The museum sits right in the centre of town on some prime real estate across from the Han River where Tran Phu and Bach Dang Streets come together. Once the new road from the airport comes right through to this point and once the Dragon Bridge is complete this will be the new center of Danang. Despite this great location the Cham Museum seems to get few visitors almost entirely made of tour groups who have to stop here.

Most expats in Danang, myself included, never give much thought to this place and to be fair it is probably only worth an a hour of your time, but I think it would be an hour well spent. The museum seems much bigger from the inside than it looks on the outside but almost all of the displays are statues or half statues recovered from ancient Cham sites scattered across central Vietnam. There is very little information in English and what there is, is not very well written.

As I said, i is probably worth an hour of your time and it will cost 30,000 VND to enter the site. If you are travelling by motorbike, park across the street at the high school(although this will soon be demolished ot make way for the new Dragon Bridge road).

The Cham Museum Danang
01 2/9 Street (End of Tran Phu Street)
Danang
Admission: 30,000 VND

As of now I think there are only 7 language centers that employ foreign English teachers. Here they are in no particular order.

ILA – 66 Vo Van Tan Street
One of Vietnam’s largest language centers with schools all over the country. ILA is more likely to transfer teachers from Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi rather than hire somebody already in Danang. They cater mostly to kids classes but also have adult and corporate programs.

ELI – 41 Le Duan Street
The new kid on the block and established by Queensland University, ELI certainly has the nicest building of any language center in the city. This place is probably the most exclusive language school with high prices for students and as such high demand from its teachers.

APOLLO – 81 Quang Trung Street
Apollo has a similar story to that of ILA with massive expansion in recent years, it has been in Vietnam for over 10 years and has schools nationwide. Apollo teaches a mix of childrens, adults and corporate classes and has mostly full time teachers who work exclusively for Apollo.

VATC – 85-87 Nguyen Van Linh Street
Vietnamese American Training College is a Vietnamese owned and managed school and probably has more centers than any other language school in the country. The Danang branch is in the center of town and caters to the middle classes with reasonable prices and a mix of foreign and local teachers.

AVIEC – 288 Nguyen Van Linh Street
American Vietnamese International English center has recently moved to Nguyen Van Linh street, it is quite small and employs a handful of foreign teachers who work alongside local staff. It runs a range of classes, IELTS, TOEIC, general English and kids classes on the weekends.

HONG DUC English Center- 104/9 Le Dinh Ly Street
This school is relatively unknown and new to the business of employing foreign teachers. The owner is friendly and eager to please with a reasonable salary and modern facilities. The focus here is mostly on academic English and test preparation for students wishing to study abroad.

FISHER’S SUPERKIDS – 99 Nguyen Van Linh Street
As the name suggests this school caters to young learners and requires that its teachers be energetic and enthusiastic. It used to rely on volunteer teachers but now hires teachers and pays a reasonable wage.

If you know of any other schools in Danang that hire foreign teachers please add them to the comments below.

Everything at Nha Leo is home-made from the delicious ice cream, cakes, many varieties of quiche, croissants, bread, pies and even pizza. Xuan also makes a great range of fruit shakes, most items are available to take away including Leo’s wonderful passion fruit pie or the classic “quiche Lorraine”.

If you have any special requests are large orders, just ask Leo, he is always eager to please. You can order special cakes, pizza or bread. Every Sunday morning, Nhà Léo has a wonderful set French breakfast, croissants, fruit, coffee, etc

Nha Leo is open from Tuesday to Sunday, get there after 8am for freshly baked pastries. Nha Leo is 100% undercover and is a great place to escape the rainy season, cards, chess and other games are available.

Pizza and cakes are the standout items on the menu at Nha Leo.

Café Nhà Leo
38 An Hai Bac, An cu 3 mo rong
Son trà, Da nang
PH: 05113.95.73.03 / 093 501 9443
cafenhaleo@gmail.com

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The newly opened Lido Beach Bar Danang will be holding Da Nang’s First Open-Air All-Weather Danang Pool Competition. The event will be this Sunday, 20th May at Lido which is out front of the Silver Sea Hotel (Recently renamed the Lion Sea Hotel) on the beach road.

The competition will feature doubles only and all participants must register before the start of play, registration is from 4pm to 5pm on Sunday. There will be a maximum of sixteen teams so be sure to register early. Prizes will be given for the top three teams.

MORE INFORMATION:

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The park is open from 4am to 10pm and is a popular spot for Vietnamese to exeercise and socialise in the early morning and the early evening. The rides and entertainment usually don’t open until 4pm or only at weekends, there seem to be no scheduled hours of operation for the very small and poor excuse for a zoo.

China, France, Canada Italy and of course Danang will participate the 6th Danang International Fireworks Competition. The 2012 Competition will crown the champion of champions as all four International teams are previous winners of the event.

Grandstand tickets, on the east side of the river, are priced from 200,000 to 300,000VND.

The Danang Sand Castle Competition will be held on the Beach at Temple Danang. Please register your sand castle building team at the Temple Danang on or before the 9th of May.

For further enquiries please contact Phillip on 0903 035 271.

Honda Wave S for sale. It is only about 8 months old and has only been ridden for 4,000 km. It still looks as good as new and I am selling it because I am leaving the country.

It is well maintained and the oil is changed every 1,000km. The bike includes number plates, all paperwork and there is stil time remaining on the 12 month warranty.

Contact: Phil on 012 1288 2264

Once inside the restaurant you can tell that this is not a typical Vietnamese restaurant, the stage, the delicately set tables and the well dressed waiters give a sense of something different. The menu has typical Vietnamese dishes as well as some specialties that are hard to find, the soft shelled crabs are a personal favourite. As you would expect from such a nice looking establishment, the prices aren’t typical either, but in my opinion they are reasonable if you are looking for a special night out.

The stage which is on your right as you enter the first floor is there for the live music performances that begin at about 7pm, with a couple of shows every night. There is also a traditional dance performance. This place is popular with up market tour groups who come here for quite a unique dining experience. It is clear that a lot of effort has been made to make this place stand out from the crowd, the quality of service from the staff is as noticeable as the Cham Tower in the garden.

The restaurant is quite large with seating for three hundred people on two floors. Apsara Restaurant Danang is open daily from 10 to 2.30pm and then again from 5pm to 10pm. It is the perfect place for a romantic dinner for two or the place to take someone you wish to impress. It is across the road from Mumtaz Indian Restaurant and a short walk from the Green Plaza Hotel.

Apsara Restaurant Danang
222 Tran Phu Street
Danang