Getting a taxi is nice and easy, and within seconds we are off into the relaxed traffic of Da Nang; the drive to our hotel is 25 minutes - anywhere else in the world it probably be more closer to 15 minutes.
After checking in we are taken to our villa by golf buggy, our driver gives us a tour then leaves us to enjoy our home for the next 4 days. It's amazing!
Lunch was missed today due to our flight, so late afternoon it's champagne and olives. Life is hard!!
For dinner we take the golf buggy to the one restaurant; sitting here listening to the waves crash against shore while the amazing moon raises - a great way to end the day!
Wednesday, 30 September I'm woken early by the sun. It had been a fairly short night as I had the noise of a bloody mozzie going all night. Not impressed!
Breakfast is at the same place as dinner last night; a lot more people are around.
We retire back to our villa for the day; jumping in and out of the pool. Heaven!
At 4.30pm we take the shuttle bus into Hoi An; the temperature seems to have increased tenfold but perhaps that is also due to being fully dressed rather than in togs!! Close to the drop off point we have a collision with a motorbike - the sound is awful!! Mum and I look away. A beer is definitely needed now.
Within seconds of getting out of the shuttle bus we are pounced on by a lady; I have absolutely no idea what she is trying to tell/sell us and am not interested, time to move on from here. We wander into the Old Town and enjoy just meandering around the streets. It's definitely touristy here!! And hotter than hell, absolutely zero breeze and with concrete places it's even hotter.
It's beer o'clock finally, I decide to head back to the main part of the old town and head upstairs to watch the sun setting. A sight I never get tired off!
We wander the streets more before heading off to Morning Glory Restaurant (which reception had recommended) for dinner. The place is packed, always a good sign. We're told to come back in 15 minutes. We do as we are told and when we return are immediately taken to sit down to wait. Thank goodness there some kind of a/c machine in front of us!!!
Dinner is amazing! Very likely the best meal I’ve had in Vietnam so far.
It's time to head outside to cool down, although going on the air temperate prior to arriving I can't see it would have dropped at all.
We wander away from the river, out of the old town and within seconds are surrounded by taxis and cars. It's been pleasant having a break from them. A taxi is located and within minutes we are off - homewood bound.
Walking inside our villa is heaven - lovely and cold! Such a contrast to what we have been walking around in. Mum and Dad both have a swim.
Thursday, 1 October I'm awake far too early for being on holiday!! This morning we are off for a cooking class in Hoi An.
After a quick breakfast we take a taxi to Hoi An; it’s a pleasant 25 minute drive which would be a lot quicker if the driver drove at 100 km’s an hour. But this is Vietnam so 100 km’s per hour just doesn’t happen.
The cooking school (Miss Vy’s School of Cooking) is part of the same company that we ate at last night (Morning Glory) so I know it won’t disappoint! After cooling down over a cold drink and under a fan it’s time to head out with the group to the “main” part of Hoi An to visit the morning market. We get onto a small boat, aah a cool breeze!, for a short 10 minute ride to the market. Our guide takes as around the market which is in full force – I’m trying to look left, right and straight ahead yet still feel like I’ve missing things.
Mum and I get an iced coffee to go – ooh so tasty! We head back to the market, by boat; on return getting a tour around the small markets. Mum is brave and tastes pig brain…..no thanks I’ll stick with the silk worm salad. Thankfully it’s a lot tastier than it sounds!
Now it’s time to cook
We are split into groups of two and after watching the tutor we start. First up is cabbage soup. This is never something that I think “ooh tonight I’m going to make cabbage soup” but boy it is tasty!! PHOTO
Next up making the marinate for our chicken. We are each given a vegetable to put on the end of the skewer, wise idea as it means once the chicken is cooked we all know which one ours is. Not quite as fun preparing and not eating (even though the eating for this will come later). We move onto making a Vietnamese pancake. Not as easy as I had expected, but I suppose if you are making hundreds a day you would get used to it.
Finally it’s a mango salad to go with the chicken. The sauce we can make as spicy (or in Dad’s case less spicy) as we want. Before heading downstairs to enjoy the chicken and salad we are each given a gift of the local knife that we used to cut the mango (as well as the recipes). No excuses now to say we can’t prepare the salad as we don’t have the knife. PHOTO
We wander back into the Old Town, the temperature hadn't dropped at all! The streets were so different to last night where every man, dog and cat seemed to be out; today they had all escaped the heat. Wise people! After stopping for a cold drink along the water front we decided to head back to the Villa earlier than planned (we had booked for the 5.10pm shuttle) - it was far too hot to be wandering around; our swimming pool was calling!!
On entering our villa the cold air from the a/c hit us; heaven!! We all literally jumped into the pool within minutes of being back, only issue was the water was far from refreshing; it was like a hot bath. A nice, cold beer helped it to feel colder :)
For dinner we called the golf buggy and headed back to the restaurant. Our day had been awesome but we are all pretty whacked so this suited us just fine. Thankfully we aren't here for a week as I would be close to being over this restaurant.....
Friday, 2 October Mum wakes me at 9am - finally a sleep in!! We head over to the restaurant then return to our villa to relax; read, swim, read, swim. Life is hard!
We decided to head to the restaurant for lunch, instead of getting room service. The dark clouds are rolling in and the lightening has already started....not ideal when you are on holiday!!
Mum and I finish our game of cards then wait for the golf buggy, the heavens open!!! There goes the afternoons plan of sitting by the pool relaxing....instead it's sitting inside :)
Early evening we head into Da Nang to meet Clare at the Novotel Hotel - the view from the Sky Bar is amazing, you can see for miles and miles.
For dinner we head around the road, where Michael joins us. A great evening!!
Saturday, 3 October I wake to rain - a shame but it's our last day (well morning) here before returning back to Saigon so thankfully it didn’t happen on day one.
I didn’t want a repeat of what happened at Saigon airport when we flew here so had checked us in online yesterday – no need to stand in a long line again
The flight to Saigon passes quickly. We had booked a different hotel to where we stayed earlier in the week, so after getting in a taxi line we are off! Day is changing into night which means a lot more people are around. The peace and quiet of Da Nang and Hoi An is well and truly over!
We drop our bags in our apartment then head out for a walk around the area. It’s a tad dodgy so it’s speed up walking to get back to the hotel. It’s our last night in Vietnam and I didn’t want this to be what we remember so it’s time to head more into district one. We take a taxi to the Sheraton Hotel and walk to a bar I’d been to before. Great for people watching! And even better is you don’t get pounced on from the sellers walking the streets.
After dinner it’s back to our apartment – a massive difference from the apartment we had up north. Thank goodness we didn’t spend the whole time in Saigon here.
Sunday, 4 October we are all awake early. After a sub-standard hotel breakfast we got a taxi and headed to the airport. Our week in Vietnam has ended far too quickly! Back to Hong Kong we go……thankfully we have another trip to look forward to in 4 days.
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