Da Nang, Vietnam
My upcoming trip was to Vietnam. It’s my second time there. Last time, I failed to apply for my online VISA properly, so I was cautious this time not to put in any wrong data. As I figured out, their interface is just complete crap and led to my 200$ mistake last time. This brings me to the topic that it’s horrible to see how many official websites are just built with bad practices and are completely inaccessible. I visited the South and North during my last visit to Vietnam, but had to skip the centre because I didn’t have enough time. On this trip, I just wanted to explore the centre.
When I arrived at the Da Nang airport, I checked into a hotel with a very nice rooftop. Vietnam is ridiculously cheap, and this after coming from Kuala Lumpur, which is already quite affordable. After I got the most basic thing to navigate and get around, a local SIM card for mobile data, I had some food and rested. The next day was time to explore.
There are a couple of things to do in and around Da Nang. The city is just on the coast, so there’s quite a long beach for people who like chilling at the beach. There are also a couple of temples. One I was interested in visiting is located at the “Marble Mountains”. It’s quite touristy. Lazy tourists can go up the mountain in an elevator. I always use this opportunity as a workout to climb the stairs, and plenty are up there. On the side of the hill without the elevator, it’s way quieter and there are some hidden caves. Quite a workout to some, but worth it for the view. There are also a couple of temples inside caves. One cave has a hole at the top, and the sun is shining inside, projecting a mark of the hole on the ground. The sun rays are evident in this dark environment. Pretty nice and impressive to see actually.
Another day, an even more famous location was on the list. Ba Na Hills is most famous for its bridge, which is carried by a hand. You’ve probably seen it somewhere on social media. But the full area was impressive. Multiple small cable cars go up the hill. There’s a huge theme park with attractions, playgrounds, restaurants, and hotels. It’s huge, and the famous bridge is just a small part. Each section replicates a certain country, while most of it is France. It looks like a huge film set, but with real buildings. Churches, castles, city buildings, everything. It even looks better (more maintained) than real France. Now it’s also completely clear why Asians dream of France. I preferred walking through the “Fake Paris” on Ba Na Hills to real Paris. A perfect trip and exceeded my expectations. The scale, money and details of this crazy project blew my mind.
Hoi An, Vietnam
The extended weekend ended, and so did the time to explore Da Nang. I rented a motorbike in the city and headed South to Hoi An with all my luggage. The town is another very touristy place with a unique old town.
In Hoi An, there’s a very famous Co-Working Space. I decided to settle there for a month and work from there. As usual, great people and a fantastic community are always present at such top co-working spaces. Numerous activities took place, but there was also plenty of time for focused work. It’s a perfect mix.
I got a lovely room with a view of the rice fields. The place was conveniently located near the co-working space, and the host was very supportive and friendly. The full family was living there, and they had two extra rooms with a bathroom for guests. In the morning, I could order breakfast in the shared kitchen, and sometimes the little daughter came out to talk to me about her Pokémon collection or whatever she had just learned at school. Her English was surprisingly good, although both parents were Vietnamese.
Before I arrived in Vietnam, I hadn’t checked the type of season, and I figured out pretty fast that the rainy season was going on. Luckily, this usually doesn’t mean all-day rain. But this time, it was more than what I’m used to, although still manageable. The raincoat was a fixed accessory on the motorbike. Some morning, the entrance where my motorbike was parked was completely flooded with maybe 10cm of water. Then, I took a quick scooter ride to the co-working area, where I spent the full day. For lunch, they had a kitchen where we got served “family lunch”. I love this, since I don’t have to worry about where to eat or order anything from outside. I can show up in the community area at 1 pm, get my food and talk to the other members – pretty easy and convenient.
Sometimes in the evening, we went out to grab dinner in the old town, a 10-minute drive from the co-working space. The location was perfect. Out in the green, just next to the rice fields in the peace, the city has a very nice vibe, coffee, and restaurants and is very easily reachable. Also in the town, there’s a Pickleball court, where we sometimes rent a court or two to play. It got very popular, and our group grew and grew. A great time to do some activities since I prefer team sports, rather than going to a gym alone.
During my stay, I met two friends from my previous travels. Via their Instagram stories, I realised they were travelling in Vietnam and passing by Hoi An. We had to meet, talk, and grab some food/drinks together. Those situations are always amazing when meeting friends in a different country randomly or with the help of social media.
After a while in Hoi An, I got into a good habit. I enjoyed the regularity, the members of the co-working space, and the location. Everything was very easy and reachable in this small community. A weather warning was upcoming. A typhoon is approaching from the Pacific, hitting right at Da Nang a couple of kilometres North. On the street they used those “propaganda speakers” to inform the locals about the situation and that they should make sure nothing can fly away and secure their houses. Also at the co-working they started to cover the graden with big nets and secure the roof. For us it was an interesting feeling. That’s the first being in such an environment. Much rain was falling, and we didn’t know what was coming next.
Just a couple of hours before the storm was about to hit the coast, things were very quite. Not much wind, very few people out, very child vibes. I was with a local friend at the river in a bar to grab a drink. The river had already a very high level because of the rainfall the days before. It was just about to swap over to the street. But the locals are prepared for such situations; even the electricity (power plugs) in places in danger of flooding are installed on a high level, not on the ground. Then I went home to sleep. They said in the morning the storm arrives, flights from the international airport got cancelled a couple of days before for that day, tourists where leaving North or South by train/bus and I was waiting to experience my first typhoon. The wind started to pickup during the night, I slept well and when I got up in the morning the rain was just about to stop. The family I stayed with was cleaning the leaves out in the garden. The storm was already over, it arrived quicker then expected and I missed it while sleeping.
I went out for a scooter ride in the rice fields and the old town. The water level within the rice fields was very high. It was more like a lake by now, but the streets were still able to pass dry. In the city, a couple of trees didn’t make it. The fell, and locals were cleaning the trees and leaves. It looked like another typical day after a storm. The next day, the city looked normal again. The community manager told me that during long periods of rain, locals use small boats instead of motorbikes to go around the streets because they’re so flooded.
During one of my last weekends in Vietnam, I was ready to do something touristy again and went on a bike trip through the countryside with a local friend. We arrived at the “My Son Sanctuary”, a big Hindu temple facility from one thousand years ago. They were built with red stones and were partially destroyed during the war. On the way back we grabbed some local food by the street on small chairs. Vietnames people get a lot of soup with meat inside. I was happy to be with a local and get food exactly as locals do, that’s almost my favourite part of travelling. Follow the local habits and traditions and learn about it.
