(Dec. 21-31, 2023)
This is the 2nd time I visited Vietnam. I have visited Southern Vietnam (only Ho Chi Ming & Nha Trang) once over 10 years ago. This time I wanted to visit Central and Northern Vietnam instead. It was a Christmas trip to celebrate myself and my best friend’s 45th birthday.
DA NANG
Da Nang was the first place that we visited in Vietnam this time. Due to some booking mistake, I had to take Vietjet (a local airline) from Hanoi to Da Nang in early morning, unknowingly my local flight was cancelled and changed to 2 hour later, I was stuck in Hanoi airport for 4 hours in early morning, instead of staying in my warm bed in a little hotel near Hanoi airport. I compensated myself with a bowl of traditional Vietnamese beef noodles (“pho”) as well as a large “white coffee”. That was when I first had culture shock with “small” cup of very thick and bitter coffee, which is like double espresso, with some sweet condensed milk at the bottom. It was nothing white (no real milk) and nothing large (like espresso). It was a lot of caffeine alright!
By the time I walked out of the small but busy Da Nang airport, I had another culture shock. I got into a bright yellow meter taxi, thinking that it should be reliable, but upon arrival, the taxi driver asked me for additional tips on top of what the meter said. Later I met my friend who used “Grab” app at much better and fixed price. Since then, we always either take “Grab” or negotiate for fixed price based on “Grab”.
We decided to spend our first day on Da Nang wondering at beach side and cafes. It was quite relaxing, but it was rainy & cold. Strong waves kept hitting the beach, and we could only see grey sky. It was much different from the tropical resort that we were expecting.
At night, we went to one of the biggest night market in the area (Son Tra Night Market). It was crowded with people, endless streets of stalls going all directions. Some were selling popular souvenirs, some were just selling clothes and other necessities. However, what interested us the most were the food stalls, selling interesting street foods and drinks that we had never seen. They are quite creative and attractive. Actually, we came for the seafood, which did not disappoint us!
Many stalls already have sets of raw lobsters/oysters/shrimps etc. and price tags in them. As soon as you choose what you want, they would cook it right away, even with very nice local seasonings such as peanuts/garlic/soy sauce etc. They would even give you a free dish of vegetables.
There were many plastic low tables and chairs at the open common area. You can sit anywhere nearby. The stall that you has ordered from would soon bring you the just-cooked seafood and dishes. It was just a fulfilling meal at such reasonable price!
SUN WORLD & BA NA HILLS
(https://www.klook.com/en-HK/activity/4809-ba-na-hills-day-trip-da-nang/?spm=TNA_ActivityList.Activity_LIST&clickId=b768afd0fb)
Next morning, we booked a tour from Klook to take us to Ba Na Hills. It was just around 30-45min ride to the cable car station. It was nice to see the countryside & local houses of Vietnam, which were much different to all those hotels and shops at the beachside.
The entrance of cable car station had a unique Time gate, very long hallway, through some Chinese-style elegant gardens and ponds. The cable car ride was very long. We could tell that it passes through mountains, valleys and rivers. Unfortunately it was a cloudy rainy cold day. We could almost see nothing except for the thick white cloud.
After we arrived Ba Na Hills, we visited the famous Golden Bridge, with huge hands, feet and other body parts. We also visited other sections, such as Helios Waterfall, French Village, Debay Wine Cellar, Eclipse Plaza and Lunar Castle. The area was so huge, easy to get lost. Even in such bad weather, all the features still look magnificent. I am sure the cable car ride and all these features would have looked amazing on a sunny day.
That day, we did not return to town with the tour. Instead, we booked us a night at the gorgeous Ba Na Hills hotel, so that we can enjoy the magical night view and illumination at night.
After enjoying one of the richest buffet lunch in my life (uncountable Vietnamese, Chinese and Western cuisines, desserts and drinks…) at a restaurant that took the whole floor, we found our way to our hotel through many gorgeous French-looking buildings.
Our hotel did not disappoint. It looked super classy. The fact that it was first built as a French resort in 1914, then continued to expand and re-built. Later, even cable car was built for it. Each floor has a different style lounge. Some part look like came out of a Harry Potter movie. Our room had dark red walls, old furniture and a very cozy sitting area next to the window. It was perfect!
Although it was freezing cold & rainy, we enjoyed a lovely afternoon in our beautiful room drinking hot tea, having girl talks and taking selfies… When it became dark, we suited up with our down jacket, hat & gloves, and braved out against the cold air.
It was like a totally different world outside. All the French buildings and church were illuminated with light music at the background, very few walking people. Shops were all closed, but it was so beautiful like a magical world outside. We walked back and forth on the foggy streets taking photos, amazed by the heavenly scenery…
Eventually, we stepped back into the hotel, but it was already closing time, so we ordered Vietnamese soup noodles, Vietnamese coffee and cake to our room. Yes!! We had room service as our dinner!!
Next morning, we had the most luxury breakfast buffet at the grand hotel restaurant. There were various freshly baked bread and cakes, salad bar & other western cuisines as well as numerous tasty Vietnamese cuisines that I had never tried before. The Vietnamese buffet always served their famous soup noodles and Vietnamese coffee that I love. This breakfast buffet even served “Bánh mì” (French bread sandwiched with barbequed meat, vegetables and some Vietnamese Herbs), and my favorite passion fruit. It was wonderful!
We said goodbye to the beautiful Ba Na Hills, took cable car (still foggy outside) down the Ba Na Hills and took a cab back to town. Then we visited Han market, had a yummy local lunch at the market, and visited the Da Nang Cathedral. Unfortunately it was closed for Christmas event preparations, so we just admired the unique pink church from outside of the gates.
Da Nang Cathedral was surrounded by busy streets of restaurants and cafes, so we tried egg coffee and coconut coffee at a lovely cafe (Namto House Coffee) and had really cheap but super tasty meat ball soup noodles (Bún Bò Bà Phước) as dinner.
Back from Ba Na Hills, we returned to the same hotel as we had before, in front of the Da Nang beachside area. This time, we had a better room with window overseeing the beach. We could see the same waves from afar both day and night.
Also, surprisingly, this mid-range hotel had very nice breakfast buffet. All the employees of the hotel were always cheerful and helpful. They also served the breakfast and every details with care. I was impressed how warm and kind they were, and how much they truly enjoyed and respected their jobs.
MY SON & HOI AN
(https://www.klook.com/en-HK/activity/13563-my-son-sanctuary-hoi-an-join-in-day-tour-da-nang/?spm=TNA_ActivityList.Activity_LIST&clickId=29de026aa0)
Next morning, we joined a My Son Sanctuary and Hoi An Day Tour from Klook. My Son Sanctuary was larger area and more sophisticated than I imagined. It looked like Angkor Wat of Cambodia that I have never visited, with ancient stone structures and detailed Buddhist-looking sculptures and engraving. It was eye-opening. We took too much time looking around, almost missed that music show. The music show was included in the entrance ticket, and it was really interesting. No only performance of traditional musical instruments, but various types of dancing. One dancing that I particularly enjoyed was some women dressing and dancing in poses that resembled the goddess in the My Son sculptures.
After that, we had the afternoon wandering in the busy Hoi An Ancient Town. It was a South-East Asian trading port back in 15th-19th century. There were beautiful Chinese-style yellow-walled houses everywhere along the streets and at both sides of the river. Some boats were there to take visitors for a ride, and visitors can even put paper lotus with candles into the river from the boats at night. It would be a beautiful view, but we did not stay until night. However, we still enjoyed a relaxing time in one of the teahouse there.
It was our last night in Da Nang, so we had a big seafood dinner in a proper restaurant. Ended up the amount for enough for a whole family (maybe 4-6 persons) instead of us 2, but the shrimps and crab was not as great as the seafood that we had in the night market before.
HANOI
We took a local flight in the morning to Hanoi. Hanoi is a much busier town than Da Nang. We always had a hard time walking or crossing the streets. There were always endless traffic with uncountable scooters. Both the cars and scooters did not care or stop for the traffic signals. They just occasionally paused for the people, if the people were really right in front of them. We were not as brave as the locals or some Westerners, so we always had to wait for long time till some cars making turns or some other people crossing…
We first had lunch at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant recommended by our beautiful boutique hotel. It was indeed a good choice. We loved both the beautiful wall painting and the nicely-decorated and delicious cuisines.
Then we went to visit Hoa Lo Prison. It was shocking to see the dark history of Vietnam, how the political prisoners were treated, and how much they had given to up to overthrown the ruling of French, to their own country…
Then, we visited St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Hanoi. Construction began in 1884, with an architectural style resembling the Notre Dame de Paris. It is the oldest church in Hanoi. There were busy streets full of cafes and restaurants around the church. We sat at the 2nd floor balcony of a café, which could oversee the beautiful church illumination at night. We ate Bánh mì and Pho on the streets as dinner. Then, we returned to another café across the street from the church. This time, we sat on the low chairs outside of the café to enjoy coconut coffee with view of the church…
NINH BINH
(https://www.klook.com/activity/25773-hoa-lu-tam-coc-day-tour-hanoi/)
We joined another Klook day tour to Hoa Lu, Tam Coc, Mua Cave Day Tour from Hanoi. Our tour bus took us to visit Co Do Hoa Lu. It was the ancient capital of Vietnam during the 10th-11th century. There was a very large, ancient Chinese style garden with temples, ponds and many gates. It was very well reserved, but not overdone and colored, like many ancient temples in China and Japan. It aged elegantly, which I most appreciated. I did not like Chinese temples when I was a child, but nowadays I appreciate ancient structures more and more.
After a local buffet lunch, we rode sampan boat, cruise along Tam Coc and passed through many caves of Hang Ca, Hang Hai, and Hang Ba. The boat ride took about 90 min. It was the longest boat ride I ever had in my life. Typically, a boat guide would sit at the end of the boat, holding an umbrella to shield the sun, and then row the boat with their feet. Their rowing motion by feet were so smooth, speedy and stable that it was simply amazing to watch, and they all row like that for the whole 90 min. without stopping.
Just before entering each cave, the boat guide would smoothly close their umbrella, and after getting out of the cave, they would open the umbrella again. The caves all have very low roof, just enough for the boats to pass through. We could often touch the roof of the cave with our bare hands, and the interesting inside walls of the caves through faint light-up inside.
The boat ride cruised between many mountains, bridges, villages, rice fields, birds. The landscape and scenery was so beautiful that it was never boring in the 90min ride, and we almost never repeated the route. That was how large the Tam Coc area was!
After the boat ride, we hiked up 500 steps to the Lying Dragon Mountain, which was very steep and not easy to walk even through there were stairs all along the way. However, the scenery at top of the mountain was amazing. We arrived just before Sunset, so we would see the sunset on top of beautiful rice fields and mountain landscape. Even though we did not have enough time to visit the Mua Cave, it was well worth it.
At night, we often walked around Hoàn Kiếm Lake, also called “Sword Lake”. It is surrounded by beautiful quiet park and various popular districts in Hanoi. It also has illumination at night, with Thap Rua (a Golden Turtle god) at the middle of the lake, a perfect place for romantic walk. We often passed by Trang Tien Plaza, which was another popular place for eating and gathering at night.
There were not only benches, but also low plastic chairs lining at the lakeside. It was a unique view that you would only find in Vietnam.
Next to some expensive hotel district, there was a large park and plaza, where many people played music and enjoyed social dance at the open area at night. It was an unusual yet delightful view.
VIETNAMESE COOKING CLASS – ROSE KITCHEN
(https://www.klook.com/enHK/activity/8713-rose-kitchen-food-tour-cooking-class-hanoi-halong-bay/?spm=TNA_ActivityList.Activity_LIST&clickId=7c889abfa8)
Next day, we had a Vietnamese cooking class with Rose Kitchen. Rose Kitchen picked us up and together we visited the local market and bought all the ingredients that we needed for the cooking.
And then, we returned to their shop, which was so elegantly decorated, with spacy cooking and eating table. We were welcomed with warm Lemongrass Honey Tea, which was so delicious that we refilled again and again.
After cutting many ingredients one by one for long time, we mixed some traditional Vietnamese style salad, seasoned, made and grilled the meatballs, rolled and deep-fried the spring rolls. We had a very rich and delicious lunch with Hanoi beer, and Egg Coffee. It was fun and satisfying.
At the end of the lesson, we were surprised to be provided with complete set of Vietnamese Recipes. It contained so many Cuisines, Desserts and Drinks. Although we may not able to find many of the Vietnamese special ingredients at home, I would love to try a few of them at home anytime!
That night, we had dinner at a French restaurant (Duong’s 2 Restaurant & Cooking Class) in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. The Old Quarter was lovely, full of restaurants and cafes and people. It was clearly a place to enjoy at night. We sat next to the 2nd floor window of restaurant, overlooking for busy Old Quarter, enjoying the delicious French cuisines blended with Vietnamese ingredients. They were refreshing and enjoyable.
SA PA – TREKKING TOUR SAPA
(https://trekkingtoursapa.com/trekking-mountains-villages-1day/)
That very night, we booked an overnight train (King Express) from Hanoi to Lao Cai Train Station. If leaves every night at 10AM and arrives at about 6AM, so it takes about 8 hours. We booked a 2-person cabin, but due to over-booking, our cabin was already occupied. Luckily, our agent was present at the station, negotiating for almost half an hour, finally they led us to another cabin, just 10 min. before the train left. It was quite a panic attack! However, during travel overseas, these kinds of problems often happen. It is important to always keep calm and find help and solution at the spot.
The train ran narrowly next to busy towns, highways, shops and buildings. We were amazed that we could look into people’s homes and restaurants, running right next to cars and scooters… It was quite an unusual experience, especially with the night view. Eventually, it turned to quietness and darkness, so we went to sleep on our thin mattress.
Before dawn, the train already arrived Lao Cai Station. Outside of the simple train station, there were already full of taxi drivers and people holding signs and yelling names. We eventually found our driver, who led us to a little minivan. Along with other tourists, we drove pass the interesting Sa Pa town to our Trekking Shop.
Our tour started from 9AM, so we walked across the street to a recommended restaurant for breakfast. To our surprise, a restaurant innovated from old building, but it was beautifully decorated with Christmas and Western decoration. It even had a little drinking bar and some fireplaces to keep us warm. We had some wonderful Vietnamese coffee, banh me and dumplings there.
Although there were rain boots and trekking poles for rental, we did not expect the trekking between rice fields to be so hard. We just went with our normal trekking shoes. We were soon proven wrong.
Our tour guide was a Hmong ethnic minority lady from the local Sapa villages. She was smart and athletic, speaking quite smooth self-taught English, and walking with wooden stick. The beginning of the trekking was already tough enough. The route was narrow and steep, with densely grown plants and muddy ground. It was not easy to proceed. Soon, I already had to borrow 2 wooden sticks to help me. Later, we proceeded to higher ground. The route became easier, more open space and we could see many cows feeding themselves freely at the highland area. It was cool and foggy. We could barely see the beautiful mountainous landscape around. Still, it was an impressive view for us. Later, fog gradually cleared. From top of Sa Sen mountain (about 1900m), we were able to see the whole Muong Hoa valley, layers and layers of stunning rice terraced fields.
After lunch at local village, we continued to trek through a few local villages, seeing local plantation and home-grown animals. It was much different from where I live. The villages blended in beautifully with the landscape. It was such a peaceful place to live. The trek took us 6-7 hours, about 10km. It was much longer and meaningful than I expected. Although we did not have enough time to visit the highest mountain in Vietnam (Fansipan mountain, 3143m) and the waterfalls, I was already well satisfied.
At evening, we returned to Sa Pa town for dinner and shopping, while waiting for our overnight bus back to Hanoi. Sa Pa town seemed to be a popular resort area, full of colorfully illuminated hotels and restaurants. We even found a supermarket to buy souvenirs. There were many expensive seafood restaurants, but already enjoyed the best seafood in Da Nang, we just chose a reasonable-priced restaurants for local Vietnamese cuisines. It was New Year time. Behind our table, there were 2 large tables, with big families and kids running around, preparing their rich hotpot dinner.
After dinner, we walked along the peaceful Sa Pa Lake a little, and found another café near the bus station to have warm coconut coffee and enjoyed the glamour night view.
The overnight bus was booked by the trekking shop. We did not know what to expect. Ended up it was an interesting bus with “Love Cabin” for couples. Our cabin was just a narrow 2-person bed with curtain. It was so narrow that we hardly had space for our bags. Inside the cabin, it was full of Hello Kitting and Heart decoration. We also only had one seat belt to share between us. It did not have toilet inside. We just took nap, stopped by toilet once. It arrived Hanoi in the dark, about 3AM, much earlier than schedule.
Since it was actually quite safe and peaceful at center Hanoi, we just took 20 min. walk back to our hotel. At 3AM, the streets were finally emptied from people, cars and scooters. It was so much easier to walk than daytime. I actually liked it. At our little hotel lobby, the glass door was locked from inside, but a doorman was sleeping on the couch at the little lobby. He woke up immediately, saw our room card from through the glass door, he opened the door for us without question. We returned to our comfortable hotel room and bed.
Our 2nd hotel in Hanoi was cheaper and much simpler than the 1st one (the beautiful boutique hotel with rich breakfast buffet), but it still had a very clean and spacious room with 2 wide beds, at the city center, and most of all, it had the most elegant balcony, with colorful building view in front of it. It was picture-perfect and we loved it.
The last full day in Hanoi, we decided to take it easy, just walked around the streets by ourselves. However, visited a local Vietnamese restaurant (Huong Lien), where ex-president of US (Mr. Obama) also once ate there. It had Mr. Obama’s table showcased at a corner. This restaurant only had a few dishes, but it was full of customers. We ordered the pho and fried egg rolls as everyone else. They were indeed very delicious and good price.
We visited our favorite ice-cream shop and bakery (Givral Cafe) in Hanoi once again. It has been there since 1958. The bakery was decorated like Paris street view, with the best meat pie! The ice-cream shop was actually located in a big lounge next to it. The big lounge was also beautifully decorated with various wall paintings. It was always full of customers. I loved their “Dorian” and “Green Rice Milk” favor ice-cream.
We booked a French restaurant (La Badiane) and ordered a French full course for our last supper in Hanoi. At the entrance, we could already see the French cook and his team of local cook busy working in the kitchen. The staffs were all Vietnamese, but they served and explain their menu professionally. Also, they chose a different to go with each cuisine. All the dishes were carefully decorated and excellently prepared. I had the most perfectly-cooked steak (medium-rare, soft and red, but not bloody). It was probably the best joyful French dinner I ever had.
In this 10-day trip, I learnt so much more about Vietnam than my last visit. I would love to visit Vietnam again, taking the Vietnam Railway to recover other towns along the coastline from North to South. There are still so many more places that I would love to visit next time!