That week
in Da Nang.

The heat is the story this weekend, and it should change how you plan your day. Friday, Saturday and Sunday all reach about 35 to 38 degrees, and in the sun it feels closer to 40. The national weather service has a heat warning running for the whole strip from Nghe An down to Da Nang. Mornings are bright and dry, and a short thunderstorm is possible late in the day, most likely on Sunday.

Plan around the middle of the day. Between 11am and 3pm the sun is hard enough to spoil a walk, so keep those hours for somewhere cool and indoors. Carry water everywhere, more than you think you need. My Khe is best before 8am or after 4pm, and the sand gets too hot for bare feet by mid morning.

No storm is heading for Da Nang. You may see talk online about a storm forming in the East Sea around July 19 to 23. Forecasters say a system might form, but the models do not agree yet, and if it does form the north of the country is the area at risk, not us. That is still a forecast though, and weather here can turn fast in storm season, so check again the morning you head out.

A quiet weekend after the fireworks, so here is what is actually on.

Friday: The Lost Boys play live at Claypot from 7:30pm. HAT Jazz Band plays The Craftsman at 48 Phan Tu from 9:15pm, entry is 50,000 dong and it is worth booking a table. Dirty Fingers does BBQ and Beer Friday, half price Carlsberg and Huda from 3pm to 6pm, pork ribs from 5pm.

Saturday: Louisiana Saturday Night at Dirty Fingers, a crawfish boil and chargrilled oysters from 4:30pm until they run out, with Howl playing live from 7pm. The Tone Band plays PĀMA Bistro from 8:30pm.

Sunday: Prime Rib Sunday at Dirty Fingers from 1pm. Kvartirnik plays an acoustic session at Sound Cafe from 8pm. The Moon Band plays 1920's Lounge from 9:15pm.

All weekend: the Dragon Bridge breathes fire and water at 9pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is free from the riverbank and it runs about 15 minutes.

Keep next week free. The Enjoy Da Nang Festival runs from Wednesday July 22 to Sunday July 26, based at East Sea Park in An Hai and spreading out to the beaches. It is the city's main summer event now that the fireworks are done.

The food street is the part most people will use. A Quang food space opens at East Sea Park every evening from 5pm to 10:30pm, all five days. The opening show is on the evening of Thursday July 23 at the same park, a big live performance about fishing villages, old markets and craft work. Lit kite nights run at the park from 6pm to 10pm from July 23 to 26. There is a meditation session at Linh Ung Pagoda on Son Tra on July 25, and a sunrise morning back at the park at 5am on July 26 with yoga and beach sport.

If you live near the beach, expect the streets around East Sea Park to be busy in the evenings all week. If you are hosting visitors next week, this is the thing to take them to.

Here is a change that will move the traffic you sit in. Da Nang started building the container terminals at Lien Chieu port on April 25, and the plan is worth more than 45 trillion dong, about 1.7 billion US dollars. The breakwater and the shipping channel are already finished. The first berths could be working by late 2028.

What it means for people here is simple. Today the cargo ships dock at Tien Sa, tucked in behind Son Tra, so the container trucks have to grind through the city to reach them. Once Lien Chieu opens, that cargo moves out to the northwest, and Tien Sa is meant to turn into a port for cruise ships and tourists instead.

So watch two parts of the city. Lien Chieu, long treated as the industrial back yard, gets the jobs, the warehouses and the demand for rooms and food near the port. The east side near Son Tra gets quieter roads and more cruise passengers walking off a ship. It is a slow change, but this is the start of it.

A friend flying in may have read that Vietnam now makes everyone fill in a health declaration. That is not right, and it is worth telling them before they pay a website for nothing.

A new rule, Decree 165, did start on July 1. But the Ministry of Health explained on June 30 that the health form is not required from everyone all the time. It only switches on if the Minister of Health orders it for a specific disease outbreak. Right now nothing is switched on, and airports simply do the normal temperature checks.

One more thing to pass on. The Ministry said it does not use the website tokhaiyte.vn for this, and its own system is still being built. So if a site asks your friend to pay to file a Vietnam health form, it is not the government. Skip it.