Finally after getting laid off for 3 weeks, I decided to leave the States and go back to Asia after more than 3 years.
Day 1
After changing my flights twice, I decided to skip Korea which I originally planned on visiting. In part was due to expense that I wasn’t willing to pay both to have to buy a ticket from NRT to ICN and ICN to DAD, but also potential extra cost due to being on the Thanksgiving week.
I paid 75,000 Aeroplan points plus CA $68.10 ($50.80 US) for the fees. Booking the flight was straight forward since there’s a chase promotion to get 30% more points. Availability from the SEA -> NRT leg was plenty.
I was honestly disappointed about the in-flight meal. It was small that I had to order another bowl of pork rice (which came out to be half cold ). Perhaps my expectation was set too high, but the food seems rather cheap. It felt the cost reduction was still in effect.
I was pretty tired at this point, didn’t take many pictures. The ANA lounge in NRT was super packed. I guess it’s my fault to pick a flight that arrives on Sunday night.
I think I found interesting is the flight wasn’t announcing anything in Vietnamese. It’s Japanese and English only. I feel bad, it seemed like ANA assumed Vietnamese either wouldn’t fly or can speak another language.
Arriving at Hanoi was refreshing, as in even late at night it was still so active (long immigration lines, most of the shops were still open). My airport hotel is really hard working chap. 7 Days a week, late through the night. $17.97 was the cost of the night, plus 100k * 2 Dongs ($8 US) for the pickup and drop off.
Day 2
I was immediately activated by the delicious food at the lounge. You really have to give credit to the amazing service.
I was lucky enough to have a spare seat next me. It’s a short flight anyhow. (50m)
After arriving at DAD, I decided to spend 250k ($10US) to purchase a SIM that’s unlimited for 30 days. Asia really know how to make communication cheap. Laughing at you, America!
I checked into my hostel in Da Nang (VND 680,000 for two nights, what a deal!)
I booked a food tour for $35. I think this is where I really start to not like Airbnb. In the past, I’ve always liked the interactions with the independent hosts. Now it’s all just a production line where the booking is really just through an agency, whichever description it gave you doesn’t translate to the actual experience.
The communication was bad. The tour was very average, there was no other guests. (The guide didn’t know I showed up for 15min because I “looked” Vietnamese)
Regardless, here are some highlights:
It was definitely a lot of food. The guide probably only managed to earn $10 after food expense and commissions. She’s sweet and the food was all so good.
I stopped by the night market next to the hostel. It’s a very average tourist night market, not too much of an interest.
Day 3
I decided to get a motorbike to go check out Ba Na Hills. It’s a resort that was built during French colonial time. The cable car was added later.
At this point, I was extremely tired. Especially after downing that beer. I originally planned on going for the Hải Vân Pass drive, but ended up going back to get some food instead. (another mistake I’ve made is not to buy the buffet combo ticket) The biggest mistake is to go up on Tuesday, since it’s apparently the off day at the resort where the 3rd cable car is shut. Shame having to pay the same price, $34.27. Is it worth? I think so. You can easily spend a full day there (there’s amusement park I bet most kids would find fascinating) and weather was great up the hills. The amount of construction & closure made is such that I have to take a star away. I get it, COVID has been hard.
After about 45min ride through traffic, I managed to find the best reviewed restaurant that actually lives up its hype. Super friendly service, clean and nice interior.
The broth and greens were to die for. After the meal, I met two Americans traveling together. Super friendly lads, we had a great discussion regarding travel and American way of life. He helps managing bars. You can sense that he is a people person. I definitely should learn from him – how to make friends anywhere. The meal was 115k Dong (I gave 5,000 extra as tips, I think the server was probably confused)
(Scooter rental was 150k and gas was 80k. Water/Beverages were ~70k Dong)
Day 4
Hopped on an early flight to Da Lat from Da Nang. It was $39.21! What a steal, bus would have caused me $20 plus a miserable 15hr flight!
There’s an airport shuttle bus that picks up passengers whenever there’s a flight for 50k one way.
Immediately you could feel the 10F temperature drop. All of a sudden walking doesn’t feel like painful anymore. I decided to walk from where the bus dropped us to my hostel which was about 15min walk. Not terribly bad. The problem mainly was lack of sidewalks. A bit annoying at first, but you quickly get used to it.
Met something from the hostel right when I was about to head out to get lunch. Ended up tagging along to rent a motorbike (80k) for see the Datanla waterfall. for $6 it even included a two-leg roller coaster ride!
After the park, I was getting quite hungry. We spotted a random vietnamese pizza place
After that, very randomly I worked up some courage to get the local noodle soup
I ran out of cash surprisingly fast in Da lat. While going to the ATM, I spoted a Durian seller.
He’s very patient in answering questions about Durian with Google Translate. Nice guy though. It’s only 120k a kilo, at the end I pay about 170k Dong for an entire Durian
Day 5
Woke up super early due to jet lag. The plan was to find a motorbike rental shop and go tour the city.
Took me quite a while to find a shop for 150k a day. Not the cheapest since the owner also wanted me to pay 100k for gas. It’s whatever. $10 is going to keep me. Though having to constantly getting cash can be annoying.
Didn’t take many photos since most of spots are minor. The drive to the lake was nice though.
I am not a super artistic person. Though the ticket was only 90k. I guess it’s worth?
Personally I prefer touting around the lake
After getting back to the city. The next step is the flower garden which is advertised everything
To be honest, I think it’s such a let-down. Both the view as well as the very run-down facility. Fortunately, it was only 30k. It’s whatever
After that I drove to this stunning Pagoda (https://goo.gl/maps/JePcnVaJuPv3GDhG7)
It’s definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
After that I decided to see of the King’s Palace that belonged to the last empire of Vietnam, Bao Dai.
It is a well taken care place. The palace interior is stunning. However, I didn’t get to take many photos as I was getting slightly tired. The temperature was also quite comfortable to induce sleep. I took this opportunity to sit down and learned the history of Vietnam a bit more. The entrance ticket was 90k
Last stop before I returned the bike was the famous Crazy House. It’s basically an artistic stone show room:
It’s been a long day. I took a mini break at the hostel and began my chicken Hot pot feast. It’s a local delicacy due the coldness of the region
At night, I decided to join the Australians to play the drinking game, and talked to some Germans about American politics before ended the night.
Day 6
Bittersweet, it was my last day in Da Lat. This city has tremendous potential in being the spring city of Vietnam. Though I do wish there’s more activity driven things like hiking & trekking than all the man-made stuff. I can see it can be a city that’s really popular among both local and international Asian tourists.
Since it’s a lazy day, I decided to just hang out at the rooftop for a few hours before heading out for a long walk around the lake in town.
The tea house wasn’t open nor there was many people there. It seems like the park was set up more or less for evening not day. Many it’s the Vietnamese preference. The park and lake themselves are nice, you could also spot trash and under-maintenance. I think this is just a couple problem in Asia, great at building things but not the up keep.
I really wanted to find a coffee shop to work on the blog a bit. The only spot I could find that didn’t have loads of motorbike honking at me at all time was this fast food place called “Lotteria” I ordered a set meal:
After finishing the meal and booked my stays, I headed to the fresh market next.
I got some local strawberries. I got perhaps half a kilo for 50k, it’s not that good. Slightly sour. Apparently, Da Lat is the only city that grows in Vietnam.
I got back to the hostel and hung out for a few hours until the night food tour. It started raining really heavily. Thus, we waited quite a bit before heading out.
I want to say that these mates are quite open to things. It was 105k for each of us.
After the meal we went to the local cute coffee shop where I got a local craft beer for 70k, it at least tasted like real beer. A random German and Pilipino couple decided to join us. Mostly it’s just the girl complaining about how hard it is to get a German visa. I feel bad but then I felt like there are other places to go, besides it might be helpful if people would stop chasing white-men for a brief second.
Last stop for the night was the Maze bar, in which I definitely got lost on my way out!
Day 7
Today’s travel day to Saigon (320k).
I arrived my hostel at around 5pm in District 1 called City Backpackers Hostel for $22.67. It’s only for a night because it was all booked and was becoming quite hard to find consecutive booking.
I did a motorcycle tour for $28 plus tips. It’s an amazing tour where the guide spoke amazing English and ferried me around between districts. They sent one driver per passenger, and my guide is really good at explaining everything and his knowledge about the world and Vietnamese history is just phenomenal. Riding a bike in Saigon in rain storm is also an adventure of its own!
The Banada crackers are quite good. The flower market where we ate at was quite interesting too.
I got really tired afterwards, so slipped in my sweet dream early!
That’s it for week one!
Expenses
| Day | Food&Drink | Lodging | Transportation | Other (tickets etc) | |
| 1 | $2.00 | $18 | $58.80 | $0.00 | |
| 2 | $35.00 | $13.95 | $3.49 | $10.00 | |
| 3 | $10.41 | $13.95 | $9.44 | $34.24 | |
| 4 | $16.42 | $13.83 | $41.21 | $6.00 | |
| 5 | $14.31 | $13.83 | $10.00 | $12.31 | |
| 6 | $16.42 | $13.83 | $0.00 | $0.00 | |
| 7 | $32.50 | $22.67 | $13.13 | $0.00 | |
| $127.06 | $110 | $136.07 | $62.55 | ||
| Grand Total: | $435.72 |