Vietnama: From the Hills of Da Nang to the Tunnels of Saigon....

 

European-style architecture at Sun World, Ba Na

What's travel without fun? It would be like reading our text books.  Innformative, full of knowledge, but totally boring.  I am generally a serious traveller - like a textbook! But, my company wasn't as boring or colourless as myself.  While I was going to 'see places', his idea of travel was 'food and fun'.  So, a plan was made to visit Da Nang before heading to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).   Being the boring person I am, my choice to see in Central Vietnam wasn't Da Nang, but a city nearby called Hoi An, which boasts of being a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  While Sayambhu didn't say he didn't want to see Hoi An, he expressed his desire to indulge in some fun activities, to begin with (before we could do Hoi An).  

Da Nang and Hoi An are located at a distance of about 30km from each other, and Da Nang is where one lands, if one flies in.  After much dilly-dallying, I chose to book our accommodation in Da Nang itself, at a hotel that boasted of views of the beach.  The pictures were seductive and I was immediately sold! Also, it wasn't too far from the airport.  As we drove towards the hotel from the airport, we noticed that Da Nang was a much modern city as compared to Hanoi.  

View from the Hotel Room

Since we hadn't booked for any activities, we started looking at our options after reaching the hotel.  Sayambhu zeroed in on coconut boat ride for the afternoon, at a river near Hoi An.  Little did I know then that it would be the only brush with Hoi An I would have on this trip.  The boats are similar to the coracles we found in India - round, made possibly out of bamboo, yet called coconut boats because they take you on a ride through a coconut forest/grove; but they are more colourful, and the boatman a lot more fun than his/her Indian counterparts. The place was blaring some Bollywood music, thanks to the popularity of the rides with Indians.  The entire waterway was filled with the raucous people on boats, screaming and shouting, as the boatpeople twirled the boats over water.  We found a few young boatmen, dancing to the beats of loud music, as they twirled their boats over water.  

A Joyride in the Waters of Hoi An

One needs to haggle over the price for a ride here; what would cost maybe $6-7 pp will be quoted at, at least $15 to begin with (if you book online, you might get for a lower price too), and they even insist on paying tips to the boatmen/women.  While the ride is fun, it doesn't always leave a great impression when you need to deal with the touts. 

The rains from Ha Long Bay chased after us here too.  So, the trip to Hoi An town in the night had to be called off, and instead we stepped out to eat at a Japanese restaurant, not too far away.  The food in Da Nang beach area is ho-hum, because it tries to cater to the tastes of Western tourists (particularly from Australia); you have Australian pizzas, pasta, and what have you.  Even the food at our hotel (the breakfast spread and the taste) was subpar. An Australian we met in HCMC, said, "But, there's nothing to write home about Australian food!" No wonder the food at Da Nang sucked big time. 

One thing that Sayambhu wanted to see while we were planning the trip was the Golden Bridge in the Ba Na Hills of Da Nang.  I had read enough about it before coming: most of the trip operators offered a full-day tour of the amusement park, of which the Golden Bridge is a part.  I also had read it usually gets terribly crowded in the day.  After much searching, I found a tour operator who offered a sunset trip to the Golden Bridge.  We spoke over phone, and he said the guide would pick us up from the hotel at 1:30pm the following day, and we need to pay her the entire trip money (and we didn't have to pay online, and wonder if the trip was happening at all). 

Da Nang beach

Since our trip was happening post-lunch, we chose to explore the Da Nang beach in the morning, and also indulge in a bit of swimming at the pool.  Paris Deli (our hotel) had the best pool among the hotels we had booked ourselves at.  And, I didn't want to miss out on being in it, and get some exercise for the back.

The crystal clear pool at the hotel!

The guide - Ms Chang - arrived on time.  We by then had exchanged our dollars for VND (Vietnam Dongs) to pay for the trip.  We got into the car, and started driving towards the hills.  Only then did I realise that I had booked a private tour for ourselves, and we had a personal guide to boot.  The entire trip - pick up from hotel to the Sun World entrance, the cable car and costs of rides (except a few), guide fee, and the buffet dinner - cost us about Rs 14000.  It possibly would have cost less if we had taken a group tour (by about 1K per person), but this trip offered us complete flexibility on what we wanted to do, and where we wanted to spend extra time, and what time we wanted to return.  

I was sceptical of paying so much money to see a newly made amusement park as part of a tour.  I went though, hiding my reluctance and misgivings.  All of that was proved to be misplaced.  The amusement park - modelled as a French town with rides all around - was beautiful with those facades of castles, and churches (they even had a miniature Notre Dame too).  The amusement park boasts of the longest cable car ride in the world, and it is only expanding further.  

Riding the World's Longest Cable Car!

What blew me away were the flower gardens that have been created and manicured and maintained so well. It completely reminded me of Europe in the time just before autumn.  The weather too was similar - cool, breezy, and with just that little nip in the air. The place even had cobblestone alleys! 

The Gardens at the Sun World

There is one large hotel (Grand Mercure) atop the Ba Na Hills, and plans are afoot to start another one.  So, those who desire to stay back and soak up the luxury, can make reservations early. The views from atop are lovely. The rides are fun. The buffet is HUGE, with complimentary beers/drinks thrown in.  

Coming to the Golden Bridge.  A walking bridge has been constructed from one end of a cable car station to another, just to soak in the views of Da Nang. It is built to give an impression that it is held by two sets of giant hands in place.  It is the biggest attraction of the place and sees packed crowds through the day. My thoughts of going to the bridge late in the day proved correct, and for a short time, we had the entire bridge just for ourselves!

All for ourselves.  The Golden Bridge at Dusk!

We had initially thought that we would be back at our hotel soon after seeing the sunset from the Golden Bridge. Our plan thereafter was to head to Hoi An and see floating lanterns at the river in the ancient city.  However, by the time we returned it was almost 10 in the night, and we reluctantly gave up further plans to explore, as we had a flight to catch the next day.  However, I didn't forget to wake up early in the morning to watch the glorious sunrise over the sea, visible from our room!

From here, we proceeded to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), the largest city of Vietnam; it was earlier called Saigon, and is known for the resistance of the VietKong against the US military.  Since I was interested in history, we decided to take a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels. People built these tunnels with their hands to fight against the US army, used the bombs that were dropped to fashion weapons and use against the US soldiers. They constructed booby traps using bamboo and not metal! This was the first war of attrition that the US lost, and had to leave any country red-faced. The US lost a large number of soldiers, and they faced stiff opposition back home from public, and had to withdraw from this nation. The tour also offered us a peep into the Mekong delta, and its tiny fishing villages.  

This was also a trip that taught me some lessons that I am not going to forget easily.  More of it in another post. Thanks to flight cancellation (after reaching airport, and spending many hours), we got to stay another day in Vietnam, and that we spent swimming at the huge pool, just strolling about town, and taking some fun pictures. 

Entering Cu Chi Tunnel

Even though there are so many other attractions around Da Nang (including Hoi An, Marble Hills, and Hue), we didn't have the time to see them all, as we were not rushing from place A to place B.  I would love to do all these places if  - no, WHEN - I travel to Vietnam another time. I also have plans to see all those gorgeous waterfalls, rolling paddy terraces, the beaches of Phu Quoc too.  

Never stop dreaming!