Tuesday 28th May - Hanoi
We landed in Singapore at 6am, a bit confusing to our systems as it was still only 1am at home… Dad and I had about two hours to kill before boarding so we decided to do a tour of the different terminals in Singapore Changi airport. We visited Terminal 3 for the butterfly garden and saw butterflies in various stages of emerging from chrysalises, then grabbed a coffee. Then we went to Terminal 1 and saw the cactus garden and water lily garden. A nice diversion.
We started heading towards the gate, expecting to meet Uncle John and Aunty Bev somewhere, as we’d be flying together to Hanoi. I was looking forward to surprising them as they didn’t know I’d be joining the trip… Uncle John is big on surprises and has surprised us at least twice on trips in the past. What we didn’t expect, was to see each other on the moving travellators, going in opposite directions! They stared at me in a combination of confusion and surprise. John and Bev needed to go get boarding passes so we agreed to meet at the gate. After a while they rejoined us and we caught up happily.
The flight to Hanoi was quick and uneventful and we soon met our driver outside the airport. The weather was pleasantly warm and a little overcast. We checked into the Serene Central hotel and were given three rooms next to each other on the seventh floor. We had the floor to ourselves… the reception explained that they had given us the rooms on the top floor for the least noise, but we had to climb one flight of stairs as the elevator only went to the sixth. The rooms were nice and comfortable enough.
We did some orientation in our local area in the Old Quarter, drawing cash, changing money and buying water and snacks. Then John, Dad and I walked to the Huan Kiem lake along slightly chaotic roads with lots of shops selling local wares, street food and souvenirs. The sun had really come out and the weather was lovely. We reached the lake and enjoyed the beautiful views of it. We decided to visit the temple in the lake, paying 50k Dong each. I remembered this from my previous trip… we crossed a red bridge to the beautiful temple and had a look inside, taking off our shoes and wondering what religion this represented. In another section we saw two giant embalmed turtles. They are called sword lake turtles, reach over 2.5m, and there are only six left. They are associated with a legend where one such turtle brought a sword to Emperor Le Loi to win a famous battle.
After our temple visit we were ready for a beer but didn’t see any bars or pubs around. I spotted a sign that said Peachy craft beer and we decided to follow it, it took us up dodgy flights of stairs past homes and dingy washing up areas. We seriously doubted whether we were on the right track but someone met us and guided us to the top floor, which opened up to a beautiful bar with a view over the lake. All we wanted was a Bia Hanoi but they didn’t have that so we had to choose between dozens of fancy craft beers three times the prices but we decided to go with it, ordering an IPA and two pilsners. Johns “Factory IPA” which came in a bottle was actually really nice.
I managed to book us a private evening street food walking tour, so we caught a Grab taxi to the tour office just after 6pm, paid our 625k Dong each ($25) and met our lovely guide. She said her name was Elena but her real name was “Nun” (Ngan) so we decided to call her that. She started us off with a shot of the local fire water or “happy water”, an apricot flavoured rice wine which wasn’t bad, she also taught us the local way to say cheers but please don’t expect me to remember that!
Our first food stop was a little local restaurant where we tried Bahn Cuon or rice pancakes, the lady showed us how she made them, steaming rice batter into thin pancakes which were filled with beef and mushrooms. We grabbed a table and Nun showed us how to flavour the dipping sauce with chilli, sour kumquats (Kalimantan?), pepper and herbs. We also got to try an egg rice pancake which was interesting. My highlight was the family French bulldog. Nun taught us thank you, “Cam On” which seems to be pronounced tum oon…
We passed through a city gate, and walked through markets, seeing fruit, fresh produce, all different types of eggs, and even buckets of red jellyfish. We reached a little BBQ with Tilapia fish turning over the coals. Nun bought us an intestine sausage with herbs and chilli sauce to share, the intestine is stuffed with pork, and cartilage, making it crunchy. We saw more BBQs with tiny piglets roasting over them.
Then we tried something sweet, a donut (banh ran?) each, with honey and I think a mung bean centre. Crunchy, chewy and delicious. Uncle John asked to also try one with sugar, after a lady had chased him through the streets earlier, trying to get him to try it. They also had sesame ones.
Next stop was an adventurous one. The stall had polystyrene containers with worms swimming in them. These were mixed into a pancake of sorts and deep fried, served with chilli sauce again. They were quite nice, a little eggy but not too wormy ;) I think it was called Cha Ru’oi.
Next we stopped in the most “restaurant-y” place of the tour, for our favourite dish of the tour: bun cha. We squeezed into a table alongside another tourist and the bun cha was brought out, it didn’t look like much: rice vermicelli noodles on the side with a brown broth with a few floating carrots and veg and the usual sides of various herbs and some chilli. We dropped the noodles into the broth and it was delicious, sweet, salty, aromatic and a bit spicy. We were also given a cold Bia Hanoi (beer) to wash it down with.
Onto the next stop, something we’d been looking forward to, banh mi - French baguettes with pork and other fillings. Nun got it warmed for us so it was crunchy and delicious. At this point we were getting pretty full but we were told there were two more to get through…
Hanoi egg coffee, made with Vietnamese coffee served black but topped with a sweet crema made of whipped egg yolk and sugar. It was pretty delicious. Nun explained that when the French brought coffee, milk wasn’t common in vietnam so they used condensed milk or this egg mixture, which also added protein to your drink… we were also given the option of egg hot chocolate which Aunty Bev tried and said was nice.
Last stop. By this point we were very tired after a long day and a long plane ride and a reasonable walk… it was a worthwhile one where we were served vanilla ice cream, mango and two types of coconut - fresh and roasted. The roasted coconut was a little sweet and crunchy, and the whole dish worked so well together.
Nun wrote us up all that we had tasted, where from and even the opening hours of the places. We thanked her as she had been wonderful, and tipped her generously. We got up to go and the plastic chair gave way under poor Aunty Bev, fortunately she wasn’t badly hurt. These chairs aren’t made for Westerners ;) We called a grab taxi and soon were back at the Serene central for a quick whisky before passing out for the night.
Wednesday 29th May - Hanoi / Ninh Binh
We woke up to a rainy morning and met for breakfast at 6:30, the coffee was a little different but everything else was nice and the hotel had a decent selection. I had fruit and pho ga (chicken noodle soup) which was excellent. Then we waited for our pickup which was supposed to be 7:30 but arrived more like 7:45, I started to think back to my previous tour in Vietnam where we were taken from place to place, dropped and told to wait for the next vehicle…
The bus arrived, it was a very nice 22 seater which was already mostly full. Our guide told us his name was Leon but his real name was something like “Haup” which apparently means learning. The Driver was Mr Hai. We soon realised that we wouldn’t learn too much from Leon, his English was probably decent but his accent extremely hard to follow, not helped by the fact that he spoke extremely fast. John and Bev gave up pretty quick to understand him, Dad and I tried, and “translated” where we could…
Leon told us that in Vietnam they called nicer buses limousines so we were in the Vietnamese limo, he said some tourists get disappointed when they are told they will be picked up in a limo and it’s just a bus. After his talk he came and chatted to each group, asking names and I think familiarising himself with faces so he could find us again later. Dad asked about religion in Vietnam and he said 70% of people have no religion, 15% are Buddhist, 8% Catholic and the rest other religions…
He told us we’d have a “Happy stop” on the way to Ninh Binh, for toilet but mostly for shopping. The place we stopped was nice and sold tons of souvenirs mostly made by disabled people. We didn’t buy, but we did grab a rather nice iced coffee with condensed milk and enjoyed that at the restaurant before moving on. Already we started seeing limestone hills, and even mines extracting it for cement, Leon told us workers get $2 per hour. We came into a sort of town and passed an incredible palace that could’ve passed for a small cathedral, French style, apparently it belonged to one of the mine bosses or “Cement king”.
Leon told us we’d stop at a restaurant and would have three options to get to the temple: bicycle, bus or motorbike. The motorbike was $8 extra. Of course we chose bicycle, and Aunty Bev stayed with the bus. We each chose a one speed bike with a basket and non functional bell, and followed Leon along the slightly busy street, dodging buses, trucks and motorbikes. We cycled along the river and already started enjoying the beautiful limestone hills rising from the surrounds. It was incredibly green, and pleasantly warm.
We reached the temple area and parked our bikes. Leon tried to explain what we were about to see, and some history of Vietnam but most of it was lost on me… basically there were two temples there, dedicated to two different kings. Since they were architecturally similar, we would just visit one. I believe Hoa Lu was an ancient capital for some time, around 111BC to 930 AD.
We walked in past fish ponds and stylistically beautiful structures. Leon explained the difference between temples and pagodas, at a pagoda you practiced Buddhism, at a temple you kind of worshipped the king/queen and made offerings. It almost seemed like people might take back the offerings after they had been “blessed” but perhaps I misunderstood that…
Leon showed us a five colour festival flag also signaling it was a temple and explained the significance of each colour: Red - fire, yellow- land, blue - water, white - metal, green - wood. He tried to explain that each person has a “lucky” colour and based on that you decided who you should marry, e.g a white “metal” person shouldn’t get together with a red “fire” person because fire melts metal but again it was lost on us (and the other tourists) so we concluded it was like star signs or something…
We had some free time to walk around so explored the temple which wasn’t huge and then the three of us decided to tackle the viewpoint, which apparently required one to climb around 400 stairs. The sun had come out a bit and soon we were really sweating. But in 12 minutes we’d made it to the top, it wasn’t as high as we’d expected and the view over the river and rice paddies was nice but not amazing. There was a small temple at the top with a few offerings. We headed back down to meet Bev in the shade by the bikes.
The route back to the restaurant on the bikes was different and much nicer, through the temple complex to a road running along the rice paddies. We were there at the perfect time as the rice was close to harvesting and was just starting to turn yellow. We stopped for pictures and enjoyed the scenery, trying not to get run over by other bikes/scooters/vehicles. Then we cycled on a bigger road which was treed on both sides, and passed little cemetery “temples” in the fields. We lost the group as we stopped for videos but it was worth it and soon found the restaurant we had started at.
We were taken to the second floor and treated to a buffet with all sorts, we also got ourselves some beers as a reward for our efforts, my headache started to subside.
Then we were driven 15 minutes to Tam Coc where we were given Vietnamese conical hats, ponchos and life jackets and were loaded 2-3 people at a time into metal rowboats. There were tons of tourists and tons of boats. I think we were lucky, our rower was a lovely lady with a great smile, she spoke very little English but was very happy to take photos and videos for us. We noticed that almost all the rowers used their feet on the oars, extraordinary, she tried to explain that this way was less tiring…
We were rowed along the river Day for over 1.5 hours, the scenery was fantastic. We passed some tourist amenities like hotels and restaurants first, then limestone hills, rice paddies and agriculture, temples and bridges, with bright coloured flags all along the river. The highlight for me was probably the caves we went through, about three, one of which was quite long. On the way back we spotted some large birds (storks I think). Rowing back to the dock it started drizzling lightly, but not enough that we needed our ponchos.
Back in the bus we started back to Hanoi, at this point the rain came down more heavily, perfect timing. We napped, wrote and chatted, and stopped for an ice cream before being dropped at our hotel before 6PM.
For dinner we went back to the Hoan Kiem lake, up an elevator to the sixth floor, to dine at Cao Go restaurant, recommended in the Michelin guide. We were shown to a table on the edge of the terrace with a fantastic view of the lake, wow! Unfortunately we felt a few drops of rain and decided it’d be safer to be undercover. The restaurant was refined and the ambience relaxing, we ordered wine, and toasted to the day. Our new table still had a fantastic view. We tried beef “spring rolls” wrapped in betel leaf (yum), fried soft shell crab (yum!), fried green rice with chicken (surprisingly yum), grilled squid (chewy), steamed “sugarcane” pork (disappointing) and clay pot pangasius fish (bony but delicious). The desserts didn’t appeal so we had another glass of wine and enjoyed the ambience. The bill came and was more than expected - they had added almost 25% in service charges and taxes. But I think we all still agreed it was worth the 3,3m Dong ($125), even if the service was a little frosty…
After dinner, Dad, uncle John and I went for a walk. We considered getting massages but we didn’t feel like a full hour, at 9:30pm. So we just explored. We found a fairly local hangout street, mostly pedestrianised with lots of bars and restaurants that tried to tempt us in. Lots of young people were there but most weren’t even drinking alcohol. Then we somehow stumbled onto the famous train street - a narrow street that the train runs through. Tons of little restaurants and bars had sprung up on each side of the street and the atmosphere was magical, all lit up.
We walked along the street, occasionally hopping over the tracks. People called us into the bars saying “the train is coming now”… when we asked “When?” They didn’t really have an answer. So we kept walking. One gent told us the train was really coming, we should sit down, we didn’t even have to order anything… so we sat and petted his four Maltese poodle dogs that were really friendly, one even hopped up on the chair between me and Uncle John! The train really did come, a short one, and thundered passed us! It was exciting, it took me by surprise so I barely had time for a video. After it passed people jumped up to check on the tracks - seemed they had left bottle caps for the train to flatten, dad found one for me to take as a souvenir.
We decided to stay and have a whiskey :) a sign painted on the wall indicated another train would come through in 25 minutes. We relaxed and people watched. At 10pm the train came, a proper long one this time, I sat on the other side of the tracks to video it and it felt crazy close. After that we walked back to the hotel to pass out after a great day.
Friday 30th May - Hanoi to Ha Long
We had breakfast at 7am, checked out and left some bigger bags and were picked up for our transfer to Ha Long bay. The “limo” this time really was luxurious, with super comfy seats, wireless phone chargers, and even WiFi. We picked up two more groups and started heading to the East. It was an easy relaxing drive, the roads were good and we passed modern developments, and large rice paddies on the way to the bay.
After almost two hours we were busting for the loo after too many coffees, and water. We stopped at a pearl shop, heaving with tourists, queued for bathrooms and then got annoyed as the Indian family again kept us all waiting… Each group was dropped off at a different cruise terminal, us last at La Casta. At this point Dad realised his bag with all his clothes was left behind at the hotel, oops. Not a massive issue as we’d be going back there but still could make the next few days slightly challenging ;)
We were greeted by Mike, the cruise director who was really friendly and assured us we were in “the best group”. He promised to help Dad out with a swimsuit. A whole lot of us were ushered onto a largish boat to be taken to our cruise ship. We travelled quite some distance past many many cruise boats. I couldn’t believe how busy the bay was and how many cruise ships there were… I was really happy that the sun had come out a little, making for better photos!
We stopped at two other ships to drop off people, one the “La Casta”, before reaching “La Casta Regal”, our ship. The crew were standing and waving at us, Mike taught us how to say hello (“Xin Chao” pronounced “Sinchao”) and we hopped on board, greeted them and were shown to a great table for four on the third floor, with a lovely view. We got watermelon juice, chatted to the Kiwis next to us, and then were taught to say 1,2,3 cheers (“Mot hai ba yo”).
Mike told the whole group the itinerary for the day, and then we tucked into the fantastic buffet. Standouts were the oysters, whole sea bass, and honey chicken wings (and apparently the mango pudding which I skipped).
Next we checked out our room, 311, Dad and I were sharing a twin for only this part of the trip. It was superb, with a beautiful balcony and even a bath with a view. We sat on the balcony admiring the incredible view, cruising past limestone outcrops and fishermen and even spotted some hawks fishing.
A lady in a small motorboat came alongside us selling snacks and drinks, we decided to support her and for the experience of buying from her. We were on the second floor so it was a stretch, she used a net with a long handle to pass us two Halong sapphire beers, she said three for 200k dong and was about to pass us a third and collect our payment when her engine cut out. She tried to restart it to no avail. Of course the cruise ship was motoring, so soon she passed out of sight. We felt absolutely terrible but there was nothing we could do to get the money to her. :(
The next activity was a beach visit, we hopped on a smaller boat and were driven to the beach at the foot of a limestone island. The crew assured us it was a real beach and not brought in sand. The sand was pretty good, soft. The beach was small and had a little temple in a cave at the back of it. We opted to kayak first, I went with uncle John and a random friendly Indian gent (who was hopeless at kayaking) doubled with Dad. We explored a cave by kayak and then tried to circumnavigate the island but it was bigger than we expected and a bit of a breeze had come up, so we headed back to the beach. The kayaks didn’t have back rests, which made it uncomfortable.
After kayaking we swam in the bay, the water temperature was just right. The water wasn’t super clear but I was so happy to have an opportunity to swim, my first visit to Ha Long bay 17 years ago had been bitterly cold… A combination of crew and tourists played some volleyball and everyone just relaxed.
Back at the boat we relaxed a bit before happy hour, then headed up to the top deck and got 6 drinks for the price of 4. Aunty Bev and I tried the pina coladas. There were nice snacks to go with our sundowners.
Mike called everyone for the cooking demonstration, he showed us how to make Vietnamese spring rolls, a dish I like to make at home, but I learnt a thing or two… they chopped up the ingredients quite fine, and mixed the veg ingredients before placing onto the rice paper. They placed the rice paper on wet towels to soften. They also mixed raw egg in, since they were going to be frying the spring rolls. They showed us how to make the dipping sauce: 1 Tb fish sauce, 1Tb sugar, 1Tb vinegar, 3Tb water, cucumber, herbs, carrot, chilli and garlic. We each got a chance to wrap up a roll. They took them off to fry, and ten minutes later we got to try them, delicious. The sun started to set, still giving a lovely orange glow despite the cloudy conditions.
We headed in for dinner, embarrassing ourselves a little with our bare feet… For dinner we had a five course set menu, starting with pumpkin soup, then smoked duck, then squid cakes with bread and cheese (a weird combo I thought), then salmon with passion fruit sauce, mash and veg. The dessert was a lovely panna cotta with a brûlée topping, served in a pineapple with some pineapple pieces on the side.
After dessert the lights went off and the crew sang happy birthday to an older Taiwanese gent. We realised that almost all of the other people (bar four maybe) were in the same Taiwanese birthday party group. There was cake and speeches, it seemed he was turning 77. After all that Uncle John being Uncle John, went over to shake his hand and tried to explain that he was one year older. Not sure anyone understood but they appreciated the gesture.
We headed downstairs to try out the squid fishing, we were given a bamboo pole with a lure and many hooks on it, and told to take the lure up and down near the light. Our family group didn’t catch, but others on our boat did, small squids which sometimes gave off their ink in the bay, or saved it for the bucket they got put in.
Saturday 31st May - Ha Long/Lan Ha bay
After breakfast most tourists were transferring back to the port, we were the only ones staying for a second night on the cruise ship. We were picked up at 8am by a daily boat (Kim Luyen 99), with other tourists that joined from other cruise ships, about 25 or more of us in total. The boat consisted of a dining area at the bottom and a chill out/sun tanning area at the top.
Our main man for the day, Gang (pronounced Zang) said we could also call him Tom, or Tom Cruise ;) As we would be visiting a village on Cat Ba island he explained that Cat Ba means “many women”. We cruised past dozen of limestone islands and could see that the tide was out, the bottoms of the islands were kind of worn away. Zang pointed out one called “chopstick” island which was tall and skinny, and would eventually fall over when worn through enough. Zang also pointed out the open ocean before we headed in toward a docking place on the island.
Once on dry land we were given a choice of bicycles or electric vehicle. John, Dad and I grabbed bikes, and soon a big group of us were following Zang along good roads with a view of the sea, where we spotted baskets in the water, apparently to catch clams. We climbed a hill which some people needed to walk and rested at the top. Zang told us he’d take the easy route from there, going through a tunnel instead of another bigger hill. The route became more and more jungley and soon we passed through the dark tunnel. On the other side beautiful flower arches had been constructed over the road.
After a little over 3km we reached the “village” after passing fields and cows. It was a lot more touristy than I expected and also compared to the one we visited 17 years ago. The village was swarming with tourists and most houses seemed to have a visitor area/restaurant/shop. People crowded around the “fish massage” where you place your feet in water and little black fish come and eat all the dead skin off them.
Zang tried to find a less crowded place for us, a restaurant type place with a lovely view of the vibrant green fields/paddies and cows/water buffalo. He showed on a map of the bay where we were and where we’d come from. He then invited us to choose a drink each - Dad and Uncle John chose a shot of snake wine, literally brewed in a container with a huge snake in it, this is supposed to be good for the elderly, to make your bones stronger. I opted for honey wine, which had literal honeycomb in it and possibly a few bees. We went through a highly elaborate cheers, something like “1, 2, 3 cheers, 2, 3, cheers, 2, 3 something, 100%”… Mine tasted nice, Dad commented to Zang that his wasn’t too snake-y, apparently that snake had been topped up with rice wine many many times.
We were given free time to explore, so we viewed two traditional houses mostly for display then walked to the far end of the town for more farmland views and Dad and I had an ice cream, the weather was hot and fairly sunny. We gave the fish massage one more try (I could hardly bear it) and then John and I cycled back while Dad and Bev took the electric car. The ride back was fun but we were happy to be back on the air conditioned boat.
Lunch was served family style for the four of us at our table. So much food… spring rolls, rice, a whole fish, potato fries, cabbage and much more. Then we were taken to a place to kayak, we opted out but had a look at the “fish farm” which had mostly squid, there were some bigger ones and when Dad poked one it rapidly changed colour. After this we snoozed on the loungers on the top deck before being invited for a refreshing swim. We were allowed to jump off the top deck of the ship which was exhilarating and fun, I was impressed that even Uncle John jumped. Then we swam to a nearby small coral beach, which was tough against the current.
Back on the platform we had been warned it would be a long wait but it was over an hour before a boat picked us up. We killed time by looking at the shark type fish in a pond, Dad found some rice to feed them. Some local kids had also caught some spiky fish so we had a look. Eventually the tender boat came and took us back to the La Casta regal, we showered and rested a bit.
Next we joined happy hour and tried the Saigon beers, also nice. The sun had really come out at this point and the views were fantastic. The sunset was stunning with all the islands and boats around us. A friendly Vietnamese chap came to talk to me and Dad and offered to take photos of us.
Next was dinner, a Vietnamese menu this time, served family style, absolute tons of food: a delicious chicken soup with potatoes, grilled pork with a delicious garlic sauce, beef in a sweet sour type sauce, fish in a tomato sauce, squid, and vegetables and rice. Dessert was a passion fruit custard with dragon fruit and watermelon, awesome.
I went to bed immediately, tired, but John and dad were joined on the top deck by their new Vietnamese friend and his son, who clearly wanted to practice their English some more.
Sunday 1st June - Ha Long to Hanoi
After a much better sleep, I decided to join the 6:15 tai chi class on deck, there must’ve been more than 10 of us, led by a young Vietnamese guy in a smart white outfit. The movements were slow and controlled, accompanied by Asian music. Although it was early, the sun was already beating down on the upper deck and soon beads of sweat were dripping down our faces. We finished in less than half and hour and even the instructor commented on the heat.
Quick shower, followed by breakfast accompanied by loud pop music. We were asked to check out of our rooms by 9:30, and return to the restaurant for “brunch”. I couldn’t believe we were eating again but we knew we had a long car trip ahead of us.
We said goodbye to the lovely crew, the sweet young waitress jokingly asked John to take her with him… and transferred an another smaller boat to take us to the port. Once on land we had about half an hour wait before we were picked up by another “limo” with others in it, to go back to Hanoi.
We reached the Yen spa and were welcomed by the friendly guy, he gave us water and asked our preferences, we were grateful that he spoke such good English. Ladies came in from outside to look after us and after washing our feet in tea, they took us to separate rooms, where we each got a 60 minute Vietnamese massage for D380,000 ($14) each. Mine was pretty good and it seemed everyone enjoyed it.
We walked back, showered and prepared to go to the night market. We took another grab, found the start of the market and started browsing. It was nice that the streets were blocked off and it was mostly car free, although some scooters still seemed to come through. The market was mostly clothing and souvenirs, very few food stalls except a few Barbeque looking stalls with skewers including octopus. We couldn’t resist buying a few T shirts as they were so nice, and so affordable. I also spotted a stunning Superdry backpack at 1/4 what I would pay at home. Again, couldn’t resist…
We were getting hungry and didn’t really find a stall that appealed so we veered off from the market to find a banh mi (French baguette with Vietnamese fillings), Dad picked a place called “Bon Mi” which had browner/wholewheat style baguettes, they looked great so we found a table upstairs. We all ordered Saigon beers, and used the cool QR Code website to place our orders for banh mi. The recommended filling was premium pork, so we all had that but we each got to choose a sauce (spicy garlic and black pepper sauce were recommended) and a pate (pork or mushroom), you could also choose options like ‘no chilli’ or ‘no coriander’. We each got our unique choice, and tucked in. it was really delicious!! The spicy garlic sauce was spicier than expected, but delicious! Dad was surprisingly still hungry so we got one more banh mi, with lemongrass chicken, to try and share.
We went back to the market for a while but it was more of the same, so we decided to move on, we wanted to go back to the train street and watch the 9:15 train. I was calling a grab taxi when Dad noticed a grab right there. He asked the guy how much, and he said don’t worry, I’ll use the meter. We hopped in, heading to train street. The guy took a roundabout route and I wondered if he was driving up the price or if roads were blocked off, due to the market… the meter was hard to read and I started getting worried. Up to this point we had only used Grabs via the app, they were dirt cheap, never more than D60k, usually 30-40k… The driver passed the train street and kept going, “looking for a parking”. He stopped in the darkest place and announced we owed him D450k! About 7 times what we normally paid, even at night. Dad and John got angry and said that he was taking advantage, he fairly quickly agreed to take just D200k so I fumbled in the dark to find the money and we got out.
We walked back to the street, found a side alley that seemed to lead to it, but we’d have to go through a restaurant, the guy said if we went that way he’d appreciate us sitting at their restaurant, so we agreed. Train street was much busier, as it was a Sunday, the only seats available were one row back from the street so we tried upstairs where there was more space and quite a good view. We ordered mango coconut ice creams and drinks… the ice creams were beautiful, served in a coconut, and huge. The train came along a little after 9:15, a really long one, so I got one more video. After that we walked back to the hotel.
Monday 2nd June - Hanoi to Da Nang and Hoi An
Woke up at 6am to meet John and Dad for our 6:30 walk to the French quarter, before it got too hot. As our hotel was located on the West side of the Hoan Kiem lake, we walked to the South of the lake via the St Joseph cathedral, which is rather large, gothic in style, and looks like it could use a clean. It definitely resembles Notre Dame in Paris. Apparently it is named for Joseph, patron saint of Vietnam.
Then we reached the lake, which was lovely, a hive of activity with music pumping and people exercising in groups or alone. The sun was shining and it was hot already. We rounded the south side of the lake and reached the French quarter, there was definitely a subtle shift in atmosphere, the architecture was a little different, the roads less noisy and less chaotic, the boulevards wider with space to walk. We passed a fancy shopping street with expensive brands, then reached the opera house, a grand building with a yellow facade and white pillars, and the stock exchange which even had a bull statue.
We ambled along, seeing fancy hotels being built, and passing the history museum and lots of coffee shops. Eventually we returned to the east side of the lake with more Vietnamese dancing and exercising. We found our way back to the hotel, washed off the sweat (it was already 32+ degrees) and enjoyed some breakfast. Everyone tried the pho this time which made me happy.
We had kept one large room for late checkout since our flight was only 18:50. We moved our luggage in there and then Dad and I decided to take a lady walk through Hanoi. I navigated us up to Bat Dan street, on the way there we checked out a nice restaurant only serving one dish, fish cha ca, and filled with locals. We also checked out the sky at and a restaurant in a fancy hotel, enjoying the city views from the 12th floor.
We found a friendly lady and bought a T shirt, she said it was her first sale of the day so I decided to check another one from her. She said many shops were actually closed because of the heat. We struggled but eventually found the Ho Chi Minh memorial house, it was closed but I remembered from my visit 17 years ago that it was very simple.
After walking a long time, we found the “coffee shop” street, the first place had no ice and a few others either had no aircon, or didn’t sell iced coffee, those were our two criteria due to the extreme heat. We found a fantastic place that was cool and comfortable and made us coconut iced coffees, totally delicious.
Back at the hotel we gave John and Bev the choice of restaurants and they were happy to go with “Don Duck”. We took a grab there even though it was incredibly close, just to save ourselves the sweat. We ordered a whole Vietnamese style duck, with rice and veg, and Saigon beers. It was really delicious and filling. They served the duck with a dipping sauce and Thai basil, the basil had an aniseed flavour which I didn’t like that much.
We debated whether to get a grab back to the hotel, John and Bev ended up going in a cyclo and Dad and I walked. The tour company picked us up at 4 and dropped us at the airport, the driver asked domestic or international, John said international, but Bev corrected him… we got off and realised too late we were in the wrong terminal, luckily we easily got a shuttle even though the terminals were quite far apart. The flight on Vietjet was an hour delayed, but eventually we arrived in Da Nang a bit before 10pm, called a Grab, avoided getting scammed, and were soon on our way to Hoi An in a 7 seater for just over D400k. The driver, Thien, swerved and hooted through the roughly 40 minute journey.
We checked into the Laluna riverside hotel, it was a nice 4 star, with a slightly more traditional style. We hadn’t eaten anything so we went for a quick walk. I was so excited to see Hoi An as it had been my favourite on our trip so many years ago… we crossed a bridge to an island and bought snacks at a mini mart, there was loud music pumping and the atmosphere wasn’t great, I wondered what had happened to this beautiful charming town…
Tuesday 3rd June - Hoi An
In the morning, Dad, Uncle John and I went for a walk, I was desperate to show them the place that I had raved about, as our first impression was disappointing. We found the covered Japanese bridge and crossed into the ancient town, Dad and John bought a flapping bird from a vendor. Many ladies in traditional attire were posing in front of the bridge. Already we started to appreciate the beautiful architecture, a combination of French, Chinese and Japanese, passing shops and restaurants (mostly closed) and beautiful temples. Lanterns were everywhere, every colour and made of silk and other materials. They really added a unique beauty to the place. We spotted a beautiful Japanese ship, symbolising the marriage of a Vietnamese princess to a Japanese merchant from Nagasaki.
We visited some restaurants I had visited before, and resolved to return, then found ourselves walking through the market and then eventually back to the river, where many lantern boats were lined up. It was an absolutely stunning sunny day and the sweat was dripping already.
At breakfast we went into our organisational frenzy as we had only two days to enjoy this magical town, a UNESCO heritage site. We decided the ladies would do the cooking course in the afternoon and then we’d all visit My Son temple ruins the next morning. The hotel gave us some quotes then we decided to visit a booking agent for comparison. The booking agent on the island was literally just a family home, they spoke no English so called a lady on their phone, she offered us a great deal for a private tour to My Son, so we decided to book and she came to meet us, for payment.
Back at the hotel we swam and relaxed on the patio, with a view of the river, before our pickup for the cooking school. Bev and I were collected a little late, while the gents went off to rent electric scooters. We were dropped at a spot near the market (a different market), where we met Lily, our guide and teacher. We were waiting for a group that was coming from the beach. The heat was oppressive… the cooking school owner arrived and apologised for the delays, giving Bev a strange massage as apology.
When they arrived, we were 8, the 2 of us, a German solo traveler, and 5 very young Brits that had just finished school. Lily took us through the market showing us the ingredients we’d use, mint, Thai basil, kumquat, bean sprouts. She said they’d bought the fish and meat in the morning, it was way too hot for the vendors to still be selling that. Lily showed us implements to cut carrots and cucumbers, I didn’t buy as I still had the stuff I bought in Hoi An 17 years ago, taking space in my kitchen drawer :D I did buy yummy coconut biscuits, and a tiger balm I planned to use on the pain on my side…
Back to the air conditioned vehicle we drove to the cooking school, Vinh Vo. I was shocked to find it was directly opposite the school Werner and I had visited on our last trip! We walked to a large covered area with tables and cooking implements. We each got a Larue beer/water/soft drink, then washed hands.
We moved to our cooking stations, donned aprons and chef hats, and Lily showed us how to cut the cucumber into leaves and the tomato into a rose, we added the leftover tomato to the fish. We then started seasoning the pork, chicken and fish in front of us, each with a slightly different recipe of kumquat, fish sauce, soy, sugar, pepper, chilli sauce, and garlic. We cooked up the pork strips, rolled them in spring roll wrappers (that looked like sheets of vermicelli) and then fried them, cooked the chicken and added it to salad bowls of banana flower and bean sprouts.
We ate these while the fish in “clay pots” cooked slowly… we could hear thunder and wondered if there would be a downpour… After our first course we also cooked rice batter that the staff had prepared, mixed with turmeric and steamed pork. We added bean sprouts then fried these rice pancakes or banh xeo in our little pans. Lily offered to help us flambee them, she covered our arm with a towel, added more oil and then poured water in our pans, creating huge flames over and over while she sang :)
We ate our clay pot fish with rice and greens, banh xeo and a noodle soup the staff had prepared, then settled our bills and prepared to be transported to the bamboo basket boats.
We were put two in a boat, and rowed by our rower a very short distance. A guy alone in a boat put on loud music “Gangnam style” and did a crazy whirling “dance” in his boat while we cheered and our cute rower lady sang along :) then they rowed us into the river, the German lady in my boat helped to row and then we started spinning around wildly. Then we rowed to the palms and were given a bamboo pole with a piece of meat on the end, we found little crabs that tried to eat the meat, but weren’t quite able to catch them…
Next we got driven back to our hotel, arriving just before 6pm, I was surprised how far away we’d come. We met up with the men, who’d been caught in the rain far more than us, we’d only seen a few drops.
After dark we walked back to the old town, dad met the fruit seller he’d bought from earlier, she was happy to pose for a photo. The lantern boats were cruising up and down the river with tourists all over the banks, it was a weird combination of magical and chaotic, the huge amount of tourists really did ruin the atmosphere a little. We walked to the other side of the ancient town, the streets were abuzz, with every shop and restaurant pumping, though it got better the further from the river you walked.
Eventually we reached “Miss Ly’s”, a restaurant Werner and I had visited all those years ago. It was quiet and we got a nice table outside, with LaRue beers and a fan. We ordered the specialties: white rose shrimp dumplings, shrimp fresh spring rolls, fried wontons, cao lau pork noodles (the famous noodle of Hoi An, made with water from a specific well) and “morning glory”, a type of water spinach. The dishes came one at a time which was perfect as we weren’t that hungry. Each was good but the wontons were the favourite and the men wanted one more plate!
The waitress was so lovely and I told her I had been to the restaurant before. At some point in the evening, Miss Ly the owner also came out and chatted to us, I got a photo with her, she had barely aged and was still slim.
We walked back slowly to the hotel, via the market, browsing, taking in the mix of tourist chaos and lovely ambience. The town had both changed a lot, and also stayed the same…
Wednesday 4th June - Hoi An/My Son
We were picked up at 8am by our driver, and Guide Mabu, and started on the approx. 1 hour drive to My Son. Mabu gave us an introduction and some history, My Son which means beautiful mountain was built by the Cham civilisation, who he said came from India to Vietnam in 2nd century. I subsequently read they came from Java or Borneo… The Cham did their most impressive building starting in the 7th century. The French discovered My Son in 1885 while looking in the surrounding area for Viet Cong to kill. My Son was quite badly damaged during the American war in 1972. In 1999 it was declared a UNESCO world heritage site, Hoi An ancient town is also recognised by UNESCO.
Mabu told us there are bout 80k Cham people left, most live in one or two provinces in Vietnam. The Cham civilisation is older than Angkor and some Indonesian civilisations. My Son was initially built with wood, then sandstone and mostly brick, which lasted longer.
We are arrived at the site, bought our tickets for D150k each and started the walk. We were shown the UNESCO Symbol, consisting of two hands representing human skull and innovation surrounded by a circle representing nature.
We saw an odd shaped mountain, looking like a cats tooth. The Site was chosen by the Cham because the cats tooth mountain represented the lingam (male symbol in Hinduism) and the valley the yoni (female symbol). The mountain also reminded the Cham of mount Meru which is very significant in Hinduism and is where the gods are believed to live.
We were really pleased that there weren’t too many tourists yet. After a short walk we crossed a beautiful bridge and then hopped on an electric vehicle to take us further into the jungle. How things have changed - when we visited previously we were transported in American jeeps, and I certainly don’t remember the big bridge. The roads were beautifully paved.
Mabu showed us a map of the area and explained what each group of temples was like:
- Group BCD Temples are the best preserved.
- Group G the highest.
- Group EF are being restored by India.
- Group K was only discovered thirty years ago.
We stopped to admire a lake filled with pink lotus flowers with a bamboo walkway, and then reached the performance hall. We took our seats in the open hall and watched a dancing and musical performance, including the apsara dance, and a “whistle” performance by a guy who could hold and control his breath for impressive amounts of time. The lady dancers had lit candles on their heads, some of which were still lit at the end ;)
Next we walked to the B, C and D group of temples, Mabu explained that each king had to build three structures, one for Meditation, a tower for cleansing and a Kalan (temple) where holy water was poured over the lingam and then worship was done. Only kings and monks could visit this most holy city, and the kings usually visited once a year. A total of 13 kings had built at My Son, as far as we know. We enjoyed exploring these temples, entering some, and taking photos. We saw how incredibly well fitted the bricks were. We were shown a Stella with ancient language on it.
Next we visited the G temples which have been restored by archaeologists from Milan, we saw sculptures of the god of time, and the god of direction, as well as an outside yoni, unique with nipples.
Next we continued the walk on the jungle path to the E and F temples which were restored by the Indians only 5 years ago. We saw a Bomb crater which now looks like a pond with water lilies in it.
Lastly we visited the K temple, most recently discovered only 30 years ago, right next to the walking path, it was restored for 1 year, and had a sculpture of a female version of Brahma with many faces. Satisfied with our visit and all we had learnt, we headed back to the car and Hoi An town.
After a rest and a shower we headed out for lunch at Ba Le Well restaurant in the back streets of Hoi An. This is one of the places we had visited in 2008, back then it was a couple of low plastic chairs and tables in an alley. Now it is a large restaurant with large plastic chairs and proper tables. They still offer the same set menu: roasted pork on bamboo skewers, kimchi (yes spicy Vietnamese kimchi!), lots of greens, spring rolls, banh xeo (rice pancakes with shrimp) and rice paper to wrap it all up in, and a nice dipping sauce. They brought so much food, we didn’t come close to doing it justice. Unfortunately the service wasn’t great and the pancakes were really oily, so it didn’t quite live up to the fantastic experience we had in the humble setting all those years ago… total came to D700k for four set menus, four cokes and four waters.
We decided to spend the afternoon relaxing and met up at 6:30 again for a whiskey before setting off back to the old town to find a lantern boat. We walked through many crowds of tourists, being hassled by people selling boat trips, lanterns, gimmicky toys and more… We were looking for a slightly larger boat that would be easier for my aunt to get on and off… We finally reached the bigger boats and negotiated D400k for the four of us.
We were happy to have a female captain and she had a nice smile and spoke a little English. She didn’t look that Vietnamese but when John asked her if both parents were Vietnamese she said yes, not sure if she understood. She took us quite far down the river, in the direction of the coast and away from our hotel. There were many similar boats plying the river, but I liked that each was decorated uniquely, with their own style, lanterns and lights. We went as far as the Hoi A memories showground and a lot up bridge then our captain gave us candle lanterns with a little basket on a stick, to place into the river. Then we headed back, we gave her D500k and she was so happy she gave each of us a hug.
We had chosen Grandma's kitchen for dinner , it was closer to our hotel (Laluna riverside) and got great reviews… We managed to get a table and were served by a friendly young Vietnamese guy with a nose ring. We ordered friend wontons for a starter, they were quite plain but came with a nice sweet spicy sauce. I tried the plum wine (pretty nice) while the rest had the normal LaRue beers. We each ordered our own mains and I had a fisherman’s platter for D230k, with two tiger prawns, two scallops, fish and octopus with rice and two sauces. Great food and great value!
After dinner we did a final bit of shopping at the crowded market, then headed to the hotel.
Thursday 5th June - Hue and Da Nang
After breakfast we were picked up at 7:30 by the same driver as the day before in a new Fortuner, we dropped our luggage at our next hotel in Da Nang on the way, so we’d have space for the guide we’d pick up later.
After Da Nang city the car started climbing and the views got progressively better and better, driving along winding roads through forests, seeing beaches and islands. This is called the Hai van pass, we asked the driver to try and stop for photos, there were a few spots but he said he would stop further up. We got out at the Hai Van gate, a fortress of sorts built by Nguyen dynasty and used in war for strategic position against the French. Unfortunately this stop was too high in the clouds and we weren’t able to capture any of the stunning view. It was still an interesting place, with many tourists exploring.
Heading down towards the coast again we reached Lan Co village on an island, with a huge bridge and railway, fishing boats and a wide beach. We stopped here for an iced coffee and spotted bow tie shaped pastry with green stripes, we were told it was pistachio so we tried it, had a bright green filling which didn’t really taste like pistachio but it was interesting. An old guy started talking to John about bank notes from other countries, seems he was a collector but we didn’t hang around to find out.
We reached Hue city after around 3 hours, it had a distinctly different feel and vibe as we drove through. We picked up our guide, a youngish guy, who introduced himself as Nyang… his English was good and he told us a bit about Hue, population 500k, whereas Vietnam is about 100m.
We drove into the imperial city over a bridge across a moat around the walled city. It contains three parts: the Imperial city, the citadel and the forbidden city (only accessible to the king, concubines and monks). The whole citadel area is 520 hectares!
It was built between 1802-1835 by the kings of the Nguyen dynasty and was continually improved until 1945 when last king (kind of a puppet king to the French) abdicated. After this, people moved into the city. We walked to a city gate fortification, where Nyang continued his history lesson…
France began exerting control over Vietnam in 1859 and formally established French Indochina in 1887. The Japanese were in Vietnam 1940-1945, and the French came back after that, until 1954. Vietnam was divided after the French, into communist North, and capitalist South.
Nyang was quite honest about his political opinions, he felt that there is still a lot of complex conflict between North and South even today… the North (political centre) is definitely richer, people in the south feel like 80% of the money all goes north. There is also more corruption in the north.
Back to Hue, Nyang showed us the 12 kings in the Nguyen dynasty, all related in some way, the first four were direct descendants (sons) but the fourth king was unable to have children, then things got complicated and there were like three kings in a year…
We met Bev at the 4 canons where she was resting in the shade, these represent four seasons. There are 5 canons across the way representing 5 elements. The three layers of the buildings represent heaven, king, earth. He told us more about the beliefs and superstitions… 6 and 8 are lucky numbers, so they are often used for Wi-Fi passwords. We had actually experienced this on our adventures :D Nyang shared that 7 is an important number in Buddhism and represents the seven steps of Buddha.
We walked to the entrance of the palace and stood in front it by the sun gate. This entry way consists of 5 gates - the central one is for the king, 2 are for mandarins (government officials), 2 are for horses. We saw yellow roof tiles which represent the king, and were taught that green is for the queen. A family was posing in their beautiful traditional outfits in front of the gate, they were happy for us to take their photo.
Tickets were checked and once inside we climbed up a ceremonial tower, which contained a bell and drum, we also saw replicas of large golden seals used by the various kings. The bronze bell was interesting and was covered with star constellations, gods representing hours and butterflies.
Nyang showed us a miniature representation of the whole complex, we could see that all buildings were facing south, with the main palace buildings in the centre and worship sections to the sides, besides the sun/moon gate for entrance, there are 3 exit gates, one of which was for women.
Before going inside the next building, the Supreme Harmony palace, a throne room of sorts, Nyang showed us a tree with Longan fruit, a bit like a mini litchi. Then he pointed out a “Unicorn” statue but it didn’t look like the western idea of a unicorn, instead it is a combo of dragon and lion, with horse like legs, symbolising loyalty.
On the roof of the supreme harmony palace there are 8 dragons, king is last dragon making 9 (the lucky number).
Inside was rather opulent, there is a Golden throne with lots of gold all around and golden dragons on the red pillars. This was built in 1805, destroyed in 1947 by fire by the communists (although they’d say by the war), and literally just rebuilt a year ago.
We saw a lot of Chinese style symbols which was also the Vietnamese original script, this was eventually changed to Latin writing due to visiting western missionaries and French, it actually helped a lot more people to become literate. Next we started walking in the extreme heat and humidity towards worship sites, Nyang again showed us the longevity symbol on a wall surrounded by four bats symbolising happiness.
We reached the gate to the worship area, it looked a little faded and worse for wear, it had four sacred animals on it, the dragon, the unicorn, the phoenix and the turtle, as well as a Lotus, the symbol of Buddhism.
Nyang showed us litchi trees and pomelo before we went inside one of the buildings (temples?). We saw 9 massive urns added by the second king, and the urns have the symbol of the king. Only the family of the king came to these sites, and this place was for worship of the king. We went inside (no shoes no caps no photos) and saw a worship place for each king, some with no picture (superstitious), some with a drawing of the king, some with photos for the later kings. Some offerings and incense were there even now.
We reached the Forbidden city and palace, which was large and certainly impressive, it is an incredible yellow palace covered in ceramics. Inside, we saw seating places and ceramics and other artefacts. We took more photos, grabbed an ice cream and then beat a hasty retreat to find the car.
We continued exploring the fairly expansive grounds around the pagoda, we found a car which was used in 1963, in the time this area was part of south Vietnam, there was a lot of conflict between Catholics and Buddhists, the most venerable (a monk) took the car to Saigon and then with help from other monks, burnt himself alive to protest the discrimination against Buddhists by the anti-communist, pro-Catholic President Diem. This president feared that Buddhism was too ambivalent towards communism, so gave favour only to Catholics like himself.
We passed stunning bonsais, and a house for mandarins in a beautiful garden surrounded by pine trees. Last we visited the tomb of a monk from 1992, Nyang pointed out that many monks had served here but none of the other monks got tombs, not too sure what this meant. The garden held a Sal or Sala tree, one of the two main trees associated with Buddhism.
After this visit, we were taken to a restaurant called Pine tree house. We had paid for the car and guide for the day (US$150 for four of us, so reasonable) but needed to cover our own food and entrance tickets. As we walked in, Nyang was waited by a beautiful koi pond, and started feeding the fish as we walked over a bridge. The restaurant was large, lovely but deserted (it was already after 3pm). We chose seats next to the pool in the lovely garden. Due to the heat none of us were that hungry so we ordered various starters and small plates, some Hue specialities like banh nam: steamed rice pancakes in banana leaf (weird), gelatinous bean dumplings (none of us liked it), pork in a clay pot (really yum) and pork skewers and yellow pancake. The presentation was the highlight, so artful with real flowers and carrot flowers. It came to a reasonable D672k ($26).
Our last stop was Tu Duc’s tomb, one of many kings tombs scattered around Hue. We paid D150k each and entered. This was the tomb for the fourth king, he had no children but apparently adopted three. This site actually has three tombs you can visit, the king #4, the queen and king #7.
We visited the temple first, for the king’s concubines to worship him, he had around 100 of them. Some of them even lived here, the rooms of the concubines are visible but in ruins. We also saw two houses for the mandarins. According to Nyang King #4’s tomb is huge, #7 is much smaller, apparently at that stage the Nguyen dynasty had less money. We ran out of time and energy to see the second kings tomb but knew we at least saw the more impressive one.
We visited the place the king works, and saw lots of reconstruction going on. We then walked along a river to a beautiful place, with a statue of elephant, horse and four mandarins, soldiers and government workers, distinguished by their hats (round or square). There was a massive Stella with story of the king in old Vietnamese script and two candle sculpture to lift the king’s soul to heaven.
After an extremely long day in the heat, with so much information to absorb and a long journey still ahead of us, we decided to finish the tour. We tipped Nyang as we dropped him off, he had been an excellent guide and we had learnt so much. I certainly felt Hue was one of the big highlights of the trip.
We drove back to Da Nang the shorter route, through a tunnel rather than the pass but it still took around 2.5 hours and we got to the Awaken hotel well after 8pm. We figured we should probably eat something even though we’d had a late lunch… We walked to a few places near the hotel on the beach road and settled on Ngoc Huang, a big open air seafood restaurant with massive tanks of live fish, shellfish and other weird creatures. We kept it simple and had tiger beers, Singapore noodles and XO noodles with seafood, the portions were large and the food very tasty.
Friday 6th June - Da Nang
Dad, John and I left early ish so we could explore the Marble mountains before it got too hot. It was about a 20 minute drive in a Grab, still within the city limits of Da Nang. We found the ticket office and a very friendly lady latched onto Dad, trying to give all sorts of information. I think she wanted to make sure he’d visit her marble shop after the mountains visit, something he had no intention of doing… She did say that the cave at the base of the mountains wasn’t worth visiting, it was really just a mine, and had very poor ventilation, glad we didn’t waste time on it. We bought tickets to use the elevator up (15k Dong each) and entrance to the site (40k Dong each) - incredibly cheap. As we’d come to expect from Vietnam, the visit would surprise and engage us, and deliver a lot more than expected…
We took the elevator up 7 floors/50m, this seemed like a recent addition, and was recommended on the way up, as even from the top of the elevator, there would be many many more steps! We got out to a beautiful view of the city below, and a peaceful pagoda. We made sure to explore every part of the mountain top, as recommended by the lady.
It is hard to describe everything we saw, as there was so much, and we didn’t have a guide so we may not have understood everything. But I can say we visited countless statues, carved from the mountain stone, pagodas, towers and temples. The highlight for me was the caves, we visited at least three, I believe they were all naturally formed but each had a number of rooms or nooks and crannies with statues, Buddhas and places of worship.
After a rest and loo break, we decided to tackle the highest view point, up countless steep steps. An Asian family was just in front of us and their young son was throwing a major tantrum about this climb! It sure was hot even though it was before 9am, the sweat was pouring off us. Eventually we reached the summit and were rewarded with fantastic views, the city below with high rise buildings and hotels, a large hotel with what appeared to be a dragon hole, the sea and beach, the river, other marble/limestone mountains, even the Son Tra peninsula and Cham islands. After photos we headed down out of the sun!
We visited the largest cave which was awesome, apparently this cave was even used as a hospital during wars. The main cavern contained small temples/shrines lit up by yellow neon lights, and a large central stone Buddha, very serene. The cave was cooler and quite a relief.
Lastly we bought some ice creams to cool down and then visited a few last temples, viewpoints, pagodas, gardens and ponds. We took the stairs down, resting once, it was much easier on the way down. At the bottom we bought our favourite Vietnamese electrolyte drink, “Revive”, and took a seat in the shop while we waited for our grab taxi. Believe it ir not, the lady from the morning found us, and sat down with us, trying to give more helpful advice. She really was very sweet. Before she could sweep us into her shop, the taxi arrived and we had to say goodbye…
Back at the hotel we checked out the pool (colder than we expected, refreshing!) and rested a bit. After a while we got peckish after all that exercise, I suggested banh mi (baguettes) and everyone liked that idea! We walked a few minutes to a place called Nha An, we were told by the chatty American ladies at the table next door that they had run out of pork belly bahn mi so we ordered BBQ pork, with Larue beers. Turns out they ran out of that too :( so we chose chicken and egg bahn mi (served with herbs and greens on a crispy baguette with a dipping sauce)… the waitress found one last BBQ pork and brought it to us to share. It was gooooood. The chicken wasn’t bad either. And at 35k dong a pop ($1.37) it was an unbelievable bargain, in a really nice restaurant!! They even gave us a 30% discount voucher for the spa next door, which we planned to visit the next day.
I decided I wanted to visit the beach so Dad and John joined me for a walk, we went as far as My Khe beach and I found a shady spot under some lovely palm trees. The beach was quiet with only a few people in the water. I went for a swim, the water was shallow and warm, getting slightly cooler as it got deeper. It was a bit windy and there were small waves but nothing to body surf on. We’d seen bluebottles on the beach earlier but there didn’t seem to be any here… I stayed a little longer, watching the tourists enjoy paragliders and jet skis, then headed back to the hotel.
I barely had time for a shower before we needed to leave for our sunset stop. My plan was to take a grab to the “summit” on the Son Tra peninsula, called Ban Co peak, google indicated the grabs could reach it as there was a road. However our grab driver communicated via google translate that his car couldn’t do it… so we changed plans and went to visit the massive lady Buddha on Son Tra instead.
Our driver parked and told me he’d wait, we could call him via WhatsApp. We explored the pagoda first, another beautiful peaceful feeling Buddhist building, with a marble lying Buddha in front of it, surrounded by statues and bonsais. Then we walked to the famous lady Buddha, this statue is the tallest in Vietnam at 67m and can be seen from all over Da Nang. It is apparently carved from a single block of marble which we all found hard to believe. As we got closer we saw windows and realised you could go inside it. Apparently each floor inside contains more Buddhas so it’s called “Buddhas within a Buddha”, but this part is only opened twice a year.
The statue was imposing, and it was fun to walk around and explore, with hundreds of other tourists of course… the light was fading and the sunset didn’t quite deliver due to some clouds, but the view back to Da Nang city and its beaches was pretty nice. We walked inside the base of the Buddha where some people were worshiping, and explored the grounds some more, before finding our taxi driver. We negotiated a good rate for him to take us to our dinner restaurant.
We arrived at the “Red Crab” Tuyvi restaurant before 7pm and wondered if it was open yet. There were no patrons inside yet and it seemed the staff were videoing an impromptu performance/dance… but we were welcomed in, I had done my research on good but affordable Singapore chilli crab in Da Nang and this was the place we had settled on :)
We ordered Tiger beers and were then taken to select our crabs, they were alive in a tank, with their claws tied. Dad and I decided to share a chilli crab and Uncle John and Aunty Bev would have the butter garlic crab. Dad picked out our crab which weighed around 650g, we decided to find a bigger one since we were sharing and settled on a nice 710g crab. I did feel a little sorry for the poor guy but it was nice to know how fresh he was… The rope around the claws weighs a bit so 50g would be deducted off the price. Once John and Bev had selected theirs we headed back to our seats and tried the bread and odd coconut jam “starter”…
We were given bibs and gloves and then our crabs arrived, our friendly waiter helped to cut them up and then we tucked in. There really wasn’t that much meat but both sauces were really delicious and that was kind of the point. Dad and I were in heaven, I think chilli crab is one of his favourite dishes and so I have always wanted to try it!
After dinner we decided to try to walk to the dragon bridge, it was far and it was hot and the big wide streets were busy so instead we called a grab taxi… we were dropped just outside the Son Tra night market, it was bustling and packed, MUCH more of a food market and I must say most of the food looked pretty tasty, pork roasting over coals, lobsters and prawns on ice waiting to be ordered… people hassled us and tried to entice us so we pushed through to get to the bridge.
Eventually it opened up a bit and we got our first glimpse of the bridge. We also saw tons of plastic chairs laid out with a lot of people, especially families seated. We assumed this was the viewing area for the dragon bridge “show” at 9pm. Seems our ticket for seats was to buy a drink each, no problem :)
At 9pm the show started, with the head of the dragon breathing fire in short spurts, followed by lots of smoke. I can’t lie, it was slightly underwhelming. After a few sets of fire spitting, the dragon started spitting water. I’m pretty sure all the people on the bridge right by the dragon head got soaked! Some were smart enough to bring umbrellas!
After the show we walked along the river a bit, it was still unbelievably crowded. We found the “lion carp” statue, and an enormous yacht with multiple restaurants and clubs on it. Finally we’d walked far enough to get a grab back to the hotel.
Saturday 7th June - Da Nang
Another early ish morning, sigh. Dad wanted to go to the fishing village, and everyone knows fishermen do their work super early. We debated whether to go to the port or the beach, and decided on both. The port wasn’t that exciting, we saw some colourful boats coming in, and LOTS of people selling fish and shellfish. Some of it wasn’t on ice, there was of course fishy smelly water everywhere and we were wearing slops… After a walk around we called a grab to the beach, it was on the other side of town and would be too far to walk, especially through an industrial area. We tried our best to clean our feet and shoes before getting into the car.
Arriving at the Man Thai beach, it was a different scene. Dozens of colourful standup paddle boards (SUPs) were laid out and many locals were taking the opportunity to try them. Most didn’t seem willing or able to stand up. We did spot small bamboo basket boats that some fishers used, and a few people selling fish and shellfish on the beach. We walked back to the hotel along the beach - about 2.5km, and enjoyed a fabulous breakfast.
After breakfast I packed and checked out, then we went for a last massage at An house with the vouchers we’d gotten. I got a private room and paid for an oil massage, the lady was very strong and skilful and did quite a bit of stretching and pulling… it was good.
Then we had lunch at the lighthouse cafe, very different from everywhere we’d eaten up to that point. It was almost like a digital nomad cafe, some people were working on laptops across a few floors. We had to order at the counter so we got iced coconut coffee, iced salt coffee, chicken tenders and chicken avo salad. It was my first time trying salt coffee - apparently this was recently invented in a coffee shop in Hue to drive business and the idea caught on… they take condensed milk, and top it with Vietnamese strong coffee and then a salted sweetened cream. The salt is supposed to balance the bitterness of the coffee. All I can say is it was delicious!!
After lunch we headed back to the hotel, and I said goodbye to Dad and my uncle and aunt before heading to Da Nang international airport only 15 minutes away. It had truly been a fantastic trip, full of variety, beauty, history and experiences. And it was great to come back after such a long time to see how the country had developed.
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