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  1. #1
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    Photothread: trip to Danang & Hoi An...

    Inspired by Katie's excellent threads, here's a quick and lower quality version of a trip I took to Vietnam this time last year.

    The wife was in Thailand with some Korean friends,

    Photothread: trip to Danang & Hoi An...-img_0266-jpg

    so I was freeeeee and headed on a direct flight from Incheon with Jeju Air to Danang. Terrible airline... Quite cheap, but not as cheap as it should be, flight times are all early hours, flights are delayed, check-in is understaffed and takes ages, the worst leg-room of any airline I've ever flown. But, the planes are newish and the onboard staff were nice. The airport experiences both ways were absolutely terrible, in a long and slow Q with endless Korean groups - painful...

    Arriving in Danang it's just a short ride to the beach/port/city area which are all adjacent and maybe 20 minutes from the airport - very easy place to get around and taxis are cheap.

    I stayed on an over-priced beach road hotel with buffet breakfast, etc, but it ws still only $40 a night or so. The beach/beach road, and pier (about 1km away):

    Photothread: trip to Danang & Hoi An...-screenshot-2019-02-05-11-56-a

    Above, my hotel was at the black dot and the views were as below.

    I spent about 4 days walking around the area in the Google map box above, around 10kms per day (the temperature was low 20s), eating great food (no pics sorry...) which was cheap and on a par with Thailand in many respects (price, variety, restaurant style, many dishes). I had a lot of work to do, so I took my MacBook and regularly stopped at coffee shops which all had free wifi; better still, the entire city had free wifi - excellent connections.

    Photothread: trip to Danang & Hoi An...-img_0140-jpg

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    (No, I didn't stay here...)

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    Very mellow and enjoyable, but was working, so didn't take many pics, sorry. On the Google maps, the area at the bottom is busier, has many guesthouses and local food stalls, restaurants, markets, etc, so that'd be a better area to stay if you weren't work focused.

    The people were great, the city was so nice that I found myself looking at apartment prices wondering if it'd be a nice spot to retire...
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    Last edited by Bettyboo; 05-02-2019 at 10:07 AM.
    Cycling should be banned!!!

  2. #2
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    It's Hoi An.

  3. #3
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    On the last day, I left the hotel at 9am, took a 1 hour minivan along the beach road to Hoi An (the driver was safe and relaxed - not at all like a Thai minivan...). Spent the day in Hoi An then headed to the airport for my early hours flight.

    Hoi An was great, as in fantastically mellow for just strolling around, having a few beers, sitting by the river, etc. You could easily spend many days here, you might not wanna leave. There's quite a lot of photos, sorry...

    I paid the entrance fee and also a little old fella to cycle me around like a king while the snowflakes looked at my imperialism in horror...




    I'm sure that you all know about Hoi An, and most of you have probably visited there, so I won't go on. If you want info:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hội_An













  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    It's Hoi An.
    It's the firkin spellcheck...

  5. #5
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    It's on the river, boat trips available, coffee shops, restaurants, lots of museums, different style buildings and a market which the locals use.

















    Lots of interesting museums, I'd chatted with me mother about a ship wreck found with lots of Chinese pottery/china, so I enjoyed looking around a museum related to that:








  6. #6
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    ...

    Photothread: trip to Danang & Hoi An...-img_0211-jpg

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  7. #7
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    Some more walking around, the occasional beer, some food, some walking around, another beer, even walked across the bridge to grab a beer then back again for another beer; it wasn't a stressful day...

    Photothread: trip to Danang & Hoi An...-img_0218-jpg

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    One last beer before heading to the airport (for more beer and Xanax...):

    Photothread: trip to Danang & Hoi An...-img_0246-jpg

    Danang airport is so close to town that it's really convenient to fly into. Danang itself is a lovely mellow little city with friendly people, great cheap food and easy to get around. One hour south is Hoi An, but you also have a great train journey north to Hue:



    I had a great time for not a lot of $$$, got my work done, ate well, dod some tourist stuff.

    Highly recommended...
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    Photothread: trip to Danang & Hoi An...-img_0245-jpg   Photothread: trip to Danang & Hoi An...-img_0246-jpg  

  8. #8
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    @betty - thanks for the pics and stories. I might be going to Danang and thereabouts soon. My flights are booked - I'll enter via Hanoi and leave via Saigon. The itinerary for the middle of the trip isn't fixed yet, so it's good to have some ideas. I've been to Saigon 3x, but not yet to the North or Center.

    BTW if you don't mind, which hotel did you stay at Danang? I'll be travelling with company, and we might decide to splurge a bit when we're at the beach. If it's ~40$ then it isn't too bad. Thanks!

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by katie23 View Post
    @betty - thanks for the pics and stories. I might be going to Danang and thereabouts soon. My flights are booked - I'll enter via Hanoi and leave via Saigon. The itinerary for the middle of the trip isn't fixed yet, so it's good to have some ideas. I've been to Saigon 3x, but not yet to the North or Center.

    BTW if you don't mind, which hotel did you stay at Danang? I'll be travelling with company, and we might decide to splurge a bit when we're at the beach. If it's ~40$ then it isn't too bad. Thanks!
    Katie, along the beach are about 20 identical looking hotels with endless Koreans staying in them (all about 10 storeys high, all have buffet breakfast, all have rooftop swimming pools, sea facing views, etc... They are all pretty much the same, here's an example which is currently asking less than $40 per night: https://www.agoda.com/en-gb/seashore...ravellerType=0

    These hotels all organise the minivans to Hoi An; the minivans simply go around the hotels collecting people and there's a variety of times - very easy and cheap (the hotels don't seem to charge a large commission). However, there is a dirt cheap local bus that runs along the beach road a bit more slowly, and would be a nice couple of hours if you're in a group.

    If you make your way (flights or train) to Hue, spend a couple of days there, then get the amazing train ride down to Danang (3 hours), spend a couple of days on the beach then a couple more days in Hoi An (maybe get the local bus there and the minivan coming back) then you could go from Danang airport south. There's lots of places to visit, but Hue, Danang and Hoi An would be a shame to miss, imho.

  10. #10
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    Any cycle hire available Betty? Seems a pity to sit around on the laptop, drinking beer and getting fat. Beats all that walking.

    Interesting thread, thanks for sharing.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    Any cycle hire available Betty? Seems a pity to sit around on the laptop, drinking beer and getting fat. Beats all that walking.

    Interesting thread, thanks for sharing.
    You can certainly cycle around Hoi An; stay in great little guesthouses 10 minutes walk from the heritage site and cycle around town. Hoi An is quite nice outside the heritage site too, and lots of people walking around mellow with white clouds rising from their self-rolled... I met a friendly French/English couple, bought them a beer and they gave me a rather large reefer in return. As I got in the minivan to head back to Danang, smiling merrily at the 10 Chinese tourists alongside me, I could hear them whispering 'ganja' and seemingly worried as the Vietnamese driver had a little chuckle to himself.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by katie23 View Post
    @betty - thanks for the pics and stories. I might be going to Danang and thereabouts soon. My flights are booked - I'll enter via Hanoi and leave via Saigon. The itinerary for the middle of the trip isn't fixed yet, so it's good to have some ideas. I've been to Saigon 3x, but not yet to the North or Center.

    BTW if you don't mind, which hotel did you stay at Danang? I'll be travelling with company, and we might decide to splurge a bit when we're at the beach. If it's ~40$ then it isn't too bad. Thanks!

    Hi Katie, don't know if this is any help :

    I did the Hanoi - DaNang - HCMC tour a few years a go. I flew between the locations on internal, one way flights which all worked out well. Flew into Hanoi, flew out of Saigon.

    When in DaNang I stayed in the CHU Hotel (https://www.chuhotel.com/home.html) which served the purpose - clean, comfortable and (at that time) reasonably cheap. I booked it through Booking.com. it was a good base for the beach, plus the afore-mentioned trips to Hue and Hoi An, both of which I did. maybe different now but I had no complaints at the time.

    One extra little experience I had (no no, wait...) - I met a local on the plane from Hanoi who suggested a few things to visit (the Thien Mu Pagoda, on the way to Hue for one) and we met with her room mate for dinner the following evening. I was taken to an 'off the beaten track' restaurant, clearly locals only - how did I know? well when I entered, the whole place fell silent (it was packed), and I was the only non-local in the place, and the pricing for the dinner we had was also the local not tourist price ie bloody cheap). It pays to strike up conversation with the locals, you can often benefit for something that you would never otherwise have done.

    (I ended up doing English comprehension voice files for the HCMC University Exams too, but that's a whole different story!)

  13. #13
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    Great thread Bets, I like Vietnam and plan on more visits when i retire. Its got quite a bit more expensive hotel wise in the last c10 years but still overall a bargain IMHO. What the hell is with the zanax ?.... by the time you've got up to altitude you've be coming in to land...

  14. #14
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    @toot - Betty is afraid of flying and loads up on Zanax or alcohol before a flight. It's a well known fact on TD, aside from his love of goats (and now his gay mac book).

    @betty & Thai dupp - thanks for the tips. My IT for the Vn trip is still not set. I'm in charge of making the IT (since my friends trust me on that) and they'll just approve it.

    I don't know if we'll do a Ha Long Bay tour in Hanoi - seems like 3.5h one way and I don't know if my friends are keen on sitting on a bus or minivan for that long. From Hanoi, we're planning to take the night train to Hue (for the adventure of it). Tour Hue, then take the train to Da Nang. Explore Da Nang (and maybe Hoi An) then flight to Saigon, tour Saigon and fly home.

    I've been to Saigon 3x, since I have family there - I'm half Vietnamese and I look generic South East Asian. No problem in looking like a local in SEA. I can also speak a lil Viet, so no problem with striking up a convo with the locals.

    Cheers and thanks!

    BTW, I made a thread of my VN trip (Saigon, Vn 9 years after) a few years back, if anyone's interested. I don't know if the pics are back up - Photo bucket seems to have restored the links to some of my threads.

    Edit: pics are back up. Thread here

    https://teakdoor.com/vietnam-nepal-an...er-2005-a.html (Saigon, Vietnam nine years after (2005 & 2014))
    Last edited by katie23; 05-02-2019 at 01:08 PM. Reason: Added link

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bettyboo View Post
    You can certainly cycle around Hoi An; stay in great little guesthouses 10 minutes walk from the heritage site and cycle around town. Hoi An is quite nice outside the heritage site too, and lots of people walking around mellow with white clouds rising from their self-rolled... I met a friendly French/English couple, bought them a beer and they gave me a rather large reefer in return. As I got in the minivan to head back to Danang, smiling merrily at the 10 Chinese tourists alongside me, I could hear them whispering 'ganja' and seemingly worried as the Vietnamese driver had a little chuckle to himself.
    Having come close to being strip searched on my first trip to Bali, I would probably avoid the ganja. Even though I only carried prescription meds, it was clear they take that shit very seriously ��
    Cheers for the amusing reply anyway.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by katie23 View Post
    From Hanoi, we're planning to take the night train to Hue (for the adventure of it). Tour Hue, then take the train to Da Nang. Explore Da Nang (and maybe Hoi An) then flight to Saigon, tour Saigon and fly home.
    Sounds like a great plan; you'll have an excellent time.

    Hoi An can be done for a day trip or half day trip - you really should go if you have time; it's much better than my photos convey!

  17. #17
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    ^thanks for the tips. OK, will include Hoi An in the IT. I've seen other pics of Hoi An especially the yellow buildings - looks nice for a pleasant stroll around town. Cheers!

  18. #18
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    I was in Danang and hoi an over xmas. Danangs an amqzing city. Good food cheap beer weather wasnt great at that time of year but had fun none the less. Gotta get around to bunging up a thread

  19. #19
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    A timely thread as I've booked to go there in June.

    I'm staying a bit further up, pricier but then again I did book a suite with a balcony so no surprise.

    Photothread: trip to Danang & Hoi An...-danang-jpg

    My intention is to rent a car and go exploring, especially to the site of the Battle of Khâm Đức. It's a three hour drive, so I'll probably find somewhere to stay overnight as well.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Photothread: trip to Danang & Hoi An...-danang-jpg  

  20. #20
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    Looks like your in a good location harry. We stayed in my khe beach but a street back from the main drag. 15 bucks for a family room. Tonnes of seafood around for her indoors . Love all the war stuff to. Go to haivan pass for that and spectacular views of beaches with no resorts yet. We drove from lao to vietnam and close to the border is khe sanh. The scene of a brutal battle . They have set up a museum which is fucking interesting. Ive really gotta pull me finger out and post up soon while its still fresh in my mind. Did download a bunch of pics onto imgur the other day but still trying to figure out how to get the pics of my samsung and wifes pics.. im a lazy mofo coz not workin at the moment but the beers gettin in the way of a good story.

  21. #21
    I'm in Jail

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    Gotta say im pretty happy with the ease of downloading onto imgur and posting. Still free. But for how long.?Gave up on the photobucket mother fuckers. Even used to pay them until they started asking crazy dollers. Whilst i understand they have a big server to maintain they could of been less sneaky with the way they went about treating existing customers. Perhaps Smooci adds might of off set there costs?

  22. #22
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    5,000 kip beers. You know I'm thinking about it.

    Lucky bugger.


    fish

  23. #23
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    Inchon is kinda cool as far as airhubs go. Lots to look at that's for sure.

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by fishlocker View Post
    5,000 kip beers. You know I'm thinking about it.

    Lucky bugger.


    fish
    Happy days buddy. It aint a bad deal at all. In anyones currency. I just run out after wallowing in the pool on an usually hot day for this time in febuary but thankfully mrs bld saw the delimma and re stocked the fridge. Gotta make yer own luck sometimes. Im gonna swirl a few of them wobbly pops for bothof us now. Hope it ai t to cold in wisconsin . Lurve to the family

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