Everybody's Gone Surfin...[Part Two]

Our next surfer wrote me one of the most unique and personal couch requests I've ever read.  With hers being the exception, most requests are pretty short, and the occasional nimrod will copy paste a standard request without any personal connection (take note new surfers - not desired).

She talked about what she was doing in Vietnam and what we had in common and why she wanted to come stay with me.  She even included my secret word indicating she had read my entire couch description (I noted it in the end).  Most surfers are of the 20 to 30-something variety as this is the golden era of traveling to faraway lands before commitments ground you to a home base until you're retired.
 And then retired travelers often choose a more cushy accommodation when traveling, especially to a developing country.  This was not the case with this surfer as she is in the more experienced :) age category, and not afraid to couchsurf her way through new and exciting lands.  I was excited to meet her as I knew she would have many more stories to tell than the less experienced traveler.

Dyanne (a.k.a TravelnLass) only needed to swing through Da Nang to use the city for its international airport, but I knew she would get more out of her night here than a bed near the airport.  When she arrived, we chatted aimlessly, catching up on our lives in Vietnam.  It didn't take long to find out Dyanne's extreme passion: GEOCACHING.  In very short summary, geocaching is a world-wide game of hide-and-seek where cachers can hide a capsule of sorts (all different sizes) and give clues and coordinates online to other cachers who use navigational devices to find them.  These caches may contain treasures and trinkets, but always must have a log book which, when found, is signed and returned to its hiding spot.  Dyanne has over 1000 finds!  Being new to this phenomenon, I had many questions for her, and she answered them all in detail and with personal experience.  After we talked about her passion at length, there was only one question left: "So, you wanna go find a cache??"  

There were four hidden caches in DaNang, most likely hidden by Vietnamese locals.  You must be a resident of the area of your hidden cache.  We decided on one that was hidden near a very well known female buddha statue (you may remember my post about it here) and needed to hurry as it was already close to dusk.  Dyanne hopped on my bike and off we raced across the river to the peninsula were the Goddess of Mercy stood.  Upon parking my bike, her gps device told us that we were already very close to the cache's location.  Being sneaky about our mission (you don't want to alert non-cachers - called muggles - to your intentions because they may take the cache after you return it to its hiding spot), we started following the little arrow up stairs, around corners, through beautiful archways and bonsai courtyards, until we realized where we needed to be - down a dark stairway that was gated and closed to visitors.  Không sao! as we say in Vietnam (no worries!)  We hopped the gate and searched and searched for the small cache in every stone hole and cranny, using our cell phones as flashlights.  

Just as we were about to give up, a young girl appeared from the shadows, walking slowly toward us.  I stopped and greeted her.  

"What are you looking for?"  She asked.  

Hesitating, I looked to Dyanne.  We didn't want her to know what we were up to and it was strange that she had come down the stairs to approach us.  Dyanne, without skipping a beat, replied,

"Oh, I lost my earring and we've been looking for it, but we'll try again when it's light in the morning." 

The girl feigned interest for a minute but then started walking back up the stairs with us.  It was odd that she had come down on her own and approached us speaking English. 

"What are you looking for?"  I asked with a smile.  

"I...lost my way," she replied.  

(I'm thinking, riiiight, this local Vietnamese girl who speaks English lost her way at night in one of the biggest tourist attractions in DaNang.  I think we were both aware of our mutual fibs).

We were so deflated.  Dyanne, surely because she wanted to assist a new cacher in something she's so passionate about, and me, because I was so determined to find this first cache and came up empty.  

We got on my bike and braked at the bike attendant.  The girl who had approached us earlier was also there, talking to the attendant.  They turned to us and the girl asks,

"Are you sure you were looking for an earring, and not a box?"  

I look at Dyanne.

"What kind of box?" Asks Dyanne.

The girl translates to the man.  

He holds up his hands, miming the size that corresponded with the likely size of the cache we were looking for.  As it turned out, two days earlier, a girl had found the cache and liked what she'd found in it, so she took it.  It was muggled!  (as they say in the caching community)  We were still disappointed but felt closure with explanation as to why we'd failed to find the cache.  I still wonder who that girl was and why she knew this information...

The rest of Dyanne's night was filled with yummy eats and the best soft serve in town.  She seemed mesmerized by Da Nang's unexpected beauty and unique bridges, which is consistent with short-term Da Nang visitors. Because Lonely Planet doesn't dedicate a large portion of their middle-Vietnam region to Da Nang, sadly most travelers skip over it on their way to Hue or Hoi An.  This is where the beauty of the couchsurfing community comes in.  And now I have one more life-long traveling friend to keep in touch with. I'm excited to experience her neck of the VN woods when I go to Da Lat and surf her couch in a couple weeks.  

You can find Dyanne's extensive travel blog at: http://www.travelnlass.com/.

I am but a young grasshopper in the world of travel bloggers and I have much to learn.