Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Gooood Morning Guys,
These are coming thick and fast now as we aim to catch up with you on our adventure through Vietnam.
We made it safe to Da Nang in central province, after a short flight across after collectively deciding we didn't want to spend 20 hours on a train.... were secretly so happy that we did this!
So from the chaos and craziness of Hi Chi Minh to the much more relaxed and lest touristy Da Nang... and what an interesting time we have had and a complete change up from the past few days.
Da Nang is literally in the centre of Vietnam, a small but very much on the rise city which is mainly used by tourists as a base from which to explore the much more ancient Hoi An or My Son regions - both of which display some of the very oldest history of the country. You could probably compare Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh as you would when comparing Bristol and London... as in London is a 24/7 hub of life much like Ho Chi Minh, yet Da Nang is much more authentic, rural and relaxed, but still maintains a youthful and relatively busy atmosphere. We quickly found that there are NO tourists in Da Nang, well - very few, which meant lots of staring and 'hello' from the locals both in traffic and as we walked around town. We finally managed to get seperate rooms for the stay, given that they were £10 per night... so with some much needed privacy we set about exploring our new digs for the next few days.
Da Nang is fairly small, but we managed to find a very good online video explaining some of the highlights, including aparently the most beautiful beach in Vietnam (it really wasnt, like... seriously wasn't). So we set ourselves to explore the place around these recommendations, as well as spending the day visiting the very famous ancient town of Hoi An.
Here are the best bits:
- BBQ Restaurant. So we dumped our bags and went straight out, and managed to find this AMAZING BBQ restaurant which can only be described as a large empty shop with some very small tables and chairs, but with a bustling and very smokey atmosphere. The way it worked was, you choose your food, they bring a mini coal BBQ and put in on your table with your food, you cook it aaaand its the most delicious food we have had so far. There were some very funky things on the menu, such as cows intestine, pork tongue, duck tongue and pupae (bugs)... we didnt quite go that far, but did try to frog and Octopus which were pretty damn good. What a find for our first day!
- Hans Market: so we were told by this video to go this lovely traditional indoor market. We found it, walked around for 5 mins and the smell was so bad that we had to leave. Like really guys, it was BAD!
- Beach: We found the beach on the last day, and it is probably one of the worst beaches we have seen. Granted weve been spoilt by Bondi... but a beach litered with rubbish in places and just a little bit dull was not what we expected.
- Riverside & Bridges: Da Nang sit around a fairly large river and the walk along the riverfront to check this out as well as the Dragon bridge (in the photo) was beautiful... it was the first time we found an open space in Vietnam so far where we could walk and not feel completely enclosed by everything going on.
- Bread of Life: Don't judge us, but we went for 4 meals in a row (...). Its an american restaurant that turns out amazing western food. We'd love to say the reason we went back so much was because its a non profit restaurant that supports, educates and employs deaf young people in Vietnam and so is for a wonderful cause.. but the truth is, we just loved the food.. ALOT. Mac n Cheese was a bit rubbish though (and i have total food envy over Bruce's sloppy Joe burger).
- Hoi An: So we spent one of the days down in Hoi An, the ancient town. This place is STUNNING. Think a little like Venice but with no canals, so lots of very colourful (mostly yellow) and very old (hundreds of years) small buildings lining tiny streets. They have mostly been renovated into businesses, and this is where you can get very cheap suits tailored and shipped - for under $100. The river that runs around the ancient town is dotted with very colourful fishing boats, and you can really feel the Chinese influence over the history Vietnam as there are many small temples and one incredible and very famous Chinese bridge that dates back to the 17th Century. Loads of tourists and so many people trying to sell you everything, but this place really was cool and very different from where we have been so far. Chuck in some cheap 13p beer and your laughing. A lovely day out and anyone that visits central Vietnam must go here. We also managed to get a 25km taxi ride from £13 down to £5. and no we didnt feel bad about it :P
So thats the main highlights from our stay... plus finding a very cool little coffee shop with even SMALLER chairs, like they come up to your shins at best. We spent a very amused hour in there laughing about how small everything is here!
Onto Ha Noi for our final leg of the country, and so far we are having a very cool time learning all about the way of life here and just experiencing the history and growth of such a lovely country.
Hope to catch you all soon and please get in touch to let us know how you all are!
Big love
Bruce and Ash
x
- comments