I recently had a great trip back to Vietnam, it had been about eight years since the last visit, so long overdue. Landed in bustling Hanoi for three days and then on to wondrous Da Nang for 18 days. This is the first time for Da Nang and it is great destination, right up at the top of my list. Here is how it went.
Arrival in Hanoi
I arrived at Noi Bai airport late afternoon. Customs and immigration went smoothly. First decision was how to get to Hanoi Old Quarter area which is about 30 kms from the airport. The economical choices are either Grab Taxi or the express bus 86. Grab was very reasonable at 250,000 dong but I was traveling light so decided to go for the bus, as it was about 1/5 the price, a mere 45,000 dong ($2.36 CAD). The trip went smoothly. I did not have data on my phone but downloaded the offline map of Hanoi so I was able to navigate to my Airbnb using that. It was only about 12 minutes walk from the bus stop.
I liked my Airbnb, it is an older building but even though the room is small, it is packed with features that came in handy, even a cute little washing machine. There was a small balcony where you could watch trains roll by, as it is on the famous train street. It was really worthwhile at three nights for $79 CAD total.
After settling in, the first order of business was getting good eats. I headed out to a place close by that the Airbnb host recommended. I got the popular and very tasty Hanoi specialty called Bun Cha. I love this dish from previous Vietnam trips, though it is a little bit sweet for me to have it very often. It is small meat patties they grill the heck out of, served in a slighty sweet broth. It comes with rice noodles and greens/herbs which you can dunk in to the soup. People often order spring rolls to go along with it but I felt Beer Hanoi would be the perfect accompniment for me. It was really good, and all in, was only 95,000 dong ($5 CAD). This was the first of many very affordable and tasty Vietnamese meals to come.
The next day I had two important missions and the they both turned into struggles. First thing was to book transport from Hanoi to Da Nang, preferably a flight because it is a hella long bus/train ride. I got on the WiFi at the Airbnb and searched for flights. There were only a couple of flights that appealed to me timing/price-wise but that’s to be expected as it was last minute, only two days away. I went on to the airline sites and tried to book but it kept failing at the payment stage. I tried booking every which way for a good hour or two but came up empty. Then I decided to give some travel agents a chance. Last trips, the agents were often cheaper than booking online but this time, no such luck. The agents I tried were 50 to 100% higher than what I saw online. I did find one agent I thought was fair and I told him I would think about it and get back to him later. Meanwhile, I tackled mission (impossible?) 2, getting local cash.
Generally, cash is king in Vietnam. Even many hotels were cash only payment. My plan was to use my Wise debit card for ATM withdrawals but in Vietnam you have to choose your ATM wisely. Haha, that could be in a Wise ad, no? The ATMs in Vietnam have two issues to lookout for. One is the maximum withdrawal can be rather low (like $100) and second, many of the banks charge substantial fees for a foreign ATM withdrawal. I found online that one bank (VPBank) allowed a decent maximum withdrawal (5,000,000 dong) and did not charge any fee. There aren’t that many VPBank ATMs and let me tell you, they were always lined up with foreigners. I got in line at one right in the heart of tourist town but I could see in front of me there might be a problem. Then the family of four in front of me confirmed it, they tried various cards and came away with no cash. I got out of there and tried a different bank ATM close by and that one just plain failed. I put the cash project on hold for a bit.
Frustration was building at this point but then I came up with a good idea. I went back to the travel agent and bought a local SIM card with internet for my phone. This would make it easier for me to search for things when out and about and I also thought the Airbnb WiFi was a bit flaky. He exchanged a bit of cash for me to pay for the SIM and his rate was decent, so if I really couldn’t use the ATM, he could be a backup exchange for me. By now it was evening and I made my way back to home base. I got on the airline websites right away using my phone data and after one or two tries, what you know, I got my booking! I guess the phone internet was a more solid connection then the WiFi. Flight with Vietjet ended up costing $88.42 CAD, not bad for last minute.
The next morning I found another VPBank ATM and viola, I was a millionaire! That was a big relief. A good thing about this ATM is that it is right by the train street where everyone goes to watch the train pass by, up close and personal. I wandered up the tracks into the narrow alley with dozens of cafes/bar lining the tracks and chose a comfy spot to enjoy a coffee and watch the spectacle. Thinking about it, it seems ridiculously touristic, but when you get in there it is actually good fun. You sit down sipping your drink inches from where the train passes.
You can check out my train video here.
One other bit of business I took care of in Hanoi was getting my teeth cleaned. Vietnam has a reputation of having many well-trained, english-speaking dentists at very affordable rates. There was a dental clinic very close to my accommodation that had good reviews. I stopped by there in the evening to see about a cleaning the next morning before I was flying out. The dentist said no problem, just come back in the morning. The price would depend on how much scale there was to deal with. I was bit worried as it was years since my last cleaning in Phuket. I showed up the next morning and the main dentist wasn’t there but a junior one took care of me. The cleaning went well and even with years of scale, the cost was only 300,000 dong ($15.75 CAD), wonderful.
Hanoi was a bit hectic for my liking and three days felt like enough this time around. In the Old Quarter, it is certianly is old and a bit run down. Still, there is quite an energy in the air which is appealing.
On To Da Nang!
I arrived in Da Nang in the evening and, coming from Hanoi, was immediately struck with how modern it was. I caught an electric Grab Taxi from the shiny airport to my hotel by My Khe Beach. The ride was so quiet and only cost 80,000 dong ($4.20). There are two broad tourist areas in the city, by the beaches and by the Han River. The beach is impressive size-wise, being plenty of miles long and fairly wide too. The sand is nice and there is a big walkway with loads of activity like zumba, yoga and tai chi. Both areas where great but if I had to chose one, I would stick to the Han River side. I am not that big a beach guy and the river side had more of a local feel to it.
The river is pretty big and wide with not many bridges across. The main bridge is the Dragon Bridge and it is a bit of an attraction itself. At night it lights up and changes colours and on the weekends around 9 PM, there is a show with the dragon head actually breathing fire! The night we were in that area to have a look, there were also many thousands of people there so didn’t get a real close up look.
The food continued being great. Among other things, had a ton of Vietnamese baguettes, the ubiquitous bánh mì. It was fun trying one from every little cart or shop in neighborhood. They were all good and the day did not feel complete without having at least one bánh mì.
To get the morning going, there was always a Vietnamese coffee close at hand. I have to admit that on my first trip to Vietnam, I was disappointed with the coffee. It is the second-largest coffee producer in the world, so I was expecting big things. There was little espresso or good quality beans available back then, mainly just the strong coffee from the simple Vietnamese coffee maker, the phin. It was sweet and felt strong enough that the spoon could stand up in it. I am happy to say that the local coffee style now is much improved in my opinion, tastier and not so crazy strong. The lastest craze there is salted coffee, believe me it tastes a lot better than it sounds. The salt helps to cut through the sweetness of the condensed milk. There are also more specialty cafes selling good quality beans and coffee, two good ones are Nam Vietnam in Hanoi and Mew Coffee in Da Nang.
Our riverside hotel, Liberty, was in a great location with the river at the end of the block and the very happening Han Market (Chợ Hàn) just a block away. The river has a scenic riverside walkway with much activity at night. The famous pink church was also close by. It happened to be Easter time, so there was loads of activity from morning ’til night. It’s interesting that this is first time in decades I have seen Easter celebrated in such a big way and it was in Vietnam, of all places. The hotel is small, tried most of the room types over the 2 weeks or so and the Double room was a great choice, and only 450,000 dong ($23.62 CAD).
Walking away from the river towards the city center, you can get away from the tourists and get a feel for local life. People are fit and energetic, definitely a younger demographic than Hanoi. They were more friendlly and open than a lot of places and you didn’t feel like they were trying to shake every last dollar out of you. I was interested to see so many repair shops, tailors,etc. They can fix up anything here, you don’t need to throw stuff away and buy new. It was really refreshing to see this attitude.
Conclusion
It was a super three weeks in Vietnam. For my money, Hanoi is good and Da Nang is a great destination. I want to go back! I hope you can check them out on your own sometime. Let me know if you go or if you have any qusetions.