. Waking in Paradise – Our First Morning in the Village

Dawn is just beginning to break the darkness.
The outdoor kitchen.
The indoor kitchen.
A barn or shed behind the kitchen out back.
A look to the back of the property at my father-in-law’s wood shop.
The old squat toilet outhouse.
By day.
The doors open as evening draws near to let the cool night air in.
A look down the side porch to the street. The massive curtains keep the sun at bay by day.

11. A Reunion of Sorts – A Day in Town

A little breakfast.
Saigon making me some fresh coconut water.

12. Paradise Lost and the Fall of Saigon

Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum

13. Reflections in Paradise and our Return to Da Nang

During Lockdown.
After our return from the village.

14. Adjusting to a New World

15. LIVING IN A NATION THAT BEAT
THE VIRUS

16. DA NANG PREPARES FOR
ANOTHER LOCKDOWN

17. THE CRISIS DEEPENS

18. NEW TERRITORY

19. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS

20. LIGHT IN THE TUNNEL

21. DRAGON CITY COMES ALIVE

22. TYPHOON NOUL

23. MONSOON SALON

24. THE ENDLESS STORM

25. THE TROPICAL BLUES

26. HERE COMES THE SUN

27. DAYS IN OUR LIVES

28. LIFE GOES ON

29. AN OUTBREAK IN THE NORTH

30. AN UNEXPECTED RETURN TO AN LAO

31. A PLACE BEYOND TIME

32. THE LONG ROAD TO BUON MA
THUOT

33. ESCAPE FROM BUON MA THUOT –
3 DAYS LATER

34. A NEW WAVE

35. THE FALL OF HANOI

36. SEVEN, PLUS THREE, PLUS TEN

37. ZEN AND THE ART OF INSTANT
NOODLES

38. THE HOPE CONSTANT

39. THE LONG JOURNEY HOME

We had to line up for tests every few days while in quarantine in Da Nang. So there has to be a better way.
We met a dear friend for lunch at a spot called Quan Hue Ngon. We usually ate here with her for lunch. It was near her office. Vietnamese BBQ! You can see Diem in the far right corner ordering our food.
This is what is going to hurt the most. All that fresh seafood, dish after dish, a hot pot that I didn’t even put up a picture of, gratuity, drinks, everything. Eight dishes in total, less than 40 dollars for three people to be stuffed to the brim. Well, one stuffed, two full.
The shop is a block from the beach. So, at some point, I wandered to the sea to hear it in the moonlight for one last time. Some vendors were selling snacks by fluorescent light on the boardwalk.
Our old Penthouse was vacant, so I couldn’t help but climb the walk up back to our old apartment for one last view. It’s hard to remember why we ever moved.
The testing center for our flights to Saigon.
Diem is shopping for an Ao Dai on our last day.
Fozzie escorted us to the airport.
Across the Dragon bridge for the last time.
Next stop Saigon, to wrap up some immigration particulars, then on to Atlanta.
The torture tent.
The pizza oven.
My last Banh mi in Vietnam.
Our lives in four boxes and a few carry-ons.
Three years ago, one of the busiest international terminals in Southeast Asia now fits a day’s international departures on one screen, with no arrivals.
Sunrise over the Persian Gulf
When this came on our onscreen flight tracker, it was almost surreal.
Thanksgiving dinner with my parents. The first time they have ever met Diem in person.
Lunch the Saturday after Thanksgiving at Diem’s family’s home. She hasn’t seen her grandmother in many years. Since I escorted her grandmother to Vietnam to visit for the first time in a very long time, it was the first time I met Diem. How full circle life can sometimes be.

Dennis Davis

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