We woke up on Saturday with one goal in mind, to find a western breakfast! Our research last night had guided to a cafe/ bakery called the 'Bread of Life' located on the other side of the river, in the main town. It was run by an American family 'The Haneys' to raise funds and awareness for deaf people in Vietnam. Apparently deafness is seen badly in Vietnam and they have been branded basically useless for years with many unable to read and write or even sign ensuring a very isolated life with little prospects. An American couple and their son came to Vietnam in the late nineties to help adolescents with disabilities and it was during this time that they became aware of the plight of deaf youngsters in Vietnam. They opened the bakery in 2005 employing deaf youngsters that they have nurtured and taught to read, write and sign. The staff are all deaf except for the receptionist and some of the waitressing staff and the youngsters do all the cooking and baking from scratch.

The receptionist herself became involved with the family through the original goal of aiding youngsters with disabilities. She has had her left leg amputated and suffered from years of ill health, resulting in her spending just one day of her life in school and that was during kindergarten. After that due to her health her father taught her through homeschooling, after the Haney family became involved with her they assisted in raising money for various operations required and even allowed her to stay with them to recuperate. During this time she found it hard to find a suitable job so when the bakery was opened she became the receptionist and waitress... she is now married to the couples son. It sounded like a really nice place with an amazing menu of western inspired dishes. The walk there however is a long one but we both felt it was worth it.... Plus we weren't giving into the taxi racket.

We set off in the morning sun using the walk to scope out the local town and eventually after an hour of walking we had reached our destination. We were still feeling a bit rotten and western food was all we craved for at this stage. The cafe was quaint with a fair amount of westerners, mostly expats as you rarely see travellers in Danang... We sat down and the friendly waitress greeted us with a smile and left us to drool over the menus... in the end I ordered a deluxe bagel (with ham, fried egg and cheese) and Steven went for the deluxe pancake breakfast, which included eggs, crispy bacon and two large American style pancakes all coated in maple syrup. We also ordered a huge pot of earl grey tea... Yummy.

A lot of the staff were using sign language and the waitresses had impeccable lip reading skills. Considering the way I mumble I was very impressed. Whilst waiting I read about the history of the place and was impressed with the work that is going on here. The food arrived a short time later and did not disappoint us and ti be honest I was a bit gutted I did not order pancakes, as the maple syrup was amazing. We washed all this down with Earl Grey Tea as well which was a most welcome refreshing taste. For the next hour we were in a state of delirium and fullness as we had not eaten that much food in ages. The food was delicious and actually very reasonably priced... especially as a vast amount of profits go to the cause. Normally at these sort of places they just add the percentage on top so you pay twice as much ..But not here, very impressive. We sat for a while enjoying the tranquility and westernness aswell as Steven enjoying the chance to be all English and read the paper over a brew, before deciding to tackle the walk back... we both knew we it would be much hotter now and the walk was fairly long. We paid our bill and chatted with the waitresses before heading off... By the way for more information on the bakery and its fantastic cause please visit...

http://breadoflifedanang.com/?lang=en

We headed down the road where we bought some medicines at a local pharmacy before following the road to the river. We then crossed the river again, this time taking the dragon bridge, passing under the magnificent golden dragon which formed the suspension supports. Soon after crossing the east side we spotted the blueness of the ocean and welcomed the sea breeze hitting our faces like a fan. Once on the beach Steven obtained a deckchair after haggling the owner (who was trying to charge thirty thousand dong until we pointed out the sign discretely put away to the side for later) and I opted for towels on the floor. In the sun it was very hot but the umbrellas provided much need shelter. Like yesterday the beach was deserted apart from the odd local. The next few hours we chilled, read, swam and listened to music... This was the first time we felt truly relaxed in ages, and it felt good.

In the evening we headed back to the hotel past the locals heading to the beach. Some armed with rubber rings, volleyballs and other things you could utilise on the beach. We both showered and eventually managed to rid ourselves of all the sand on us but of course left the bathroom looking like a beach.

We headed out and first downed a couple of beers on the seafront as well as having to oblige when locals wanted photographs with us.... Well Laura mainly. Always makes you feel like a celebrity but we did stand out like a sore thumb here. By this point, food was well and truly on both our minds. To save the stress of finding food we headed to the same restaurant as last night as the food was really good and they did not scam us. The boys seemed glad to see us again and we ordered rice, fried water spinach, fried tofu and a gorgeous sea food salad which had perfectly cooked calamari ....Honestly, it practically melted in our mouths... So rare to find! The dish was so cheap and a really good way of eating stupidly affordable seafood. The only minus point was the unripened green mango also in the salad. When you put it in your mouth it literally sucked out all of the moisture, like giving you cottonmouth. A really bizarre feeling which is similar to when you eat a slightly unripened banana, but much more drastic! During the meal, a young couple of girls were given a hotpot on a flaming stove which contained a broth with fish and vegetables. It looked amazing and so we found out what it was and vowed to order it tomorrow, yes we would come back here!

We headed back to our hotel past the packed restaurants which were heaving with locals post their beach frolics. Yes some were even still in speedos with big bellies all hanging out.

Back in the serenity of our hotel room and the coolness of air conditioning we settled down and searched the movie channels for anything remotely worth watching.