Mission accomplished (Da Nang – Hoi An)

After a smooth 12 hour ride I arrived at the Da Nang Bus Station and looked around for someone to bring me to my hotel. Offers were quickly found, but the prices varied from 150k dong and even higher. I really thought they have to be kidding me. So I just walked away and started walking aimlessly into the, of course, wrong direction.

 

On the way I talked with a few more drivers and a few lowered the price, but some still insisted on the higher one. I finally found a guy that only asked for 50k dong, which I thought is fair enough (as advised in the Lonely Planet as well).

I arrived around 8 am which was way too early for check in. So I looked first for something to eat and came across a few local food stalls. I finally was brave enough to go into one and attempted with sign language what I would like. I am not sure what I have actually eaten, but it tasted great (noodle soup with something).

I returned to my hotel and thought I just wait until I can leave my luggage in my room and get ready for the beach later. While I was sitting outside the receptionist came and gave me a key and said that one of the suites were available already and they would upgrade me. YAY! This was the first time EVER that I was upgraded for free. The hotel was the SunSea Hotel, which is really just 3 minutes away from the beach, great and friendly English speaking staff and very cheap.

I came into my room and the ocean view was stunning, I had a smile on my face for the rest of the day, which I mostly spend on the beach. Even though I haven’t been to many beaches in Vietnam, Da Nang is certainly one of my favourites. It is totally empty, clean and NO ONE tries to sell you junk. A life guard is watching out for you (very strong currents) and you just live happily ever after here. Seriously I enjoyed Da Nang and wish I could have stayed longer. Since the weather was so nice, the ocean great and clean and the beach just awesome I finally accomplished my mission to have a great beach day (including the tan!).

I am really glad I stayed in Da Nang. This place might not be something for everyone since it doesn’t really have shops and restaurants near the beach (only in the City Centre) and certainly no party night life, but is has a charming and welcoming atmosphere. They are building hotels and resorts here currently so this area probably will be soon one of the main tourist places....

I arranged with a driver from the Easy Rider Group a tour for the next day, where he would bring me around to Hoi An, Marple Mountains and a few other places. He is certainly not the cheapest option to get around, but speaks English very well and you can stop wherever you want to stop in between. The ride on the motorbike was nice and I really enjoyed the scenery.

Hoi An is THE city for tailors and clothes, so if you do ever need some silky things, this is the place to be. Besides that Hoi An has a lot to offer in terms of historic places and all in all it is a nice little city. However, it is overrun with tourist and if you go to the Central Market you will come across at least three cooking class groups, testing and seeing everything there (same of what I have done in Cambodia).

So I just walked around the city and along the river. I was lucky to see a Cockle fight life and the man very pretty inviting to let me watch.  After a while I moved on.

I watched couples walking around the river (IT IS VALENTINES DAY) and kids playing. I returned to my driver and we continued to the Marple Mountain to get to see some more Temples (yeah I still can’t resist).

It found this place amazing (again pretty filled with people) and when I went into one of the caves I saw a group climbing in the back and I wondered what else is there to see, so I just followed them.

The group of Vietnamese people climbed up to the top of the first mountain (not the main one) and the view was amazing and the people really really nice. I had a quick chat up there with one of them and I kept smiling, just because life is so beautiful and I can’t get enough of it.

After a quick stop at another beach and having lunch I returned to my hotel and waited for my pick up to the airport. Tonight I will be in Hanoi and enjoy my last few days in Vietnam.

That is it for now again and I hope you continue reading my stories :)

Happy travels!