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HI!
You do not worry about this problem
Da Nang Vietnam is a country not yet affected by the Zika disease so Customs should  will check you closely if you are from Central America countries.
Diseases where there is only more or less depending on the command and the medical facility where mosquito spraying to prevent such problems.
If you are concerned about this issue, please protect yourself with a mosquito before bed, or apply insect repellent creams
Pleased to welcome you to Da Nang

1 - Never take anti malaria tablets unless you have a diarrhea fetish.
2 - Mossies only come out in the evening, and you can commonly tell when they're around because loads of birds are swooping around eating them.
3 - A good cream will stop you getting bitten by most insects, including mossies and ants.
I'd bring enough for your first week, then buy from a local shop.

Good advice.  Thank you!

Thanks, Fred! 

1.  Not a fan of diarrhea, so I will stay away from malaria meds.
2.  Will watch for the swooping birds--and will try not to think of Alfred Hitchcock's old movie, "The Birds"! :-)
3.  Will follow your advice and bring a small supply of topicals to ward off the biters until I find a local source.

Try this mixture as a repellent

In a spray bottle mix the following

15 drops lavender oil, 4 tablespoons of vanilla extract, one quarter of a cup of lemon juice, and then fill bottle with water. Shake before using.

You can also buy plug in (to the wall electrical sockets) small devices that take a paper /card insert treated with mosquito repellent which last for around 8 hours. You can buy them from big C or other supermarkets. They aren't expensive and I use them at home and also when travelling.

Oh and NEVER. Take LARIAM it can have severe side effects

eodmatt wrote:

You can also buy plug in (to the wall electrical sockets) small devices that take a paper /card insert treated with mosquito repellent which last for around 8 hours. You can buy them from big C or other supermarkets. They aren't expensive and I use them at home and also when travelling.

Sorry I should have mentioned, they are called JUMBO here.

stumpy wrote:

Try this mixture as a repellent

In a spray bottle mix the following

15 drops lavender oil, 4 tablespoons of vanilla extract, one quarter of a cup of lemon juice, and then fill bottle with water. Shake before using.

So, Stumpy, this recipe sounds like it will create a lovely scent.  Are you sure it won't attract the "mossies" rather than repel them? :-)  Is it to apply to one's person or use as a room spray?

eodmatt wrote:

eodmatt wrote:

You can also buy plug in (to the wall electrical sockets) small devices that take a paper /card insert treated with mosquito repellent which last for around 8 hours. You can buy them from big C or other supermarkets. They aren't expensive and I use them at home and also when travelling.

Sorry I should have mentioned, they are called JUMBO here.

Thanks, eodmatt!  Are there JUMBO supermarkets located all over Da Nang?

I have a sort of related question--about shopping and everyday life in Da Nang.  Although I'm working through a Vietnamese language course, my Vietnamese at this point is very rudimentary and limited to salutations and a few other general expressions.  When I'm shopping and interacting locally, will it become easier to pick up the language?  Or is it one of those one-must-live-here-many-years propositions?

You spray it on yourself.

AndizGr8Lyfe wrote:

stumpy wrote:

Try this mixture as a repellent

In a spray bottle mix the following

15 drops lavender oil, 4 tablespoons of vanilla extract, one quarter of a cup of lemon juice, and then fill bottle with water. Shake before using.

So, Stumpy, this recipe sounds like it will create a lovely scent.  Are you sure it won't attract the "mossies" rather than repel them? :-)  Is it to apply to one's person or use as a room spray?

I rather think is hoping that it will attract the ladies, rather than mosquitos!

AndizGr8Lyfe wrote:

eodmatt wrote:

eodmatt wrote:

You can also buy plug in (to the wall electrical sockets) small devices that take a paper /card insert treated with mosquito repellent which last for around 8 hours. You can buy them from big C or other supermarkets. They aren't expensive and I use them at home and also when travelling.

Sorry I should have mentioned, they are called JUMBO here.

Thanks, eodmatt!  Are there JUMBO supermarkets located all over Da Nang?

I have a sort of related question--about shopping and everyday life in Da Nang.  Although I'm working through a Vietnamese language course, my Vietnamese at this point is very rudimentary and limited to salutations and a few other general expressions.  When I'm shopping and interacting locally, will it become easier to pick up the language?  Or is it one of those one-must-live-here-many-years propositions?

The mosquito repellant devices are called JUMBO. The supermarkets that sell them are called Bic C; METRO; Co Op (locals pronounce it "Coop") etc.

As for the language, the more you practice what you have learned the more proficient you will become. The real key is to have some people who know you and with whom you can practice speaking Vietnamese. The problem with relying on shop assistants and other random people that you meet is that they are likely to be uneducated and who go into shock when confronted with a foreigner who tries to speak their language. Their stock response, if they dont run away giggling, is to waggle their hand at the side of their head and say "Khong Heiu" - I don't know or I don't understand.

There is another thread on this website which goes into the subject in depth and where I have recorded my frustration on the subject - eg:  asking for the bill in a restaurant, or a round of drinks in a coffee bar or restaurant and being blanked by the waiter or waitress. It drives my wife crazy too - she is Vietnamese and she will ask the waiter or waitress why they didn't understand me, since what I uttered, was perfectly enunciated in the south Vietnamese language.

There are prolly two reasons for it: 1. There is an element of culture shock, since uneducated Vietnamese people from the countryside / villages have no idea how to react when faced with a round eyed devil. 2. Many waiters and waitresses, shop assistants and other low paid workers, may indeed speak a form of Vietnamese attenuated by the dialect from the area where they were brought up.

There is also the fact that Vietnamese is a tonal language.

In English, you can remove all the vowels from a sentence and still make sense of it. You can mangle the grammar and still make sense of it. If you don't know the words for what you want to say, you can circumlocute and find a way around. But in Vietnamese, if you don't get the tones exactly right, you are buggered. Moreover, most Vietnamese have very little ability to connect body and sign language and connect it with what you are trying to say. So, for example, pointing to yourself doest necessarily translate as "I" or "me" to them it just means that you are pointing to yourself.

All of which doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to communicate with everyone here, just be aware that it can be a frustrating endeavor and don't give up - the Vietnamese language is a rich and beautiful language - so my wife tells me.

At a pinch, wipe yourself down with kerosene. This does work but rather smelly and damaging to your skin !!!
I am sure my mixture is a lot better

stumpy wrote:

At a pinch, wipe yourself down with kerosene. This does work but rather smelly and damaging to your skin !!!
I am sure my mixture is a lot better

That'll turn you into a chick magnet, and perhaps it would be a bad idea to smoke.

Don't stand near the BBQ 

Just waiting for some jobsworth to tell us we are off topic now.

Mosquito nets at night take care of the malaria carrying mosquitos, although Da Nang does not have much of that.  Dengue fever is more of a concern and, unfortunately, those mosquitoes are active during the daytime.   Electric mosquito bats, which are readily available and look like small tennis rackets, can be fun and effective!

We're not actually off topic, but we're clearly crackers.

stumpy wrote:

At a pinch, wipe yourself down with kerosene. This does work but rather smelly and damaging to your skin !!!
I am sure my mixture is a lot better

Stumpy, you are waaaay too funny!  Since I'm allergic to kerosene baths--especially around the BBQ, your lavender-based concoction sounds much better.  Thank you!

Andi

eodmatt,

Thanks for clarifying about the markets.  And, I greatly appreciate your insights about the challenges around speaking the language and being understood.   I will understand what's going on if the shop person giggles, runs away, and/or says he/she doesn't know/understand.

In the meantime, I will keep learning and practicing!  I've learned in recent days that there's a Vietnamese-owned nail salon near our house.  So, I plan to combine getting manicures with language lessons. 

vietnam view wrote:

Mosquito nets at night take care of the malaria carrying mosquitos, although Da Nang does not have much of that.  Dengue fever is more of a concern and, unfortunately, those mosquitoes are active during the daytime.   Electric mosquito bats, which are readily available and look like small tennis rackets, can be fun and effective!

Thanks for the insights, vietnam view!

I have been reading online about the rapid increase in dengue and the concerns about Zika, both caused by the same mosquito species. 



Oh, well, I guess I'll just get accustomed spraying/slathering on lots of mosquito-repelling potions every day and will plan to get mosquito bats, plus plug-ins.  Bonus:  I can burn a few extra calories while swatting "mossies" with the bats! 

This is from the CDC regarding the incidence of Malaria in Vietnam.  "Rural areas only. Rare cases in the Mekong Delta.  None in in Da Nang, Haiphong, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Nha Trang, Qui Nhon, and the Red River Delta."  If you sleep inside with A/C, don't worry.

The Aedes mosquito that carries Dengue may be another thing but if you are spending a lot of time in the city and at the beach you won't be near the mosquitoes.  We have it in Hawaii and it makes the news here too but nobody is panicking. 

Since you aren't leaving until May you could pick up something like this that would be suitable for a hotel room.    There are others but you just need to include 220V in your search terms.

The Aedes are day biters but a light should still help as they will be attracted to it at dawn and dusk when they are most active.

As an emergency measure - and one that I used a couple of times in Angola, carry small pack of bread making yeast with you when you travel. Use the yeast as follows:

In an empty wine (beer, water, whatever), bottle  add two two inches of water. Add  a couple of tea spoons of sugar. Add a pinch of your dried yeast. Make a funnel out of any available card or paper and stick it in the neck of the bottle.

Leave the bottle in a corner of the room.

The yeast will ferment the sugar, releasing carbon dioxide, which is how mosquitos find you - your body scent and the carbon dioxide in exhaled breath.

The mosquitos will follow the carbon dioxide released from the bottle and travel through the funnel. Once in the funnel they are overcome by the lack of oxygen and the (relatively) high CO2 concentration coming out of the bottle and they fall in and its Goodnight Vienna for them.

After a few days of adding small amounts of sugar to the mix in the bottle you could prolly drink it as the alcohol content will be around 4 - 5%.

Bear Grylls? Pah!

Late to this thread but Zika is a very serious issue and dengue is no picnic.  Any traveler infected with Zika can transmit the virus via sex and other bodily fluids not to mention by other mosquitos after being bitten.

It's only a matter of time before the Zika shows up in VN and starts spreading given the habit of locals to keep doors open at night and many homes with open air bathrooms.

Please do the following prior to your travels:
1) Vaccinations
2) Prescriptions "Doctors RX/OTC/Cream"
3) Tea Tree Oil & Products
4) Witch Hazel Products
5) Light cotton clothes
6) Sunglasses
7) Hat
8) Read about hives, allergies, cellulitis and asthma
9) Facial masks
10) Deets
***Items #1,2,5,6 & 7 are available in Danang, Vietnam except American or export products. You can find alternatives in clinics, pharmaceutical stores, street market or Big C. You'll find tumeric products for food/beverage/facial/medications.