Ho Chi Minh City gave us a very good first impression of
Vietnam. The people came across as diligent and hardworking, and the country
seemed to have made significant progress in the four decades after the war. We
were at the chaotic Ho Chi Minh airport for the trip to Da Nang where for the
first time the experience was not so good. Our flight was delayed by couple of
hours, and there was no way one could get to know the status. Vietjet the
premier private airline of Vietnam seemed to be much worse than our Indigo in
handling customers.
Also Read: Travelogue of Ho Chi Minh City
We landed at Da Nang two hours behind schedule and it upset
our plans a bit. We were supposed to visit Hoi An the same evening, but due to
paucity of time we decided on an alternative plan. We were famished, and went
for some food straight from the airport. Our guide took us to a place called
Café Bread & Butter. Redeemed after a sausage stuffed croissant and pastry
later, we proceeded to see the city.
Da Nang is the largest city in Central Vietnam located on
the sea. It is the cleanest city we visited in the country, with hotels lined
up along the beach with the rooms providing a mesmerizing view of the Indo
China Sea. It was already late afternoon and instead of checking in we
proceeded to our destination the Monkey Mountain. The journey was short but
scenic, and as we rode up the hill we could see a view of the ocean always on
one side.
Monkey Mountain is named so as it has a large populace of
monkeys. But though we saw a lot of signboards warning us not to feed the
monkeys, we could hardly see any simians there. The main attraction up the
hills is the large Buddhist temple on top, with a statue known as Lady Buddha
towering on it. The statue is the tallest Buddha statue in South-east Asia.
There are some beautiful pagodas on the hill too. Again we appreciated how
clean the place was and posed to take pics at various locations. As dusk was
approaching, we came back to the city and checked into our rooms at Nesta
Resort. Our room had a stunning view of the beach.
Dinner was at an Indian restaurant at a walking distance.
The food was just about OK. Vietnam has a lot of Indian restaurants that is a
testament to the fact that the country is very popular with the Indian tourists.
We spent some time at the beach after a lavish breakfast the
next morning, and soon were on our way to Ba Na Hills. Ba Na Hills is about 20 kms from Da Nang, and
the hilltop has a touristy entertainment park called Sunworld. The journey to
Ba Na Hills involves a long ride in cable car, that provided a grand view of
the sea, the jungle below and a large waterfall. The place was quite crowded
with tourists and we had to stand in a long queue to board the cable car. The
cable car system is one of the largest in the world with a capacity to handle
about 7000 passengers in an hour.
The Sunworld Entertainment Park has something for everyone.
The French Village has many medieval looking French buildings, including a fort
and a church. The Golden Bridge has a structure supported by two pillars of the
shape of human hands. Tourists throng the bridge to pose for pics, flags of
various countries are mounted on one side. Some of us posed with the Indian
flag there.
Another interesting place was Sun Craft Beer, a German
brewery inside the entertainment park, where beer samplers are served as part
of the entry ticket. There were European dance performances within the brewery
that set the mood of an enjoyable afternoon.
Our lunch, again part of the entry ticket, was at a
restaurant that hosted the largest buffet we experienced in Vietnam. The buffet
had an elaborate spread of Indian and Vietnamese food. Apart from this
restaurant, the place has another sixteen restaurants offering cuisines from
different parts of the world.
After visiting Ba Na Hills we headed for what I consider the
best experience in Da Nang, - the small town of Hoi An. Hoi An was a port for
trading during 15th and 16th century, and thus was a
melting pot of culture. Located around 30 kms from Da Nang, it is like a dream
place – all the streets are lit up by lanterns of different colours. Hoi An is
a World Heritage Site as declared by UNESCO and is known as the Banh Mi
(Vietnamese sandwich) capital of Vietnam.
One attraction here is the Japanese Bridge that was
constructed in the 17th century. The river below has boats that
ferry passengers for travel rides, and these too are illuminated the same way
by lanterns. The buzzing food street here serves some delectable Vietnamese
food. You can see exquisite stuff like octopus, frogs etc displayed prominently
in the shops. The buzz the lakeside has is exceptional, with live music blaring
out of the pubs nearby you feel like soaking in the ambience.
We enjoyed the evening and came back to the hotel pretty late. Next morning, we bade farewell to Da Nang for Hanoi to experience the capital of the country.
