Tốt ngày from Central Vietnam

[ by Stian ]

We had now reached Vietnam – a country mostly known for it's cuisine, and for it's war-history. Well, that's at least only about what I knew about the country, and maybe not even that - haha. I can't say I even know that many who's been to Vietnam either, other than the occasional few who have done a South-East Asia round trip like us.

At our hostel in Siem Reap we met some foreign girls who were studying in Vietnam, surprisingly  they did not have a lot of nice things to say about the country. Main reason for this was clearly based on an extreme form of frustration by the fact that no one seem to speak English in Vietnam, so communication is a pain. Going out to restaurants had especially therefore become a very big operation by itself, cause there would always be misunderstandings... ah well. So we did not know what to expect really, though we always prefer to make up our own mind along the way. Since we only had a few days left together with Sissel and Marion before their departure back to Norway, we were recommended to go straight to Da Nang, which is located in the center of Vietnam, as the girls we met in Siem Reap preferred this area. We took their advice and therefore made our way first to Ho Chi Minh City by bus, and then by air to the city of Da Nang.

Ho Chi Minh City

Traffic in Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City, once known as the city of Saigon, is the largest and most populated city of Vietnam, with a population of more than 7,5 million. If we had had more time we would probably have stayed here for a couple of days as well – but we had been told that Ho Chi Minh is mostly good for shopping and dining, and not so much culture and/or sightseeing – therefore we opted to just pass by HCM for this time. We therefore only stayed in this city for a couple of hours before we had to go to the airport and catch our flight. As expected, the atmosphere across the border from Cambodia was a totally different one. The first impression of HCM we got was by the traffic, which looks like a massive chaos for sure. The means of transportation is completely opposite of the rest of the world, since the number of motorbikes outnumbers the number of cars greatly. Since we were hungry, we dropped by a Lotteria, which obviously is an Asian version of McDonald's, located right next to an intersection. From here we could easily observe the massive traffic-jam, which literally is of an other world. Afterwards we found ourselves a taxi and headed for the airport, and to our surprise we noticed that traffic, even though surrounded by thousands of motorbikes, run smoothly, and we arrived at the airport in no time really. Hooray for that;)

First destination: Da Nang

Da Nang is the fourth largest city of Vietnam, though the population is «only» 890 000, which seems like a tiny city compared to HCM and Hanoi. Danang literally  means "river source". I have to admit I had never heard of the city before either, so I did not know what to expect at all. The city is (according to Wikipedia) classified as a first class city (whatever that means) – «it is nicely located just in between the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of the Imperial City of Hué and the old town of Hoi An.» 

We arrived pretty late in the evening, and at first it seemed like we had arrived to a completely different continent since the streets were completely deserted. We found our way to Gold Hotel, our accommodation for the days here in Da Nang. The hotel turned out to be a very nice hotel as well, so we were pleased. Though it was very strange that there were no people to see in the streets. How could it be that HCM was so crowded and then we arrive to the third/fourth/fifth(?) largest city and there is no one in the streets? Well well... a mystery for sure.  

Bridges of Da Nang 

Dragon Bridge of Da Nang

Hunger had caught up with us once again so we had to go hunting for nutrition once more. We headed towards the city center, which was located just about 15 minutes of walking from our hotel. We did notice that many of the places were closed already, so obviously they do close up earlier in Vietnam, or at least in Da Nang, than the rest of SE-Asia. The receptionist at the hotel had told us that we would probably find restaurants by the riverside. When we did get to the river side, our attention was caught by the really nice bridges of Danang, one of which was just about to be completed construction and shaped as a dragon, lit up in changing colors. The next day we even discovered that the bridge was spitting FIRE !!!! IN other words: THE COOLEST bridge EVER, or maybe just the tackiest... no, COOLEST is definitely the correct definition here:) It's name is as simple as Dragon Bridge as well, very fitting indeed. A second bridge, the Song Han Bridge, also lit up in changing colors and patterns, like a true rainbow brigde, but it was far from as cool as the Dragon bridge;) A third bridge, the Trann Thi Ly Bridge, a brand new and very visible construction, also lit up in colors. Da Nang really is making the most out of their bridges for sure.

Finding a place for stomach-fillings was not so easy though as there did not seem to be many restaurants here at all. The first place we passed, which was open, was a pub called Bamboo 2 Bar, but it was crowded, and we preferred to have a real dinner at a real restaurant so we just passed by. Eventually we did find ourselves a nice restaurant named The Rachel. As we were almost the only customers there, the service. The quality of the food was good as well. This evening I just settled for a simple chicken satay with peanut sauce though:)

Shopping in Da Nang

The following day me, Sissel and Marion decided to go exploring and shopping. We found our way to a shopping center, but it was pretty much nothing impressive to find. Da Nang would turn out not to be a shopping Mecca at all This did not bother me too much though since shopping is one of my last priorities during this trip. I did find myself a shirt and a pair of shorts. A funny incident just outside of one of the malls was when a old guy came up to me with his grandchild (I assume) and almost forced me to take their photo, haha. We eventually passed through the local market, the Hán Market, which was very interesting. It did not seem like the local farmers/sellers were pleased with us taking photos though. After our brief visit to the market we stopped by the corner pub, Bamboo 2 Bar, which we had passed the evening before, for lunch and a few beers:) Later in the evening we went back to the Rachel once again for dinner and once again the service and the atmosphere was very good. There was also a very funny conversation about «morning glories» going on between the girls and the staff at the restaurant – but to one had to have been there to get the point of it though;) This time I had a dish called Rock'n'Roll Chicken, which was very nice. As Marion was in the party mood, I decided to hang out a bit longer along with her, while Sissel and Kenneth headed back to the hotel. Marion was definitely the party-person of the group;) We had a few beers at the Bamboo 2 Bar, but the mosquitos were bugging me so much and it was almost not bearable to stay there, but the very nice bar-lady brought me some mosquito-repellent so I was good for a while, but I and Marion went back to the hotel as well just shortly after.

Second Destination: The AMAZING city of Hoi An 

The next day we left for Hoi An, a small town just south of Da Nang, with a population of just above 120 000 inhabitants. Hoi An translates as «peaceful meeting place».The old town of Hoi An is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, and this amazing little town took me totally by surprise because of it's charm and well preserved traditional style. We were supposed to only stay for a maximum of three days but I and Kenneth decided to stay a couple of days longer. This would also be the last place we would be hanging with Sissel and Marion as they would be leaving us after their three days here in Hoi An :(  

Hoi An is made up of an old part and a new part. The old town is all painted in yellow color and consists of loads of really nice small shops, souvenir places, restaurants, and a whole bunch of tailor shops of course. The old town IS the main sight to explore in Hoi An, though there are lots of activities to do in the nearby areas as well. The old town is though one of the most wonderful attractions I have experienced. I liked it so much here that I rate it among my top 3 favorite towns I have been to on this trip so far. The beautiful old yellow buildings, the small art-shops, the lanterns in the evening, the lit up traditional bridges, the vibrant local cultural happenings during daytime and also the small, but beautiful temples that are located withing the old town all just really put a spell on me. The total impression is improved even more by the amazingly friendly and smiling people of the town AND by the pretty good service at the restaurants:)

Food, drinking and partying in Hoi An

One of the most popular bars and restaurant, especially for foreigners was the «Before & Now»-bar, and we hang out here a bit ourselves as well, I have to admit. The food they served was pretty ok – and probably the best western type of food we've had so far in Asia, but of course we tried out some other more local orientated restaurants as well. We also had a good deal of drinking while in Hoi An. At the Hang Phuc II restaurant we ended up having a bucket of Mojito each, which the girls did not believe contained any alcohol at all – so after they had made a «complaint» and requested 4 shot glass of rum, we were served a huge huge whiskey-glass of rum instead, which we divided among us. This resulted of course us becoming way to drunk. This of course also led to many an interesting discussion and especially I and Marion had a pretty interesting disagreement, where Marion got really mad at me at first and then we laughed it all away right afterwards. Sissel and Kenneth just observed us and shook their head, pretending not to know the crazy drunks by their table. The party did not end here though this evening as we moved on to another two bars later and had too much alcohol and even "enjoyed" Shi-sha (which especially Sissel really did not like - haha) ;) I also got to try out local dish Cao Lau at both the OM Cafe and the Citronella Café, and I have to say that I really liked this dish. There was also a very last party of the trip at the Before & Now bar with the girls, that was really interesting... After this party I have to remind myself to never leave my camera in the girls care without me being around at least;) 

Shop shop, till you drop...

Shopping turned out to be a lot greater in Hoi An than in Da Nang. Especially the girls went crazy, emptying everything they had in their saving accounts buying loads of souvenirs, purchasing lamps, kitchen stuff and even dinner plates made out of bamboo and much more. I on the other hand did not do much shopping though – of the same reasons as earlier, not because I did not find any nice things to buy, but just because I prefer to spend money on memories in the form of adventures and sights.  

People of Hoi An

As usual I decided to get to try to know some of the local culture here. The first local person I got in touch with was a tailor. We started chatting when I dropped by his tailor-shop and he seemed like a nice guy, and we chat about the town and about the life of the common people here. This guy also was a "real" tailor and had his tiny sewing machine where he did minor changes to the products by himself. Usually you don't see that in tailor shops, not in Thailand at least – so it was nice.

Me and Allister

Later I also got in touch with Allister, a really really nice guy, originally from the Philippines, now a resident of Hoi An though. The first evening we only had a few beers and a very interesting conversation. We got along very well and eventually he also got to meet Sissel, Marion and Kenneth as well – and the girls just totally fell in love with him. They almost insisted that I should merry this guy (though they were drunk, haha). I did see Allister for a couple of more days and I have to say that he did make a great impact. He was definitely a really interesting person, handsome and intelligent as well so I really hope that I will be able to meet him again at one point in the future. He did though tell me to prepare for Hanoi, as he has lived there for a while himself. The people of Hanoi are not friendly. He did though not understand why we didn't stay over in Ho Chi Minh City as this definitely is the friendliest part of Vietnam so I am recommended to return to Vietnam – and I might rightly do so at one point then, haha;)  

Our Base in Hoi An

Accomodation in Hoi An was very nice. The first night we had each our room at the pretty nice Southern Hotel & Villas hotel, though the rooms were not so nice though. The girls room didn't even have a window. The next day we were asked by the stuff if we could change to a 4-person shared room to help the staff out logistically. We were told it would be cheaper for us to share the 4-bed room than having the 2 twin room as well, we would even get money refunded we were told. I checked the room out and we decided to go for it. The new room was AMAZING! It was really really nice! So we had a couple of really good nights suddenly. For the last two nights I and Kenneth changed to a cheaper hotel though, since the girls left us. The new hotel, the Hoa Binh hotel, was more suitable for backpackers like us, though by far not as nice as the last room we had at the previous place.

Sunset Cruise, Cham Island and the Marble Mountains

We did get to do some activities while in Hoi An too – so we did not spend all the days just shopping, eating and drinking (just to tell ya all). The second day in Hoi An we went on a Sunset Cruise, as they call it. Kenneth decided to opt out of this one though – so it was only me and the girls for this one. We were taken out to a small fishing-village and later got to see how they local Vietnamese men do their fishing. The throwing of the fish-net was a pretty neat experience to observe and we got some nice photos of it as well. We also got to try to maneuver the bowl-shaped traditional bamboo-boats, which was pretty much impossible to get a hang on without having previous experience, since it's all maneuvered with one oar only – haha;) But at least we tried. At the end of the trip we got served some traditional spring rolls with shrimps and drinks – so it was all in all a very good day.

The third day we all went on a sightseeing tour, where we went to the Cham Island where we got to see the Bai Huong Village, and the Hai Tang Pagoda, and finally ending up at the Bai Huong Beach were we were served amazing food, mostly fish, and also got to go swimming and tanning. The food though turned out to only to be to my liking, so I ended up eating at least 80% of all the food we got served– haha. It was mostly seafood – which none of us were so keen on – but at least I enjoy trying new things. I forced food in me even though I was not THAT hungry, but I tried not to make us come out as rude by not eating the nice food they were serving us, haha. The fish was really good at least:) We also got to do some swimming, and there was a local guy who did not speak a word English, but he seemed very interested in me, wanting to race-swim all the time, and he even did kind of intrude my personal space by grabbing my pecs... not sure if he was gay or not, but I would not have been surprised if he was, haha. It was all very weird to be honest – as I have never had my «pecs» being grabbed by total strangers before;)

Elevator to the Marble Mountains

The very last day with the girls, I and Sissel went on a short tour to the Marble Mountains just outside of Hoi An. The Marble Mountains are rocky limestone outcrops jutting out of the beach just south of Đà Nẵng. The Marble Mountains are as well home to various artisans producing sculpture and artwork at it's base, of marble that is, and there indeed were plenty of workshops where one could purchase massive marble-statues of all kinds. The mountain formation includes a lot of caves and throughout time there has been constructed plenty of pagodas throughout the area, most of which are stunning. Marion and Kenneth did not feel like participating on this tour so it was only me and Sissel, and we were happy that we decided to go cause especially the main cave-temple was really, really nice. The view from the highest point of the mountain was also stunning. It was a very hot day so the actual steep hike up the many steps to the top was not so enjoyable though, but once we reached the top we were glad we did it.  At the top we got to experience a really nice view of the whole area from, including a spectacular view of the Nun Nuoc Beach and the South China Sea. The area really is nice and has a lot of potential and is still not developed very much either – but I bet in a 20 years time the whole beach side will be filled with resorts and hotels... ah well well.  

The two days after the girls left I and Kenneth spent just relaxing, eating and drinking. I really did not want to leave Hoi An as I just loved it there. Also it was sad to have to have to say goodbye to Allister, which I had gotten to know during these days as well. Hopefully I will be able to return to Hoi An one day. I definitely recommend everyone to go there if they have the chance – they will not regret it at all.

Third Destination: The Imperial City of Hué

The last destination of ours in the central part of Vietnam was Hué, a small town just north of Da Nang with a population of «only» 340 000. Though a smaller city than Da Nang it felt like a much bigger city as it seemed better developed and had way more to offer. Hué was actually the capital of Vietnam up till 1945, until Vietnam divided into the communist North-Vietnam who declared Ha Noi as their capital and the non-communist republic of South Vietnam, who declared Sai Gon as their capital.  

Huế is well known for its historic monuments, which have earned it a place in UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. The seat of the Nguyễn emperors was the Citadel, which occupies a large, walled area on the north side of the Perfume River in Hué. Inside the citadel was a forbidden city where only the emperors, concubines, and those close enough to them were granted access; the punishment for trespassing was death. Today, little of the forbidden city remains, though reconstruction efforts are in progress to maintain it as a historic tourist attraction. Other UNESCO sites in Hué includes tombs of several emperors and pagodas.

Jade Hotel – 5-Star Service

The fantastic staff of Jade Hotel:)

In Hué we stayed at the best hotel ever. Jade Hotel is only rated as a 2 star hotel, and the rooms are not the most extravagant – but the hotel had got great reviews on tripadvisor, with a stunning 98% approval (which nowdays would be considered impossible to obtain). It has though to be said: The staff really did not let those reviews come to shame, cause the service and the friendliness of the staff surpassed any service we would have got at a 5-star hotel. Upon arrival we were met at the bus stop by a member of the staff who brought us to the hotel which was located 2 minutes away from the stop. When entering the hotel we were served hot wet towels and even freshly made juice. The staff immediately gave us a thoroughly briefing of what there was to do in Hué and so on. We were impressed in every way, and the best thing of all: They spoke really good English and they were genuinely smiling all the time,showing lots of interest in us, making us feel very appreciated and welcome:)

Especially Kenneth got along with the female staff members pretty well since one of the girls thought he looked a lot like her husband – that is mostly the smile. We got to see his photo and could definitely see a resemblance yes. So it turned out that all the attention was turned to Kenneth while as long as we were staying at Jade Hotel, but that's ok, haha;) Every time we returned to the hotel after having been out we were served hot wet towels and juice. On the day of our departure we even got invited by the staff to join them for lunch, as we were just spending the day in the lobby-area waiting for our night train in the evening to depart. Also, when two of the girls (Elisabeth and Sofie) finished their shift they invited us for street coffee. As they did not speak English very well they managed to persuade Sabrina (another of the staff) who spoke very well English to come along as interpreter. We accepted the invitation, but we wanted to pay for the things we got for us, but they refused to let us pay as they were the ones who had invited us. When we returned to the hotel, Clary and Be who where the new girls on shift in the reception invited us for some local Vietnamese cake, which sounded great to us – though the "cake" turned out to be the local specialties bánh nám and bánh loc, which are mashed and whole shrimp respectively covered in some aspic-like gel... not what we had expected at all when they told us it was "cake";) Though the staff was amazing and gave service way above what is expected from a 2-star hotel. I will DEFINITELY recommend Jade Hotel to everyone who is planning to go to Hué in the future:)

The Citadel of the Emperors

The entrance to the Forbidden Purple City

The main attraction in Hué is the Citadel of the emperors which once housed a forbidden city. Today not much is left of the forbidden city and restoration work is ongoing. We of course had to drop by to check it out, and the Citadel is indeed a very nice area to visit. We mostly did a walk through the whole area and took a whole lot of photos of course. Of course there is a lot of history related to this area... but it is so extensive that I actually did not care to write about it here... haha. I bet any of you who actually read this doesn't mind this either;) So I added just a hell of alot of photos instead;)

Khai Dinh Tomb

There are plenty of tombs to visit close to Hué, but we decided to only visit the most prominent one, which belonged to Emperor Khai Dinh. This tomb was constructed during a 11-year period, between 1920 and 1931. The architecture of the tomb is a blend between oriental and occidental style and represent some of the finest of the Vietnamese art from the early 1900s. We have to agree that this tomb was pretty amazing and every corner of the area was amazingly picturesque. Just gotta love places like this:)

Dining in Hué

In Hué we had several nice dining experiences. For lunch, after completed the visit at the Citadel, we dropped by Lac Thien – The Restaurant of the deaf and the mute for lunch. Everyone who was working at this restaurant were deaf and/or mute and I have to say that it has never been so easy to order food in Asia as it was at this place. As they had menus in English we just had to point at the menu and show amount with our fingers to explain what we wanted to order - and for the first time our orders were completely correct. The waitress even gestured to me if I would like to have the same traditional dish as the neighboring table was having obviously gesturing that it taste great so I should try it, so I said yes I would like to try that. The food turned out to be AMAZING and the service was really effective and even the bill was correct! DEFINITELY go here for lunch if ever going to Hué:) We also tried out other restaurants and we have to say that the quality do differ a lot from place to place – and another advice is not to trust the self promoting writing stated on the restaurant walls – they are not to be trusted at all, but at least we got to taste many of the local specialties of Central Vietnam – so at least I was very happy with that:)

People of Hué

Lovely LaLa and Lovely Me:)

We did not meet many local people in Hué really as we stayed for a very short time here. So we mostly got to "know" and to hang out with the staff from the hotel. Though as we were walking in one the parks along the Perfume River I was stopped by this very lovely girl, who's name in English actually is Lovely Lala, and who spoke English to me. She asked me if I would like to do a conversation with her in English as she was studying English in college and had been told by her teacher to approach foreigners and practice her English by having conversations with them. I accepted and we found a spot to sit down in the park and had a short but nice conversation.

She then asked me if we could have another conversation later, where she would bring a tape recorder and tape the conversation so that she could show her teacher. We agreed on this and told her to come over to our hotel the next day. When Lovely Lala arrived to our hotel she was supershy, as she was afraid that she would be rude and intruding for coming to the hotel and not being a guest, but I tried to convince her that she had nothing to worry about and that we would be sitting in the lobby to have our conversation anyways. It even turned out that she knew Sabrina of the staff from school, so it was all good. Lovely Lala had even brought another friend of her ended up talking mostly with Kenneth, while I had the conversation with the Lovely Lala. So it was a very different but a very nice experience to have with some local people of Hué indeed.

All in all we had a great time while in Central Vietnam – it really really is a beautiful place and the people are really nice and the food is very nice as well. Central Vietnam is definitely a place I would love to return to one day and I definitely will recommend anyone to go to this area. It is a great area to visit if you only have a 2 week holiday as well:) 

puh... that was a LONG entry... ah well, haha.

PHOTOS

Our Hotel: Gold Hotel, pretty nice:)

View from our hotel:) Dragon Bridge in the horizon there...

Dragon Bridge, changing colors:)

Tran Thi Ly Bridge in horizon, behond the Dragon Bridge

Han River Brige, pretty gay, right? 

Karaoke hotels EVERYWHERE!

Chicken Satay - mmm mmm mmm :)

Sightseeing the second day:-)

"Freedom": The opportunity to take your job with you wherever...

:

Proud grandpa, father, uncle.. whatever... 

Very common sight in Vietnam:)

At the Han Market

Happy Girls exploring the market:)

In Vietnam men are ....tight... haha;)

WOW - a rare shot of a car in the traffic:)

Happy Buddha

Another common sight in Vietnam

Good choice indeed:)

Having a beer after lunch:) 

The locals really like to show off their babies indeed...

This funny guy demanded us to take his photo...haha;)

Rock'n Roll Chicken at The Rachel Restaurant:) YUMMY:)

PHOTOS FROM HOI AN

TIME FOR PARTY!!!

Our NICE hotel in Hoi An

sightseeing...

SUNSET CRUISE

CHAM ISLAND TOUR

GOOD TIMES IN THE EVENING:)

MARBLE MOUNTAINS

BACK IN HOI AN

VIETNAMESE ARTWORK

PHOTOS FROM HUÉ

Jade Hotel, FANTASTIC!

Floating restaurant in Perfume River...expensive...

Tring Tien Bridge, changing colors all the time:)

Street market under the bridge

Traditional food: Banh Cuon

Floating restaurants of Perfume River

The sculpture park next to Perfume River and Trang Tien Bridge.

The previous night I though this was a GIANT penis... 

No food market during daytime.. 

In the evening this promenade is full of stands - huge market!

Bridge and entrance to the citadel

Street inside the Citadel

Moat around the Forbidden City.

Kenneth and the girls just outside one of the exit's of the forbidden city.

Annika and Louise from Germany (dont remember who's who? though)

Me and the girls in front of the entrance to the forbidden city.

Vietnamese wedding couple, photoshoot.

Come on girls: JUMP!!!

 Photos from inside the Forbidden Purple City

Lunch at the Restaurant of the deaf and the mute

Hué specilty: Bánh Khoái (mix it all up and then eat!)

Amazing chicken breast in tomato and onion sauce:)

People has been writing greetings on the wall (and ceiling) all over the restaurant.

No cars in Vietnam... 

KHÁI DINH TOMB

Beautiful details on every brick in every corner...

Artwork in the ceiling of the main building (The tomb).

The actual resting place of the emperor.

Jumping jumping... even though I am at an emperors restingplace:)

Some last pictures from Hué

I'll never eat carrot again unless it's shaped like flowers:)

So mysterious... ;)

Traditional dessert/snack: Pineapple dipped in chilli+salt mix

So cute whit his flower helmet:)

Traditional sweet snack: Bánh Tó Dúa

Local lady who sold Vientamese "cakes"

Kennet with Clary and Be:)

Vietnamese "cake": Bánh nam