It’s tough enough that the indochina peninsula has been a sweltering jungle symbol for heat and frustration for decades, but couple that with historic heights of the thermometer in recent months and what your left with is a place even the indigenous don’t want to wander outside in. The typical hot season in Da Nang, all of Vietnam for that matter, is not unfamiliar to westerners. June and July tend to be its warmest months in recorded history, but things have recently changed. Do not think this is going to turn into a global climate change warming condition human conversation. I think we understand as humans about as much as you understand the phrase I just said, especially when it come to well, anything. I find that humans tend to stumble into truth and our greatest achievements, discoveries and inventions often times come when we trying to do something else entirely. Take Columbus being the first modern European to stumble into the Caribbean, that’s not what he was looking for at all. Penicillin, x-Rays, Teflon, Viagra, yes I said Viagra and many others, all by accident.
But I digress, the point is here, that regardless of what you find truth in, or lack of it, I will simply lay out some facts. The fact is that Vietnam as a whole experiences its highest temperatures, like most of the northern hemisphere, in June, July and August. Though I think it goes without saying that it’s seasonal temperature swings are no where near the changes of even the southeastern U.S. With winter time temperatures in Da Nang rarely slipping below highs in the 80’s and its yearly daily sunlight barely dropping below 12 hours even in the depths of “winter”, it’s understandable that its flora and fauna rely more on the monsoon than seasonal changes to dictate floral patterns and reproductive trends.
Scientifically the climate is tropical monsoon, which means that sometime in the early fall it starts to rain and sometime in early winter it stops. The winter rain obviously gets night temperatures down to the western standard of bearable, but beyond that it’s just hot. In the past few years however, something has begun to change in Indochina. In 2019 the entire peninsula has experienced a massive uptick in median temperatures. Vietnam itself has already recorded its highest temperature ever and it did it in April of this year when an early heat wave enveloped the peninsula some two months before the summer heat was even due to set in. With a temperature reported on April 20th, 2019 of 110 degrees Fahrenheit it eclipses the highest temperature ever recorded in Vietnam since the French introduced the metric system (It was a French agency which first recorded the recent temperature). It’s unclear what the future holds for the southeast Asian nation. All I can tell you is that being from the southeastern U.S. it may be time for Vietnam to move indoors.
The Vietnamese have a sweet spot. A Goldilocks zone if you will. As a product of the south, air conditioning has been essential if not life saving. The feeling of laying in the bed and moving your legs and feet around in the covers, a comforter bathed in air conditioning, until you find that super cold spot to let your feet revel in is both magical and unknown here. Like most tropical nations the Spanish named siesta is alive and well. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve come across in the heat of early afternoon passed out in street side hammocks or the luggage rack of a luxury bus. You stave it off the best you can dreaming it away seems like a viable option since only hotels, high end restaurants and luxury apartments have air conditioning here. A lack of exposure to a/c has never allowed them to become comfortable with anything remotely cold and it’s obvious in how often Diễm turns up the air conditioning, saying ever so softly that it’s cold and giving me the universally understood shoulder rubbing and shivering display. The complaints about the heat usually begin at about 92 degrees Fahrenheit. When the apartment gets down to about 72 is when the a/c usually gets shut off. So I’m thinking that puts the Goldilocks zone between 72 and 92 degrees Fahrenheit or about 22 to 30 degrees Celsius. So, now in the heat of summer people only venture out at night or on the days it falls in this temperature range. On Monday we had an unusually cool day, heavy cloud cover, rain on and off which kept the temperature in the 80’s. Very comfortable for what it has been lately and we, like almost everyone else in Da Nang, decided to take advantage. We packed up and headed to the market along with the rest of Da Nang.
The market was bustling, busy and as always awesome. Diễm’s family had rode in from An Lao for the festivities (more on that later) and I was going to be preparing dinner for everyone tonight. I walked the stalls gathering up my supplies, fresh ginger and baby shallots, hand peeled garlic and lemon grass, various herbs and greens, limes, oh and don’t forget the chilies. Two bags full of produce set me back about 40,000 dong or .80 cents. I even found a polo designer face covering for the equivalent of 50 cents. I also snagged up a small charcoal grill to get my grill on and some char wood. The ladies went off to purchase some clothes and a few bowls for our dinner and with my shopping done I sat at the edge of the market at a little plastic table and had a beer while taking in the sights of the busy streets and market.
Upon return to the apartment I began the process of preparing dinner. We would be having grilled steak and pompano, a nice consommé like broth with glass noodles and the standard assortment of greens, fresh cilantro, limes, and of course Nuoc Chầm (fish sauce sweetened and seasoned with fresh garlic and chili. I had to set the grill up on the roof and I enjoyed Diếm company while taking in the view of Da Nang’s coast while grilling some deliciously marinated fish and meat.
Though the apartment is small for western standards, the family had rented the rest of the floor so the kids ran from apartment to apartment while we squeezed as many as we could into our little domicile. I was sad to learn that Ba didn’t make it this time. He had injured his knee at work the previous day and couldn’t make the trip. Those that are commented on how delicious everything was, it gave me a little sense of pride. I had prepared for them a Vietnamese style dinner and they enjoyed it. In fact one of Diếm’s cousins asked jokingly after expressing how good the food was if she could sleep next to me tonight. I’m sure my cheeks were as red as the Vietnamese flag as I explained my bed was full and the apartment erupted in laughter. I took the joke as a sign the food was indeed delicious.
