Hue, An Bang Beach, Danang, and Hoi An

Vinh Moc Tunnels and arrival in Hue

We had a quick breakfast in Phong Nha and packed up our things. We hired a private driver to take us over four hours south to Hue. After about two hours, we stopped near the former demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separated North and South Vietnam. During the war, Vietnamese people created several networks of tunnels both for military and civilian purposes. The network we visited was mainly housed civilians who lived within the tunnels for years. The tunnels were two and three stories below ground and mostly too low for standing. It was so sad seeing how people lived during this difficult time. They estimated that 17 babies were born within the tunnels.

One of the tunnels had a snake greeting us at the entrance. Eeek!

One of the tunnels lead to a beautiful beach. The entrance back to the tunnel was likely obscured with foliage during the war.

Our nice driver treated us to a sugarcane drink on the way back.

We enjoyed checking into the "Four Seasons" in Hue. At $22 a night including breakfast, this wasn't your typical Four Seasons. But still, incredibly kind people were running the place and it had everything we needed for two nights.

We were on a mission to explore Hue. We walked down a busy street and readjusted to city traffic. We found a mall where DD#2 had some fast food from a Filipino chain called Jollibee. We don't have fast food often so it's kind of a treat.

Naturally, we found a small craft brewery where we played some foosball with a local.

We used the Grab app (like Uber) to take us to a delicious sushi restaurant. We ordered so much sushi and still spent less than $30. We don't go out for sushi often at home because it is so expensive. It was such a treat.

We ended our travel day with ice cream handcrafted into a rose and a peek inside a cute cat cafe.

Hue's Ancient Citadel

We had a simple breakfast at our hotel. Most Vietnamese homestays offer some version of eggs, a rice crepe with bananas and honey, or possibly pho. You also can pick juices, coffee, and fresh fruit.

We walked about a mile to the Hue's walled-in ancient city. We crossed the famous Perfume River. Before we entered, we were already sweaty and stopped for round two of coffee.

This is the landmark of the city. It is enormous but also very pleasant to meander the traffic-free streets. We took loads of pictures but honestly, some of the pagodas and temples started to blend together after a while. The old city is crumbling a bit and much of it is being refurbished.

We exited the old city for a while and found the most hipster cafe of the trip. Fancy yogurt and fruit juices hit the spot. A classy drink spot like this still runs around $4 for all of us.

We found a boba drink gas station. Ha!

We used Grab to get back to the newer part of town where we had a traditional lunch. Hue has its own special cuisine so we tried some new things. Delicious!

On the way back for a rest, I stopped in a piano cafe and they graciously let me play. It was a beautiful Yamaha grand and I played for nearly an hour. The staff was appreciative and so was I!

I made it back to the hotel and got cozy on the balcony while I worked on this blog for a bit.

We decided for a repetitive evening of craft beer and sushi. Same as last night! It was that good.

The look of mom wearing you out on vacation. She's a trooper!

Travel day to An Bang Beach

I actually went for a morning run! It was in the 80s (felt hotter) and I did a pretty run on both sides of the Perfume River. Hue has beautiful riverfront paths and parks. It felt so good to get in almost five miles.

We had our simple hotel breakfast, stopped at a cafe for more coffee, and killed a little time waiting for our 11:30 van to An Bang Beach, about a three hour journey.

The ride was easy and uneventful. It was fun driving through busy Danang city and seeing the beautiful beach which would be our home for the next five nights. We finally had a two bedroom unit and plenty of room to spread out. This one was just over $40 per night and steps away from the beach. Perfect!

We were starving and headed to the nearest recommended restaurant where we had scallops, a whole red snapper, garlicky morning glory (kind of like spinach), and seafood fried rice. Delicious!

We regrouped and cooled off and headed to the beach. It was very reasonable to rent beach chairs and have beverages on the beach. We stayed until sunset and couldn't believe how the ocean felt like bath water. So warm! It was fun playing in the waves and feeling the sand in our feet. You could walk incredibly far into the sea and still touch!

We were hungry again and had a nice light meal at The Purple Lantern restaurant not far from our hotel. We were already getting into beach mode.

Crazy basket boats and busy Hoi An City

We started our day by taking a Grab taxi about twenty minutes to a coconut grove. We found a recommended restaurant and had our favorite breakfast of the trip. DD#2 enjoyed the cute dog who sat with her. There were swings surrounding the tables and it was such a peaceful setting.

After our leisurely breakfast, the restaurant arranged for us to take two round basket boats out into the coconut grove. Our rowing guides were so funny singing Gangnam Style and saying "let's go, let's go. let's go!" The ride started peacefully but soon we were headed to a basket boat party in the middle of the river.

Once we entered the party zone, there were opportunities to pay a little extra to be spun around in the boats. DD#2 and I switched boats and had a crazy talented rower spin us in circles. It was so fast and crazy! Too bad I'm unable to post videos here. I should also mention that music was blaring and we were far from alone. There were tons of others in basket boats as well.

There were opportunities to sing karaoke and toss a net to catch fish too. They had us pose for pictures as well. It was a very touristy thing to do but it was so fun!

After our adventure, we took another taxi to the town of Hoi An. The town was mobbed with tourists probably because it's so pretty and known for all its lanterns.

We stopped for drinks a couple of times and had a quick lunch at a place Anthony Bourdain visited on one of his shows. I tried the Cao Lau noodles from Hoi An. Pretty good!

We were tired and headed back to our hotel. We spent a little time on the beach and pool, had a simple dinner, and called it a day.

Relaxing Beach Day

Believe it or not, we pretty much took a day off and didn't do much of anything. Well, that's not exactly true. DD#2 woke me just after 5am to see the sunrise on the beach. Unfortunately, there were some clouds that obscured the sun a bit. It was very surprising to see a lot of people on the beach and in the water at that hour!

I went back to bed and woke up to watch USA play Vietnam in the Women's World Cup. It was interesting to be in the opposing team's country! USA won, which wasn't a big surprise. We had a late breakfast. We have been spoiled with some very tasty breakfasts while on the beach.

We had our laundry done and it was funny to see it out drying across from our hotel.

Eventually, we headed to the beach where we rented boogie boards.

I ditched everyone and had an afternoon massage. This was the best massage I've ever had! It started with a complimentary foot soak and ended with fresh fruit. I felt so spoiled! This one was around $15 for one hour.

We ended our evening with pizza and a night walk along the beach. We could see the bright lights of squid fishermen out in the water. Such a nice chill day.

Danang Day Trip - Marble Mountains, Lady Buddha, and Parasailing!

This might be the day with the most pictures and action of the whole trip! We had another hearty breakfast before taking a Grab taxi to the Marble Mountains just south of Danang. These five mountains are filled with temples, caves, pagodas, and scenic viewpoints. We climbed and sweated many steps and took many pictures. It was fun exploring the many structures and trails.

We stopped for coffee and couldn't believe all the marble Buddha and other religious statues being sold. There must have been close to 100 shops selling statues all in a row!

Danang resembles Waikiki in Hawaii just a bit. It's got this long endless beach with high rises everywhere. Many of the high rise buildings haven't been finished. These giant shells of buildings were maybe shut down during covid?

We took another taxi to the opposite end of Danang where a giant lady Buddha topped a hill overlooking the bay and city. She was enormous! This newer-seeming area was filled with pagodas, well-manicured gardens, and views over the city. It was hard to stop snapping pictures.

We were hot and ready for the beach. We taxied to a nice spot on the beach, rented a couple of chairs, ordered beverages and relaxed and swam for a while.

We noticed people parasailing off in the distance and thought of how fun that would be. I realized that one of the parasailing boats was pretty close to our location so I ran down to see how much is cost. I was shocked that it was about $20 per person! DD#2 and I were ready to sign up. What an experience to be pulled right from the shore high up in the air. It was scary but exhilerating!

We ended our beach time and were pretty hungry. We walked through part of Danang and had to stop at the coolest fish market I had ever seen! They were selling everything from shark, eel, various kinds of lobster, to giant potato bug looking things. So fascinating!

We settled on a much less exotic location for lunch where we had traditional bun and pho.

We took a taxi back to our hotel, had something simple to eat for dinner, swam in the pool a bit, and called it a very fulfilling day! I hope to spend more time in Danang in the future.

Vinwonders Amusement Park and Hoi An at Night

After yet another nice breakfast, DD#2 and I let DH have a nice relaxing day by himself. We took a taxi about 25 minutes to an unusual amusement park. The park had rides, a safari zoo, and a giant waterpark all in one! We started with some rides. The roller coasters and swings were really fun!

DD#2 went on the tallest drop ride in Vietnam. It looked terrifying and my stomach was feeling a little iffy after several rides.

This park had some very Disney-esque rides and structures. There was a castle, a ride resembling Big Thunder Mountain, and a Dumbo ride.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this park was the lack of people. It was like a ghost town. There were absolutely no lines and they would operate the ride when you showed up. All of the employees were very friendly and safety-oriented. Sadly, the $25 entrance fee seemed like a deal for us but was probably too expensive for locals.

After tacking the rides, we moved on to the waterpark side of things. The waterpark was huge with more slides than we could manage in one day. It was so hot but we filled a couple of hours racing down a big variety of slides. Again, there were no lines and few people. Everything seemed clean and well-maintained.

Lastly, we went on the safari ride. It was like a real-life jungle cruise. I was shocked at how many animals we could see from our boat ride! There were elephants, tigers, rhinos, giraffes, lions, kangaroos, bears, zebras, ostriches, all varieties of monkeys and birds. Amazing! We stopped and got off the boat twice to feed giraffes and elephants. So fun!

We were worn out and took a taxi back to the hotel to cool off and take a break. Whew!

Eventually, we all regrouped and took a taxi about 10-15 minutes to the center of Hoi An. Boy does the town come to life at night! The town was alit with lanterns and the river was full of boats with lanterns and happy tourists. It was so pretty!

Hoi An is known for its many clothing tailors. Check out the bolts of fabric! You can have clothing custom made in less than 24 hours.

We found a nice place for dinner and tried some local Hoi An specialties.

We wandered a bit, bought a few souvenirs, and found ice cream before heading back for the night. This was a great way to cap off our five nights in Hoi An! Our trip is winding down with just two nights remaining in Hanoi and an overnight stopover in Hong Kong. Stay tuned for one final Vietnam entry.