My Trip to Vietnam: Hoi An
Smack bang in the middle of Vietnam lies the city of Da Nang, one of the fastest growing cities in Asia. Given its location, it divides the country’s topography and has ancient trading routes established making it one of the country’s vital cities. It served as an important port and roadway connection and was one of the most important army bases for South Vietnam during the Vietnam war. In addition to its commercial importance, the area near it contains many important historical cities, like the ruins of My Son, the ancient city of Hue and the old town of Hoi An.
Hoi An is an interesting tourist destination, it was the old important port before the development of Da Nang. Its importance led to an amazing fusion of architecture, foods and other influences from all over the world. Sounded like my kind of place. So here we go.
Day 1: On the way from Da Nang I was fortunate to meet another exchange student studying at NTU from Turkey, so we shared a cab back to the old town of Hoi An. I stayed at the Tribee Kinh Hostel which was recommended to me by a friend and I highly recommend it if any of you make it over there.
The great thing about the hostel was that every evening they had socializing activities, followed by a happy hour. That day it was a food tour of the nearby street vendors. During the tour, I had the opportunity to meet and interact with many people, each with a more interesting story than the other. People from all over the world who had been in Vietnam for varying amounts of time, ranging all the way from people who had just arrived to folks who had been there for 3 months. Perhaps this is one of the best things about travel, in addition to the places you get to visit, the people you meet make up so much of the experience. The diversity of ideas, motivations, and stories which share the common intersection of being at this one place, at this one time.
The rest of the evening was spent socializing at the hostel’s common room, playing a plethora of card games. The amazing thing was that people would introduce a game called “X”, and then start explaining the rules, everyone at the table would admit to having played it in their own country but would tell us it was called “Y”. Each country had some special variation of the core game, which made it all the more fun. For example, the game “bullshit”, was also called “cheat”, “I-doubt-it”, “bluff”.
Day 2: Early in the morning, after having a simple breakfast, I rented a bike along with a few other travelers, and we headed off to An Bang Beach which was a 15-minute ride away from the hostel. The ride was quite picturesque once we were done navigating the city traffic; there were endless rice fields on a backdrop of hills. The beach was a good respite from the sun; the water was cold and shallow making it fun to laze around in for a few hours.
A few of us from the hostel signed up for a Vietnamese cooking class, our guide took us to the local market showcasing to us the fresh ingredients we would be using to cook with. Afterward, we went on a boat along the Thu Bon River where I had my first experience of driving a boat. I just asked the boat driver if I could try it. He just handed me the boat and left for a cigarette. A rather unnerving, but fun experience.
After the boat part, we went into the cooking school where we learned 4 different Northern Vietnamese dishes. Now I don’t wanna toot my own horn but my Pho was good.
After being back, I took an hour-long nap before heading out to see the Old Town. The city is famed as “lantern town”, and it falls nothing short of its reputation. Hundreds of lanterns light up the old town every night. At the market, the bars, the rivers, the boats. Everything was lit up. While I did take a few pictures here, none of them can do justice to what Hoi An looks like at night. It is something one must go see for themselves. But just because I’m nice, here is a good picture someone else clicked that you can check out.
Day 3: Probably my favorite day in Vietnam. So a little background here, Top Gear had shot a special episode where Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond make there way from Ho Chi Minh towards the north of Vietnam on motorbikes. Their favorite location was the Hai Van Pass, one of the most crucial roads in Vietnam historically it was vital for carrying important freight across the country. Since the road was so important, the government built a shorter route by creating a tunnel for the majority of the traffic. Leaving about 21 kilometers of the pass, one of the most well maintained and stunning roads virtually empty. The pass was about 70 kilometers away from my hostel. So I woke early in the morning and after renting a motorbike headed off in the direction of Da Nang.
Since my phone wasn’t working I had to keep a lookout on the direction I was going in by following the road along the beach and taking the longer way. In hindsight, this was the best thing that happened because many other travelers had complained about Google taking them through obscure streets because it would get them there faster, but these were not scenic at all. I on the other hand had a view of the water for the better portion of my journey.
Even with taking the longer scenic route, I made it to the pass in good time. The road was everything I had hoped for and more, just one amazing view after another. I enjoyed it so much that I ended up going back and forth on the pass 3 times.
Now I didn’t know this back then, but in Vietnam, you aren’t allowed to drive over 70 kms/h(44 miles/hour) even on the highway. Suffice to say I broke that law more than a few times, even getting stopped by the police! But that’s not a story for the Internet.
The only reason I probably left the highway and headed back to the city was me getting food poisoning from this delicious noodle dish I had on the side of the highway.
Suffice to say, accessible restrooms are not something abundant on that stretch of road. I’m sure I set a new speeding record searching for one. Regardless, the Hai Van Pass was one of the coolest things I did in the country.
After getting back to Hoi An, I had a Spring Roll making class offered by the hostel before the Happy Hour. But soon, oh too soon the night came to an end and it was time to bid farewell to the city and the great people I met.
With my head full of memories, I’ve wanted to return to Hoi An ever since I left it a year ago! It was hard to say goodbye or as the Vietnamese would say: Tam Biet Hoi An! I’ll be back soon enough!
This is Part 2 of 3 of My Trip to Vietnam, you can find Part 1 here
