On November 12, 2023, I went to the beach hoping to see waves, even more impressive than usual, since the day was windy. But, to my surprise, I found messy foamy surf (without those shapely running walls of water) with that unamusing grey-yellow shade.

But there was its own charm in this faded color palette as if nature itself applied a vintage filter to that deserted wet paysage with the once-lively beach, now abandoned, with echoes of laughter that once (specifically yesterday 😁) sounded there.

Nobody Playing Volleyball

I found no surfers on the beach. Probably, everybody was awaiting storm or surfing rentals were closed because the weather forecast... There were no fishermen. No sunbathers, no swimmers. To my disappointment.

Nobody was even playing volleyball.

Korea Man

An elderly Korean man with a camera and a belt camera bag approached me. He abruptly grabbed my camera and lifted it to see the brand. (Nikon). He ordered me with gestures to show him my images.

It was clear that he had just arrived to Vietnam and jumped out of the hotel, dreaming of brilliant shots.

I showed him with signs that I was disappointed with the weather. I simultaneously was talking simple English to him hoping he could understand some phrases. I told him, like, "there is no sun bla-bla-bla" and he, when he heard "sun", showed wind with his hands with questioning eyes looking at me...

– No, this is wind! Sun is different, - I answered, realizing I was talking to a wall.

Siberians

When this senseless scene was happening, I was watching people who, despite the weather, were doing beach-goers' things on that empty sad strip of sand. They were probably Russians (Ukranians? Polish?)

I preferred to think they were Siberians, who had recently arrived from their harsh minus-29-Celsius reality, unpacked cases at the hotel, immediately put on swimming suits, passingly grabbed shovels for digging sand, and hurried to the sea, into the embrace of the plus-29-Celsius reality. They didn't care that the sea looked like a dead monkey since there are no monkeys, alive or dead, in November Siberia, only damned biting frost.

Mole's Instinct

When I saw this man quickly digging the sand, I thought:

– Satisfying his mole's instinct.

And decided to have a closer look at that case.

It turned out that "the mole" wasn't alone, and that explained everything:

That totally changed the perspective I was looking at the scene with, and opened up an image of an uncle and his favorite nephew.

Then, I noticed a Vietnamese couple lying on the sand, and I got even a stronger feeling of the uncle-nephew bond between the characters.

I kept on walking along the weird beach.

A 45-day stamp in my passport almost expired, and coincidentally my interest to Da Nang City had been satisfied to that time. I missed Bangkok, Thai people, Thai food, and it was time to leave. A great trip that was ending on time.

I was walking barefoot for a while, with flip-flops in my hand, then looked back to examine my footprints, and thought:

– Judging by the prints, a human had passed here.

And I turned back to the hostel.

More images and stories from Southeast Asia are ahead! Check out the previous ones on my personal Pinmapple map, inlcuding 14 posts from Da Nang City.

I took the images with Nikkor 70-300mm on Nikon D750 in November 13, 2023 in Da Nang, Vietnam.