Hola Folks!
So finally what seems like 16452725 years later, I finally edited ALL the photos Sam and I took during our Da Nang trip. Horrible, really, considering our trip was in March...Hahaha. I've been procrastinating so so much, slowly editing the photos one by one, with my trusty ole Photoshop. I know I could've easily edited all the photos with Lightroom, but somehow, I just like the idea of editing each photo myself. Hah. Weirdo, I know.
What came about as an idea to travel together as a group, turned out to be one hell of a trip for both Sam and I. At that time, I was freshly out of SPRG, while Sam was on a sabbatical. She asked if I'd still be keen to travel together if the rest of the peeps can't make it, and I was totally open to that. We wanted to travel to a neighbourhood country and didn't want to spend toooo much. Sam suggested Da Nang and since I've never been to Vietnam before, the location was settled very quickly.
I know Da Nang is not the most popular tourist spot in Vietnam - most people would either visit Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. But I've heard from a client once that Da Nang have beautiful beaches with amazing views, and upon more research online, we found out that Da Nang actually sits in the middle of Hue and Hoi An, which are UNESCO World Heritage sites. Perfect, since we can make day trips over to these two places from where we stay.
Sam and I, we are both very family-oriented people, so having to convince our parents that Da Nang is safe for two young ladies.. that was quite a feat. Haha. A lot of cajoling was done on our end man. We told them that we were staying in a hotel (lies), we promised we'll take the safer transports (lies), we mentioned about hiking, etc, but not y'know the cactus surrounding it, or the steep hikes, little white lies, as I would put it. Hahaha. But truthfully, based on my personal experience, I'd say that Da Nang is a relatively safe place. I read online that there are almost no beggars/homeless people on the streets and no peddling of drugs, and we really didn't see any (not that we were looking intently for drug lords or anything la)! There was once we walked from the city area to where we stayed (about 20 mins on foot), and we didn't encounter any unfavourable incidents. That should account for something aye!
If you're still sitting on the fence on visiting Da Nang, or including Da Nang as part of your Vietnam itinerary, I hope this visual diary can sway your decision. (;
Here's SIX reasons why you should include Da Nang in your itinerary should you travel to Vietnam.
1. AN ADVENTURE AWAITS IN THE CITY
As every city, there are bound to be a host of tourist attractions to explore. For nature/beach lovers, Da Nang is an awesome place as it has a great combination of beaches, museums, mountains and city life.. When I was doing my research on Da Nang, a couple of tourist attractions stood out for me - the Marble Mountain, Hai Van Pass, My Khe Beach and the Dragon's Bridge. We were in Da Nang for 5 days (technically 4 days cos we arrived late in the evening on our first day, and we didn't really do much except for dinner and having a drink at our hostel bar), which is justtttt passably enough, but I'd definitely suggest going at least a week to explore the city fully.
We didn't plan our itinerary in detail pre-trip, only highlighting the places we can go. The hostel we stayed in gave us a list of attractions and food places we can explore on our first day, and since the attractions matches to what our hostel suggested, we planned our itinerary around it. We covered the Marble Mountain, Monkey Mountain on our second day, Hai Van Pass, Hue and the Dragon's Bridge on our 3rd day, Hoi An on the 4th, and My Khe Beach on the last day.
The Marble Mountains is a cluster of five hills made from limestone and marble. But you can't actually climb all five hills, only the limestone one. It is a 15-20 mins bike ride from our hostel to the mountains, and you'll see loads of shops selling hugeee stone scupltures along the way. I thought it was interesting that it's so near to the city. You would think that a mountain will be at least a few hours drive away, but no, the Monkey Mountain and Marble Mountain are only just about an hour away from each other.
There are several Buddhist and Hindu statues dotting the trail up to the summit of mountain. Some can be found inside the limestone caves itself, which is pretty interesting.
If you plan to head up to the summit through the caves, you'd need to wiggle up a small hole/tunnel. It was scary cos the limestones are slippery, making it harder to step on. This is why comfy shoes are very very important - we saw ladies in heels exploring the caves (like.. seriously, why would any sane person do that?!). I'm sure there are other ways to head up to the summit too, since I'm pretty sure not everyone climbed thru that small tunnel!
The view made all the walking worthwhile - it was breathtaking! That's literally how I felt throughout the trip, amazed at the grandeur of the landscapes - the sea, the greenery, the mountains.. Felt like the air was just much crisper than back home.
Along the beaches, you'll spot a whole array of bowl-shape boats. They are woven from bamboo and they are mostly used for fishing. It's quite a common sight in Vietnam, not just Da Nang!
The photos along the beach was taken while we were on our way from the marble mountain to Son Tra (Monkey) Mountain. It's about an hour bike ride from the Marble Mountain to the Monkey Mountain, 20-30 mins from our hostel.
One of the highlights of the Monkey Mountain is the Linh Ung Pagoda, which houses the tallest Goddess of Mercy (Guan Yin Niang Niang) in Southeast Asia. It's 67m tall!
One unmissable icon while driving along the roads in the city is the dragon's bridge. It's 666 meters long, and what's fun is that every weekend at 8.45pm, they will start cordoning off the bridge to stop motorcycles and cars from driving thru, and there'll be a performance at 9pm where the dragon will spit fire and water. They actually make a performance out of the bridge! Tourist and locals alike will all gather along the bridge to watch the spitting fire performance, and some brave souls will even stand near the dragon to experience the 'rainshower'.
Da Nang, is very much similar to HCMC and Hanoi, whereby there are alot of cafes around the city centre, particularly around the bach dang street area. We only visited one cafe while we were there, but cafe is really just cafe la. The vibe and feel is just like every other cafes we go to in Singapore, except that it's cheaper. Oh and of course the Vietnamese coffee is pretty awesome too la.
Sam and I mostly ate street food and almost 90% of them were recommended by our hostel (also cos what we found online matches what the hostel suggested).
2. THE OLD TOWN OF HOI AN
I feel that the highlight of the trip was visiting the old town of Hoi An. Hoi An is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Site. The small town still maintains its centuries-old architecture, which is spectacular, and the place is a gem - where you get to uncover bit by bit as you stroll through the town. Hoi An gave me the impression of old Kyoto, where people ride bicycles along the streets, street food dotting along the roads, people walking pass bridges, etc - like directly out of Memoirs of a Geisha or something.
Of course, because it's an UNESCO site, the place was brimming with tourists. Many actually stay in Hoi An for a couple of days, which I think I'll do the next time I visit Vietnam. Hopefully I'll be able to bring my parent cos I really think they'll love this place as much as I did! It has such an old school vibe.
The central area of Hoi An is actually a walking and cycling town only - they don't allow cars inside. Most people cycle anyway, alot of the hotels and shops rent out bicycles to tourists to fully explore the city.
There are many sightseeing places and streets in the old town, and it's ticketed to enter these places. You have to pay for one entrance ticket, which allows you to visit up to 5 sightseeing places of your choice. From museums, to houses of famous Vietnamese (their house are ancient I tell you), temples, assembly halls, etc. The entrance ticket will also allow you to watch performances too.
By mid-day, we were quite shagged out, so we decided to stop by at a tea-house to chill. We picked well, cos the teahouse has a second level, and you can just chill by the balcony and people watch.
Oh! Speaking of which, that's also one thing we noticed about Vietnamese people. They love to people watch. Many cafes/bars on the streets have their chairs arranged such that the patrons will face the roads. On my first day here, I was really intrigued with this arrangement. Haha
Watching the sunset while cruising along the street was pretty amazing too. The colour of the sky was a pretty pink.
Once nightfall kicks in, the lanterns are lit up, the streets are bustling with street food peddlers and vendors selling paper lanterns. It's a gimmick in the city of Hoi An - lighting up the paper lanterns and setting it to float on the river, like a blessing. It was literally like out of the Tangled scene! People can sit on the boats and release the lanterns. There were also many Vietnamese couples getting their couple shots taken professionally but photographers too. Pretty magical~
When I was doing my research, I read online that there is a relatively quiet beach called An Bang, that is half an hour cycle ride from town. At first, I thought maybe Sam and I could explore that beach, but it turns out that just exploring the city centre alone takes up a day already. There are actually ALOT of temples, museums, etc to visit, and that's just the city centre alone. That's why I say 1 day is really really not enough!
Also, if you are planning to do some tailor-made clothes, which they are famous for, it's def better to stay for a couple of days, so you can do more complicated designs. Sam sam and I did our research and planning prior to visiting Hoi An, saving pictures of the kind of clothes we think we want to custom-make. Sam was thinking of doing a cheong sam, while I was thinking of making sexy bareback tops to my size hahaha. The kind of clothes that can be customised is really endless. Many of the shops sells ready-made dresses in really pretty fabric and cutting (read sexy back), but unfortunately, as you may know, I'm no template size and can't really fit into the dresses I liked. :/
I won't say I'm a super expert when it comes to customizing clothes in Vietnam. I bounced thru a couple of shops, looking at the fabrics, and also seeing how friendly the prices and people are, before deciding on one. How the shop works is that you pay for the Fabric price, and the workmanship comes 'free'. Of course it's not free la, cos they marked up the fabrics quite a fair bit. I went with this shop in the end - Din Din. They were pretty quick, I must say. I went in to the shop at around 11am, they asked me to come by for one round of fitting at around 4pm, and the final collection was done in the evening at around 7pm cos I requested for a couple of modifications at the first round of fitting.
I was inspired by this top from VainGloriousYou, which I thought was really sexy and understated. Theirs was a cropped top, but I obviously couldn't wear crop tops, so I requested for them to make it longer, like a mid-waist top, which I could either pair it either with a high-waist shorts or jeans/pants.
Chose this really pretty creamy floral fabric, and paid about $26 for the top after negotiating like hell. I was really on quite a tight budget, so I wanted to keep the things I spend on at a minimum. I initially wanted a lace material, with a lining inside, but the lace swatches weren't really pretty and it's expensive to include extra lining. Oh, another reason why I went with this Din Din, is because they agreed to fit within my budget with inner lining included.
Here's the address of the shop - 82 Le Loi, Hoi An, Vietnam and Facebook page.
Annnnd here's the end result (:
3. THE IMPERIAL CITY OF HUE
The road up from Da Nang, to Hue, with Hai Van Pass in between, is truly a sight to behold. I'm serious. We engaged Easyrider, the same guys that took us around the Marble Mountain & Monkey Mountain for this trip, and we enjoyed every bit of it. The bike ride was long, about 5 hours in total -2.5 to and 2.5 back, and despite the long distance, the entire time I was just in awe at how beautiful the city is. The beaches, the sky that seems to meet together with the ocean, the mountains, the terrains, the sunset, it blew my mind away. If this already amazes me, I cannot imagine how wowed I'll be with New Zealand or Iceland.
Hai Van Pass, is an old highway that connects Da Nang and Hue. It stands at 500m above sea level. You'll ride pass mountains after mountains to get to the highest point of Hai Van Pass. We started our day early, and we were blessed with the panoramic view of the blue sky and sea.
The view at the peak was truly amazing. The towers and bunkers are quite old and dilapidated, so you do need to watch your steps while exploring the place. There was this one particular bunker that you can climb up to have a nice photo, and me being someone that always has an eye for good photos (and because I would like to be in said good photos haha), I asked Sam to help me take photos from the lower building in the photo below.
Here this is the said nice photos.. BUT majorly spoiled with my darn bag.. URGH
Here's the Photo v.s. Reality shot:
Haha. From afar, it looks as if it's quite achievable to climb up the bunker. But in actual fact, it's a concrete bunker, so it is painful to scrape your knees against it. And the step between the top and the ground is really high. I actually needed help to get on top for that shot. One of the guys (the guy in green tee) was really sweet and offered his shoulder for me to climb on. Mind you, I'm no dainty lady, so that poor man faced the brunt of it man.
And when I came down.. lol. The gif below says it all hahaha.
New friends were made during this trip! (:
From Hai Van Pass, we winded down pass Da Nang beach and onwards to Hue.
Hue, another UNESCO Heritage Site, is the former imperial city of Vietnam and was home to 13 successive emperors. One of the must-go places for Hue is the tomb of Tu Duc, but due to time constraints, we only visited the capital. We're not exactly the history buff, and we didn't want to pay for a guided tour, so we explored mostly on our own. And that place's huge!!
We were greeted yet again by pink skies on our way back to Da Nang. How pretty is this place?! Our Easyrider uncles knows just the spot to take us for the best photos.
4. THE AMAZING VIEWS AND THE BEACHES
I think I've emphasized enough how amazing the view at Da Nang is. Their beaches too! My Khe beach is literally a stone's throw away to our hostel. Only about 10 mins walk? You can actually learn surfing too, and initially I was considering it, but there was only one surfing school and the instructor was booked for the day. Shall leave that to Bali someday~
We went to the beach on our last day. We had a flight to catch in the evening, and we wanted to do some last minute shopping in the city, so we spent only a couple of hours at the beach.
Sam fulfilled my Baywatch moment by snapping photos/video of me running from the sea haha. :D
On our last night at Da Nang, we went to the rooftop bar across our hostel to chill.
Da Nang and their curly straws. Haha. I almost wanted to bring the straw back home, just because.
A La Carte Hotel: 200 Vo Nguyen Giap Street
5. THE LAID-BACK EXPERIENCE
Getting around Da Nang is actually pretty convenient. Sam and I are very safe people aka scardy cat people (haha). We weren't brave enough to just whack and rent our own motorbike, so most of the time we relied on taxis to get around. We hired a motorbike tour - Easyrider, recommended by our hostel, to the Marble Mountain, the Monkey Mountain and Hue over a span of 2 days.
Taxis are available everywhere. We were told to either take the green colour taxis (Mai Linh) or the white colour one (Vinasun), as they are the more reliable ones. They normally run by metre, so no bargaining is needed. I cannot really remember the prices, but it's quite cheap la. Cheaper than Singapore definitely!
What I really like about Da Nang is the chill and laidback lifestyle. It's definitely a breath of fresh air from the hustle and bustle. Their life there is so simple and they get by with the littlest of things. The people we met were all very friendly, and some even tried speaking to us in English, and wanted to recommend us places of interest. We added some of them on Facebook too - mostly Sam's work, cos she's the friendlier one haha.
6. FOOD, FOOD, AND MORE FOOD
Of course, I left the best for the last. I'm a fooooooodie, and I'm someone that really like Zhong Ko Wei food (food that are heavy and rich in flavours). Vietnamese food is definitely a cuisine that's to my palette, with their array of flavoured meat, flavoured noodles, bahn mi, skewered food wrapped with lots of greens... yummm
Just describing it is making me salivate!
Most of the food places in the city were recommended by our hostel. Funtastic Hostel is founded and run by Summer Le, and Summer is also a food blogger. That's actually how I found out about her hostel, cos I was googling food in Da Nang and her food tour came up.
And it was highly recommended.
And it was highly recommended.
The food places we did venture to were pretty legit.
Pho 75: 91 Ngo Gia Tu, Da Nang, Vietnam
Coconut Jelly: 175 Hải Phòng, Hải Châu, Đà Nẵng, Vietnam
Our Easyrider guide brought us to this shop when we were traveling to Hue. I'm not too sure what that is, but it's like a crispy seafood omelette pancake that you break into smaller pieces, and wrap it with vegetable, rice cake and the other herbs. The accompany peanut sauce is damn awesome.!
One of Da Nang's popular street food is their Mi Quang. They are known for it. It's like part soup, part salad, with rice noodles and thick broth. The broth is rich in flavour, could taste chicken and prawns in it, and it is accompanied with a lot of crunchy elements - herbs, crackers, nuts. Damn yums.
Mi Quang Ba Vi: 166 Lê Đình Dương
TripAdvisor proved to be a really resourceful website when we were googling places to eat. Madam Khanh came strongly recommended and she really lived up to her 'Banh Mi Queen' title! There were at least three different meat inside the bahn mi, and my god, the sauce that went with it was just damnnnn awesome. It has the right spice element too, making it a really filling dish.
Madam Kahn: 115 Tran Cao Van Street
Oh, another dish that really blew my mind was this stall that was selling something similar to Chee Kueh. I don't actually know what's the name of the dish. I was very curious when I saw many people sitting down on the small stools, eating bowls after bowls of this tiny thing. So I insisted on trying it haha. I'm the more adventurous one when it comes to food, but that's also because Sam had mild food poisoning on the first day, so she was more careful. So on top of the rice cake, there's some chilli, spring onions, fried lard, and then hot thick sauce was drizzled over it. Man, that sauce was really the icing on top. I initially ordered just one, but it was so yum I ordered another! I could have easily ordered another 10 more, if not for the fact that Sam was waiting for me..
Dinner was at this restaurant Morning Glory, which is known on TripAdvisor for their ambiance and fusion food. It was really crowded, so I suggest making a reso or take a queue number 30 minutes before dinner time.
We waited a good 30 - 40 mins for our turn, but it was really well worth it! The food was good.
Morning Glory: 106 Nguyen Thai Hoc St
WHERE WE STAYED
As mentioned, I chanced upon Funtastic Hostel when I was googling food in Da Nang. We were initially quite hesitant about staying in hostels cos of the safety, but the reviews were really really good, and after doing further research, we noticed that they actually have private ensuite rooms. The prices were really reasonable, and we were sold with what was offered - free breakfast, free bus ride to Hoi An, and free transfer from the airport.
Turns out there were some T&Cs, the free transfer from the airport is only departing to the airport and you need to pre-chope it, and the bus ride to Hoi An is only one-way. But still, beggars can't be choosers, and it's really worth the price paid. I loved the free breakfast! hehe.
Especially their pancakes with coconut shavings.
Funtastic have 2 hostels - one in the city and the other by the beach. We chose the one by the beach cos the private twin bed are two separate beds, while the other one is a bunk bed.
I think we really picked right with the beach hostel, cos it's just a few mins walk to My Khe Beach, and there's a really nice Rooftop bar opp our hostel, and the breakfast area is on the building's rooftop, which overlooks the beach. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G views till the end.
Plus it has a foosball table, a shared common room where you can surf the internet, watch movies.
We struck gold on our first visit to Da Nang, I feel.
Plus it has a foosball table, a shared common room where you can surf the internet, watch movies.
We struck gold on our first visit to Da Nang, I feel.
Lurva, lurva it.
Da Nang had been amazing, and I really can't wait to explore the other parts of Vietnam. In fact, we've only scratched the surface of Da Nang, and I really do look forward to visiting Hoi An again - for a longer stay! Till the next time then! (:
Bye bye, Vietnam. For now.
*Photos were taken with my DSLR, iphone and Sam's Sony AS100V.
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