Bagpackers to Da Nang & Hoi An Vietnam

It has been almost 3 years away from any flight. Travelling will always and forever be my excitement. Before MCO strikes, i have planned and ready to fly to a wonderful place in a country within 2 days before the official lockdown on March 2020. My flight was suddenly canceled due to sudden lockdown. It was such a disappointed moment to know that we need to cancel the trip. We have booked the hotel, prepared the itinerary and get ready our stuffs & gears. Well, i guess we can plan again in a few more years in the future after the lockdown is over. So we got the refund back and that's fine. During that time, the flight ticket was super duper cheap and way too much difference than the current price. It's okay.

But now, after we have reach the endemic phase of Covid, a lot of countries have re-opened their border and accept tourists to their country. So, this year, i have a last minute travel plan that was actually i-am-a-lucky-girl to get some cheap flight ticket to travel to Vietnam. I've booked the ticket 3 months before i go to that country. The flight ticket was on sale and it is a great bargain because the price is included flight + hotel with 50% discount. Finally after so long, we could grab cheap flight price. I bought the flight + hotel on the spot and never look back..LOLLL! It was super duper cheap!! Totally worth it. Me and my friends we excited to be flew again after so long. We've planned to visit Da Nang and Hoi An at Vietnam. We wanted to cover and explore 2 cities in several days. Of course we are bagpackers traveler and we travel light. As usual, before the trip begin, i will do some research about the places that we will be going to visit and prepare the itinerary to have a smooth journey. Yeah that's me, i will do my own itinerary before head up to a trip. It is better to have a plan than just attack without any purpose so that you will have clear mind & thoughts.

For your information, you do not require to do RTK or PCR test to go to Vietnam. But your are encourage to apply travel insurance incase anything happen or for emergency purpose. 

Tips to Vietnam:

- mask is not compulsory

- must be vaccinated (well actually they do not check your vaccine certificate at the arrival/immigration/custom, but if you are unlucky maybe they will look for your vaccine certificate)

- valid passport

- travel insurance (encourage to apply)

- no Covid test

- the custom/immigration/arrival have temperature detector

- install their MySejahtera-thingy-app

Although some of the travel tips & requirement of visiting Vietnam as mentioned above have been announced, i rather prepare all those things to be ready if bad situation arise. The day before the journey is the day that we were very excited. Well of course, it has been almost 3 years we are not travelling across countries. We booked the ticket and hotel 3 months before the travel period. After done packed, i did final checklist to make sure that we not miss anything. The passport, vaccine card, travel insurance, itenarary and our hotel receipt. 

Our flight was at 10.30am. It was 2 hours journey. We reached to our destination at 11.30am local time. For your info, Vietnam time zone is 1 hour late than Malaysia. The travel journey was great. Although it has 1 hour late than Malaysia, Vietnam has an early sunrise and sunset. 6am in Vietnam is seems like almost 8am in Malaysia and 5pm in Vietnam is like 7pm in Malaysia. We reach to Da Nang airport with no issue. We passed the customs with no issue. They only checked our passport and we are good to go. The first thing that we did were buying a simcard which cost VND200k with unlimited data. Then, we quickly get out from the airport and book a GRAB to go to the Motorbike Station. Yeah, we already booked the motorbike there which is famous and great reviews from all travelers around the world. The owner is very friendly and informative. The service is awesome and price is reasonable too. Well, it is easy to travel in Vietnam by using a motorbike because it is more cheaper than using tour guide or GRAB. We save a lot during this travel. The motorbike is eco-friendly-saving-fuel type. We fuel up full tank and it can be used for 2 days eventhough we travel back and forth to Danang & Hoi An.

Tips to rent a motorbike:

- copy of passport

- have a motor license

- pay deposit

- compulsory to wear helmet

- the pay rent is including insurance

- the road & driving/riding direction is opposite from Malaysia. They follow American style. So, driver is on the left. Remember!! Do not go the wrong way during driving or riding on Vietnam road.

It was a little confuse to ride at Vietnam due to the different direction than Malaysia. But then we get used to it and it's fine. After we've done with the motor bike renting at Motorbike Station, we straightly head out to the Da Nang city. Our first stop was to fill up our belly with food because we were extremely hungry. We went to the famous halal restaurant at Da Nang. It is known as Thia Go Restaurant Da Nang. The food there is a local pure cuisine and highly recommended. We ordered a lot. We ate some of their signature dishes which is delicious & tasty. We tried Banh Xeo, Bun Bo Nam Bo, Le Bo Bun and Goi Cuon. The portion of the food are big and make our belly full. Our tummy is happy. The food prices are reasonable too. For those who are going to travel to Da Nang should come to this restaurant! Then, we continued our journey to the Cathedral Da Nang which is not far from the restaurant around 5minutes. It is an old cathedral building that has pink colour and beautiful architecture. We wanted to take a close up photo of the building but the gate was close. So, i only took some photo from outside of the gate. 

Next we went to explore Son Tra area. This area is famous with their fishing village which you can see when u pass by the road along the beach.  You can even see a lot of fishing boats park near the beach. We ride the bike and went to Son Tra Linh Ung Pagoda while enjoying the blue ocean view along the way. It is located near a mountain which is opposite to the ocean view with 639m above sea level. It is one of the biggest attraction in Da Nang and build on Bat Bai beach. We can see the pagoda statue from far because the statue is massively tall in white color. It took around 15 minutes to reach there from Da Nang town center. After reached there, we parked our bike at the parking area and it is free parking. There is no entrance ticket to enter the pagoda monument  to explore Buddhist culture. For your information, there are several buddha temple and pagoda in there. The pagoda contains a complex buildings including the main hall, ancestor's house, lecture hall. library, cafeteria, Arhat statues garden and an observation deck facing the wide ocean view. We enjoyed our time there, take photos, sightseeing the view and visit the tallest Lady Buddha in Vietnam. Our advice to visit this attraction is to wear light cloths, comfortable pants, choose a pair of walking shoes, bring sunscreen, hats, umbrella and drinks because it is situated on the mountain and you need to climb a bit. It's worth to climb and experience the beautiful view. If you are lucky, you can see monkeys there and near the parking terrace. You can give the monkeys food and take a selfie with them. But, be careful. Then, on the same route, we can visit the Giant Banyan Tree that have been there for ages. However, you are recommended to ride with a bike because the road is narrow and kinda steep. Some location at this road is not suitable  for car access. The banyan tree is just along the road. The Ban Co Peak also is a famous attraction among tourist. It is famous with the Confucius Statue. You need to pay 2000VND for parking but the Ban Co Peak entrance is free. Once again, ride a bike is very very recommended.

After done exploring the Son Tra area, we head back to Da Nang town and top up our fuel. We planned to go to Han Market. The purpose to go there is to go to Tourist Information Centre. The centre has been developed for tourist around the world that come to visit Da Nang. You can take free Da Nang & Hoi An maps, free vouchers, variety of free discount coupons and list of interesting & informative attractions around Da Nang & Hoi An. So, if you plan to visit to Da Nang don't forget to take your freebies at this tourist centre near Han Market. After that, we looked around and window shopping at Han Market. The market is so huge and a lot of stuffs. I didn't know where to start and which shop to visit first. We bought some stuffs there but not much because we planned to spend time our golden hour a.k.a sunset at My Khe Beach. We have plenty of time & day to shop at Da Nang. Actually we were more excited about that beach. For your info, My Khe Beach is one of the beautiful and nice sandy beach in the world and the most beautiful white sandy beach in Vietnam! We spend time at the beach until the sunset gone..LOLL. Then, we head back to Hoi An because our homestay is in that area. We ride to Hoi An from Da Nang by bike and it only took around 30 minutes. We enjoyed the sightseeing along the journey to Hoi An.

I would like to introduce briefly about Hoi An. Hoi An is on another district. It is not in Da Nang. Hoi An is part of Vietnam. It is one of the UNESCO world heritage sites. It is a famous ancient town that is well preserved from 15th to 19th centuries. The buildings there and the streets plan reflect the influences, both indigenous and foreign, that have combined to produce this unique heritage site. It is far difference than Da Nang. Da Nang presents itself as a modern Asian city while Hoi An more to historic and European feel. But, i can see the cultural & traditional signatures of Vietnam in Hoi An, especially the people, food and architectures. We arrived at out homestay around 7.30pm. Our homestay is near the Hoi Ain town. We checked-in, refresh and rest awhile before we proceed to explore Hoi An town at night. Luckily, i've planned to go to this trip during the lantern & mid autumn festival. So, we have the opportunity to celebrate and enjoy the festival here. For sure we never regret at all because it was super duper awesome and colorful festival. We could see and experienced the real celebration that is actually happened in Vietnam. We get ready and ride to the center of Hoi An town to experience the festival. The street at Hoi An reminds me of Malacca. It is quite similar with Malacca street and Jonker Walk. After arrived at Hoi An town, we parked our bike in one place and take a walk to explore the ancient market and festival. The vibe there was so fun, busy and full of excitement. A lot of people on the street and a bit jam there. We walked around the Hoi An village to enjoy the festival. A lot of colorful lights & lanterns there. The nearby Hoi An river also full of lanterns and colorful boats with lights & lantern decorations. We took an opportunity to take photos, videos and see the culture & heritage there. The lantern decorations were so beautiful! The buildings there were great and unique. There are a lot of stalls, cafes, restaurant, street foods that have variety of cuisines. Besides that, there were many shows and activities due to the mid autumn festival such as lion dance, Vietnam's cultural performance, dragon & fire show and game show. We walked around to see the festival closely although it's a bit crowded. You can even ride a boat and light up a candle just like the Tangled movie! Superb awesome right. A lot of people did that. They light up a candle and put into a mini craft board/paper and let go to the river. After that, we grabbed a bite and go back to our hotel to have good sleep because tomorrow we will spend our whole day at Ba Na Hills and explore Da Nang nightlife.

Next day, we woke up early and had a simple breakfast only. We were so excited to go to Ba Na Hill. We started our journey at 7.30am. No need to worry. In Vietnam, they receive early sun light because the sun shines early. Ba Na Hill is 1hour and 30minutes away from our accommodation. We rode a bike to go there because we wanted to enjoy the view along the journey. That day was a very nice weather. Clear sky, cool breeze and sunny. Perfect for motorbike ride. During the journey, we enjoyed seeing the Hoi An & Da Nang in daylight. These cities seems like a peaceful & calm city. It is very suitable to relax our mind and just live the life. The journey to Ba Na Hill was smooth and amazing. We could see the greeneries and mountains along the route. We reached to our destination around 9am. We parked our motorbike at the parking area near the entrance. The parking is free. Then, we proceed to the counter ticket to buy the theme park ticket. The ticket include with the cable car return ticket. The price is 850000VND.  The ticket also includes all the entertainment & games in the park too. There are 105 games you can play. Yeayy! Lets get in to the Sun World Ba Na Hill Park and enjoy the day!! For your info, the cable car here is the longest & largest cable car in the world. It takes around 20minutes to reach the top of mountain. It is really worth experiencing. We go up and down the mountain along the route. There are different view of cable car station and you can choose which station you want take path. The temperature at Ba Na Hill is between 16-19 degree celcius. The are 3 stations of cable car. Each station have their own uniqueness. Such as Dream Spring Station - Ba Na Station, Hoi An Station - Marseille Station and Toc Tien Station - L'Indochine Station. The Toc Tien-L'Indochine holds several world records. It has the longest one-wire sling, greatest elevation, longest unpatched wire & heaviest cable roll in the world with view of beautiful Toc Tien waterfall. Well of course we chose to ride this station. It's the world's breaking record! Sun World Ba Na Hill divided into 3 parts. The mountain top part have Tru Vu Tea corner and Spiritual Zone which have Pagoda and temple. Lower part where you can visit the Linh Ung Pagoda, Le Jardin D'Amour Garden, Debay Cellar & the famous hand bridge named as The Golden Bridge. The bridge is the hotspot to every tourist, bench mark and main attraction of Ba Na Hill. You need to come early to avoid the crowds. We visited the lower part entirely, shoot photos & videos and enjoyed the mind blowing view there. Next, the upper part which locates the French Village and Fantasy Park. I think we spend the most of our time here than other part. These area are huge! I think we spend more than 3 hours here. We wen to French Village first. It is a beauty. The buildings and architectures are magnificient. The, we proceed to the Fantasy Park. We played all the games..Urgghhh alot! Tired but so fun and really excited to try them all. The best game is the ALPHINE COASTER!!! You guyssss pleaseeee try the ride pleaseee! It is super duper bomb awesome fun thrill and adventurous game ever. I really reallyyy damnnn enjoyed alottt!! *big grinnnn* I took a single seat to ride the coaster. Actually you can choose to ride in single or couple. But i choose single seat. You need to control the coaster speed by yourselves by grabbing & holding a handle near the coaster. The rail of the  Alphine Coaster is around the green area and sometimes you will pass through fogs. Ya, the surrounding is a bit foggy when it comes to afternoon. Oh my God, the ride is damn AWESOME! Please don't forget to try Alphine Coaster when you go there!! After done with the Fantasy Park, we went back to French Village again to have a very late lunch. We were so sooo hungry. There are a lot of options of food to eat. Most of Vietnamese food at Da Nang or Hoi An have variety of vegan food. We ate happily and chilling for almost 1 hour at the restaurant. After that, we went to a show near the French Village for awhile, walk around the Sun World, feel the cold air and fogs because the fogs is more thicker in the evening. We went to the Golden Bridge again before we head back to cable car. We wanted to see the Golden Bridge for the last time and during foggy weather. We chill for a sec and took different cable car route for our return. We choose to ride the Ba Na Station. It was really foggy during our return journey by cable car. I could see that the Ba Na Hill is surround with various of mountains nearby. Guess what, the mountains here have been filmed in the King Kong movie! The mountain view here are perfect and scenic. Okay, we are done with Ba Na Hill. 

At 5pm we headed back to Da Nang city. We planned to go to My Khe Beach to swim and watch sunset there. Sunset at Vietnam is early. It is around 6pm. So we don't want to miss the chance and of course My Khe Beach is one of the famous and beautiful beach in the world. After reached to the beach, we park our bike, quickly changed our clothes and jumped into the water. We were having a good time there until 7.30pm. Then, we grab some dinner at Kebab Ngon. It is 6 minutes from the beach. This food station is recommended by Trip Advisor and popular among tourist. We ate Banh Mi Meat, French Baguette Veggie and Banh Mi Chicken. The food taste is so good! We really happy with the food and we were full. After done with our dinner, our next visit is to the Dragon Bridge. Every Saturday & Sunday, there will be fire & water show at the bridge at 9pm sharp. Night life at Da Nang is really different with Hoi An. But before that, we went for sightseeing at the Da Nang city at night to experience and observe the night life there, colourful neon light on the buildings and pass by the Thaun Phouc Bridge. It is the longest suspension bridge in Vietnam. We also pass by the Han Bridge. Every bridge has different design and decoration of lights. The final bridge that we've been waiting for is the famous Dragon Bridge. Precisely at 9pm the show started. It starts with fire and end with water. We did not expect that the water show is big. LOLLL..all people were wet because of the water show. I managed to take videos of fire show and water show although i am fully wet on the bridge..HAHAHH! Who cares. It is once in a blue moon only. But it was an amazing experience. All people are having so much fun there. We are very satisfied with the moment. Then, we went back to our hotel, refresh and rest to continue our activities for the next day.

The day afterwards, we had several places to visit. But first, we started our day with delicious morning breakfast. We didn't planned to go which café we want to have breakfast. We just googled "morning breakfast near me" and we found the highest recommendation which is Rosie's Café just 2minutes form out hotel. Cool! The café is located at the corner of a road. The interior and design is cute and looks cottage-wooden vibe. A lot of tourist having their breakfast at this café. At first we couldn't find empty seats. Lucky us that a group of European tourist just finished their breakfast. We got the table and ordered our morning breakfast. We ordered big plate of English breakfast and a plate of pancakes mix with variety of fruits & maple syrup as our meal together with Vietnamese tea & coffee of course. It was a great breakfast and we were full! We continue our expedition to Marble Mountains around 9am. It took 30minutes from our hotel to the mountains. We were very excited to start our journey and hiking to that spectacular mountains. It also known as 5 elements mountains because of 5 mountains exists around this area such as Thuy (water), Moc (wood), Kim (metal), Tho (earth) and Hoa (fire). Those mountains are from marble and limestone. Several Buddhist and Hindu sanctuaries can be found. We also found many statues or raleighs around here. We explored all mountains so that we wouldn't miss anything. It is FOC. Previously, these mountains are known for stone sculpture making ad stone-cutting crafts. However, it has been banned recently to protect the mountain. All mountains have caves, numerous tunnels and you can climb the summit of Mount Thuy. And of course we climbed to Mount Thuy. The view was amazing! We can see the Da Nang City and the ocean. You will be happy and no regret at all after you reach the summit. There are 2 summits of mountains are worth to hike. First is Mount Thuy and the second is Heaven Gate. Please climb to these both summit for you to be amazed with the view and God's creations. Usually most tourist will only reach to the top of Mount Thuy only. My personal favorite is the Heaven Gate. It feels like i'm at the top of the world! To see the big blue ocean, clear blue sky, the city view, the greeneries view with the wind breeze peacefully. Next, my personal favorite cave that is worth to visit and explore is the Am Phu cave located at Thuy Son. This cave is astonishing! Well of course you need to climb up to walk inside the cave and you will se a big and little high staircase to go down and enter the cave. I said it is an astonish cave because when the sun light up on top of the cave, then you can see beautiful sun rays pass through several cave's ceiling holes. It feels magical! I freezed at the moment to see the view. The sun ray was perfect and make me fall in love. To get the perfect sun rays view, you have to arrive to this cave at afternoon between 12pm to 1pm. You will never regret after the heat & sweats. Don't forget to bring your own mineral water because the mineral water that they sell at the mountain is expensive. After done, with the hiking and exploration, we went down and chill for 30minutes to have some fresh coconut drinks. Guess what, i also bought a marble bracelet and it is so cute *happy face alert!* Then, we make our way back to Hoi An and had a late lunch.

We took our lunch almost 3-4pm. Our lunch was located at Minh Hein Vegetarian Restaurant at Hoi An. We all ate the Vietnamese signature dishes for our lunch. The vibe of the restaurant is classic and old school. It is surrounded by books, wooden storage books, old magazines/posters and the furniture are 70-80's vibe. Very cool. We ordered cao lau and hoanh tanh sup mi. All food in this restaurant are mostly the local food of Vietnam. The prices are reasonable too. We're happily ate at the restaurant and chill for awhile before continue with our expedition. After done with the food we continued our journey to the most exciting activity ever. It is Basket Boat Tour at Hoi An. The very iconic activity in Hoi An. This is the most fun activity that i've been waited. We rode our bike to the location. The journey to this basket boat from  Hoi An centre is around 10 minutes. But, guess what! During our journey, when we almost reach the location, a woman with a motorbike approached us at the middle of the road. She actually knew that we are going to the basket boat tour. I think she is a tour guide or an agent. She told us about the activity, price and package. Then she brought us to the location. It is inside a village and obviously you can't find it by yourself. Luckily we follow that woman. If you are not from the locals, you may not easy to find the location. It is located inside the village, among their houses and at the end of the village route. 

After we reached the destination, we could see a lot of unique basket boats nearby the river. The basket boat is feature in circle shape, made from interwoven bamboo, strong and waterproof. It was so beautiful. We were so excited to ride the basket boat. It is the most interesting attraction among tourists when they come to Hoi An. It is a MUST TO TRY! We quickly hop on into the boat. The boat driver also prepared for each of us a traditional Vietnam's hat to wear on head. It is so cool! Local people propel it with paddle while sitting on the boat and brought us sight seeing along the river for almost 1.5hour. Along the river we saw a lot of Nipa or water coconut trees. During the ride, we were entertained by the local's songs and some stories about the basket boat. The boat driver even let us to try to propel the boat along the river. Well guys, it was so hard to propel the boat. I tried but the boat is hardly to move and static..HAHAHH! I think this job need skill & experience person to propel it smoothly. The journey with the basket boat ride was full of excitement, enjoy and cool breeze at evening time. It was almost started to sunset so we get to see the nice environment, sceneries and feel the golden hour moment. Then, far away at the middle of the river, we saw many basket boats and tourists were having fun, singing, local music was on and some boats are spinning around. It was so loud and seems like in the pub..but actually you are at the river. *big grinnn* Our boat driver brought us to that area. We enjoyed so much to see the activities especially the spinning boat activity. One of my friend tried that game. You just have to sit inside the basket boat, hold on tight to the sit and the experienced boat driver who did this game many many times before will control the boat and spin the boat sooo sooooo fast by using his paddle only!! OMGGGG! *adrenaline rush* I only record a video while my friend enjoying the game. It is fun but i'm not interested to try it. What if I accidently let go of my hand from the sit, ohhhh shit, it will never be good...HAHAHAH! *just my little imagination* After done with the game, the boat driver brought us to another spot. This time, we went to see the river mini concert at the middle of water coconut rivers by just sitting on the boat. There is a small floating stage made from timbers & bamboos. A lot of basket boats were parked in front of floating stage to see the mini concert by local people. We watched the show for awhile. Then, we continued our boat ride to next stop and enjoying the river view which it started to sunset. We took some photos during the golden hour. We even tried to paddle the boat to go back to the jetty. It was kinda difficult to paddle but it was an awesome experience. 

We head back to Hoi An town. We wanted to explore the Hoi An Cultural Village in evening time. The buildings there were so beautiful during the sunset. The reflection of the golden hour lighting and the buildings colour so damn nice! Literally perfecto! Together with the trishaws passed by the road between the cultural shops were splendid. I felt like i'm in different time. Seems like time travel to the old times. The vibe was so great. We spend some couple hours on that area to enjoy the moment for awhile. Then, we went back to hotel to change our clothes and continued our journey to Ang Beach. We wanted to chill and swim at the beach on sunset hour. The beach is pretty near to Hoi An town. We spend few hours there until the sky is dark. A lot of stalls along the beach which have turn on their colorful lights. There are looking great and vibrant. We were just chilling, lay on the sand and feel the ocean breeze after done with the beach-swim-activity. We felt hungry. But we wanted to eat like a few simple street food only. Therefore, we went back to the Hoi An Night Market to find some local street food. There are various of local street food you can try here. I am so excited to try the stick rice grill. Really wanted to taste it. We found few hawkers that sell the stick rice grill there. I tried 1 pack and the taste was yummy. I've never taste such street food before and i love it. Besides that, we were so lucky that they are organizing a Vietnam traditional BINGO game during that time. We purposely went to the game to see and experience the Bingo game culture here. It was quite interesting although we weren't understand at all. But, a lot of tourists came and stop by to see the traditional game. After done with the game, we continued our street walking around the night market and we spotted a unique and interesting craftwork! Guess what, a man makes few face figures which have been handcrafted few bamboo tree's root. It was superb brilliant. I spend time a few minutes there to see the amazing handcraft work. Then, we back to our hotel and packed some stuffs before went to bed.

The next day was our checkout day. We returned back the motorbike and walked to nearby breakfast spot. We had a really big breakfast or i can say it as brunch i guess. We ate all vegan big breakfast and those were so yummy and delicious. We were so full. We really enjoyed our breakfast so much. Then, we continued to walk to H&M souvenir shop to buy several souvenirs, food and delicacies to bring back home. The shop is very near to the  My Khe beach. You can see the beach from the shop too. We even get nice discount from this shop. There are variety of items & Vietnam's food there.  After done with the shopping, we booked a GRAB to the airport. Yes our holiday is almost to an end. We felt damn happy throughout these days. It was a beautiful and full of adventures holiday. We never regret. 

I am so ready for the next country to be visited soon. Stay tuneeee.......~

Do visit to my travel photos in my Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/LIMIPHOTOGRAPHY) to see my journey to Danang and Hoi An.