December 31st 2022 to January 5th, 2023
We woke up early on Dec 31 to head to the train station, but they wouldn’t take bikes. This woman found us and asked if we needed help, then set us up on a bus that should arrive in 15 min to pick up us and our bikes, and brought us to a coffee shop for coffee and tea. She was so nice, though I am sure she was supporting all her friends haha.
The bus ride was good and uneventful. When we arrived in Hue, we checked into our hostel which was pretty sweet, and went for an amazing lunch sampling all the Hue foods at Madam Thu’s. It was so good. It’s a lot more touristy here, and people are often trying to sell us things. Then we booked a demilitarized zone (dmz) tour for tomorrow, and went into the ancient citadel to wander around. It was massive and took hours to get through. My favourite area was the Ming Mang gardens. It was all really beautiful and intricate where they had managed to restore it, with lots of good information plaques. Max got a dehydration headache, and we headed back for a nap before NYE celebrations.
For dinner, we went to a brewery for pizza, and chatted with this American guy who worked there and was also the bass player in a band. He was cool, and talked about how his two year old daughter does not have a phone and people in Vietnam are surprised. We also met a south African guy who makes sausage in Vietnam, and he let us try some of his bil tong, which was really good. The beers were super delicious. I got an allergic reaction to these weird little spicy biscuits, so we went back to the hotel for benadryl. Then we went for more beers, and into the countdown square. It was so crowded with insane beats. Then a man started trying to amp up the crowd (not very well), and then he started advertising for Huda beer, then boom, countdown happened with fireworks. It was very odd but cool to be a part of!
The next day we were hungover but got up for our 7am bus to do the dmz tour. Our guide was great and his dad had fought with the south Vietnam side. We went to these crazy tunnels (1.4 km long) called the Moc tunnels where people could actually live inside, and they had trenches around and camouflage for defense. We also saw Khe San and Rock Pile, two military bases. Khe San was the military base that fell to North Vietnam and effectively ended the war. Our guide’s dad was a general and went to jail for 3 years when the north won. We saw a bridge which was used for negotiations, and some monuments, and went for lunch. That night we wandered around the town a bit more and went for dinner at the dmz bar, which had incredible live music (a cover band). We also started the Dan Carlin podcast on bondage which was intense. Overall, lots of cool learning.
The next day, we slept in a bit, had breakfast at the hostel, then biked to alba tan thanh hot springs. It was about 30 km, and the second half was along a winding, potholey road with very little traffic and beautiful views of rice paddies. Max got a flat tire which took about 45 min to fix because his tires are so tight. The hot springs themselves were hard to find, due to construction. We found our way under a highway and then took a weird little goat track to get there. The hot springs had different pool temperatures, and the hottest one was lovely. The area was beautiful. The bike ride home, Max was trying to check his tires and then his back wheel hit my wheel and he fell. He scraped up his elbow, knee and hip but was generally okay. The damage to his bike was mostly the fender, which was easy ish to fix (just finicky). There were some really nice people who stopped and helped us clean up, then we headed home.
That evening we went to the nook eatery which was delicious. I finally found peanut sauce as part of a noodle dish, which Tiff use to make! Delicious.
The next day we walked along the river to get coffee in the rain, then back to the hostel to get packed up. We bused to Hoi An and finished the Dan Carlin podcast. We checked into our new hostel which is huge and has a pool bar (bed starion), and we got free drinks at the hostel which were disgusting. Then we headed to the old town for the night market. At the night market, there were lanterns everywhere and the bridge was all lit up - it was so beautiful. We went for dinner at Morning Glory and had what we both agreed was one of our top dinners of life. There was a live band playing beautiful music - it was so nice. Then we walked through the stalls and bought tiger balm, and headed to the Irish pub for a Guinness and to watch cricket. Max taught me the rules and it was cool!
Finally, Jan 4, we woke up early and went to Da Nang by bike. We were trying to beat the rain. We went to marble mountain, which had cool caves and pagodas as you hiked up, and quite a treacherous summit push. A lady watched our bikes for us, and I got swindled into buying an expensive pair of marble earrings. Whoops.
Then we kept biking along the beach and made it to Da Nang, then this massive statue of the mother and some more bonsais/buddhas/etc. Very pretty ocean views and you could see all the fishing boats and traps! And, there were monkeys. We had a quick lunch in Da Nang and then biked home. We made it to the hostel through the rice paddies and water buffalo before the rain.
We wandered to a tailor and got measured for some shirts - very bizarre experience. I found it stressful and I think we were overcharged, but it’s still cheap compared to home. Then we went to dinner and had cau loa noodles, and met a couple from Vancouver! The noodles are a local specialty which are soaked in well water from one of the cham islands, then smoked.
We went back to the hostel for a beer and played Jenga and some “hook” game. We also watched all the sub 25 year olds act rowdy and wasted - quite entertaining. We went to bed exhausted and excited for our cooking class tomorrow.
