One of the downsides of living in a tropical country is that the summers are painfully hot. It is virtually impossible to do anything outdoors without sweating profusely. Of course the locals somehow, probably genetically manage to not end up a sweaty mess like I am but even they will tell ya that it is too hot to do anything outside.
I kind of admire people that manage to not be a sweaty mess but I have always been this way, even when I lived in far cooler countries.
Vietnam for the most part has a pretty decent temperature. I enjoy it a lot more than I do other parts of South East Asia because for reasons I do not understand that is probably related to the ocean and the topography of this country. "Winter" and spring are wonderful here but all of that goes out the window once May comes near and it will stay this way for at least the next 3 months.
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one thing that amazes me about the locals is that during the summer months the Vietnamese will actually wear MORE clothes in the sun and I have to assume that this is to keep the sun off of their skin. I would be absolutely dying if I was wearing long pants, a hat, and a jacket outdoors and I don't know how it is that they manage to not feel like they are near death via heat stroke at all times. Long red lights must be absolute torture. I rarely drive a motorbike here and this is especially true during the summer.
The thing I find a bit nuts is that this is actually the popular time of year for people to visit our beach city even though the sea feels like warm bathwater and since parasols or umbrellas are banned on the beach outside of the various places that rent deck chairs - which are very limited - it is impossible to really enjoy yourself on the beach here during the summer.
One of the major things that really makes at least Da Nang unbearably hot in my opinion is the fact that the humidity stays high during the summer and while I made no distinction between dry heat and humid heat as a youngster, I definitely notice the difference when we get into the really hot time of year.
That humidity percentage will stay 50-80% for the next 3 or 4 months and at least for me an most of the people that I know that are foreigners, this means immediate and constant sweating any time the sun is out.
The "real feel" of the temperature or the "feels like" temperature is always between 105 and 110 degrees F during these coming months and at night it manages to drop down to around the mid 80's. The humidity remains strong day or night and therefore the heat just lingers and for me, this is the time of year that I seriously spend a lot of time indoors in the air conditioning. The only outside time I usually see is when I am walking somewhere and when I do that I have to move very slowly and bring a small towel with me for the trip and once I reach my destination.
I am one of those people that once I start sweating it is very difficult for me to stop and it can be a bit embarrassing to be the guy who is dripping in a restaurant. The stress of knowing that I look very sweaty makes me sweat even more :)
So if you are in South East Asia, there are probably better places to travel to than here for the next few months. To me, this is the worst time of year to visit Da Nang and you would be better off waiting until at least August. From that point forward the temperature decreases but the humidity kind of stays the same year round.
For me, I get a good sweat going from simply exiting my building to go somewhere. By the time I reach the front door, and this is via an elevator, I have already started sweating before I even move. So let's get ready for high electricity bills and the inability to do almost anything outside for months!
lol. Yeah, this is the time of year that I tell people to not come to Vietnam but then again, it is extremely hot everywhere else in this region as well. I don't know anywhere to get relief except for maybe Sapa. I hear that it is extremely hot there as well though just a lot less humidity because of the elevation.
I remember reading somewhere that this is an unprecedented heat-wave, but then again they say that every year.
Is August not rainy down there though? 😀
!PIZZA
it normally is yes but lately the patterns have been less predictable.
This is the time to travel elsewhere as there is nothing worse. If it's cold get a jersey, but when it is hot and humid there is nothing you can do.
especially if you are like me and don't have great deal of confidence when shirtless :)
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