Central Vietnam

February 2-5, 2024

Chào (Vietnamese for hello) friends and family,

I got to my hostel on the outskirts of the old town part of Hoi An at 6:30am on February 2 after taking the overnight bus from Dalat. I hung out in the hostel for a couple hours and had breakfast while talking with the hosts, a middle-age married couple. The hostel had a nice homey feel with a pool in the common area. After eating, the husband drove me into town to see the tailor to get a custom suit made because Hoi An is apparently known for its tailors.

After my appointment with the tailor, I walked around the old town area for a while. There was a charming area by the river with tons of lanterns and decorations. I think the city is always festive, but it was probably even more so because of Tet (Lunar New Year). The streets were pretty, but also kind of crazy since there were lots of bikers, drivers, walkers, and peddlers all in narrow streets. It wasn’t as bad as Ho Chi Minh City, but it was definitely more of a city than a town.

In the afternoon, I did a cooking class I'd booked through the wife that ran the hostel. Our first stop as part of the class was walking through a market and acquiring ingredients. This was mildly interesting, but I feel like I’ve seen enough markets and they’re not really my thing. Next we went on a little boat ride down the river in these cute circular boats called coconut boats. The river was so crowded with tourists, though, and the locals were blasting music and rocking the boats around crazily for an extra fee. That part of the river ride was gimmicky.

It was the first I’d seen that kind of tacky tourism in Vietnam since I was in Ho Chi Minh City so briefly and Dalat was much less touristy. Before getting out of the river, we spent an oddly long time watching the old ladies who rowed our boats catch crabs. By the end, we were tired and ready to start cooking.

In the cooking class, we made four dishes: spring rolls, fried rice flour pancakes, beef salad, and pho. None of the recipes were too complicated, and I got them written down so I'll have to try them at some point on my own. I’d eaten a late lunch right before the cooking class, not expecting to eat until dinner time, but we ate throughout the class and I was very full by the end.

I lay down at the hostel for an hour after cooking before joining some others in the hostel at the table by the pool to drink some beers, play UNO, and chat. The group was fun: an English/German girl, an Australian guy, a Brazilian girl, and an older couple from Canada, that was a nice surprise since hostels typically have younger crowds. After some drinks at the hostel, some of us took a Grab to old town and went to a super gaudy bar called Tiger Tiger. It was really loud but at least there was dancing. After a while we got tired and went to a couple other bars that were blasting music but didn’t have dancing, so it was kind of the worst of both worlds. This was my big night out in Vietnam seeing the night life so I'm glad I got at least one night, even though it's not really my scene. I actually ran into a couple people that had stayed in the same hostel as me in Dalat. Another of the highlights of my night was getting a banh mi from a street vendor before heading home.

I slept in the next morning and eventually got up for the delicious breakfast the wife made every morning. I didn’t have much of an agenda for the day, but then Zoe, the 29-year-old English/German girl I’d befriended in the hostel, asked me if I wanted to go to beach with her and Dave and Kelly, the 65/70-year-old Canadian couple. I’m so glad I went because it was such a lovely time and the conversation was great all day. They were all really thoughtful and it didn’t feel at all weird with Dave and Kelly being so much older. If anything, their wisdom just made me appreciate the conversation more. One server came up to us on our lounge chairs and assumed Kelly was the mom and Zoe and I were her kids. It was just easier for us to go along with the lie so we did and had a good laugh about it after. I swam and read and chatted all afternoon and it was delightful.

On the way back to hostel, I picked up my suit from the tailor and it was a good fit and only cost $145 for a suit and shirt. I figured it was worth it because it costs more to rent for a single day, and I’ll have to wear one for my cousin Chris and his fiancé Sarah’s wedding. The rest of the evening was quiet; I had dinner with a Scottish guy named James and then hung out at the hostel with James, Zoe, and a German girl named Leah before going to bed around 10.

I woke up at 7 the next morning to eat breakfast and leave the hostel on a rented motorbike at 8. I biked about an hour to My Son sanctuary and saw ancient temple ruins. I went on the suggestion of some other people in the hostel so I had high expectations, but I wasn’t too impressed. The ruins were alright, but it was very crowded and it took an hour of driving each direction. The ride was scenic at points, but much of it was going through busy towns.

When I got back, I packed up at the hostel and said goodbye to the hosts Cuu (husband) and Thu (wife). I really enjoyed their company. They were gracious and hilarious. Cuu would drink about ten beers every night and socialize with all the guests and get really affectionate in a funny way, like coming up to me or this other guy Sam and giving a big bear hug over our shoulders. Then when he was drunk, he’d lie out on the lounge chairs and watch Tik Toks while occasionally chiming into the conversation. He also barely helped with any of the cooking while his wife did so much cooking and cleaning. They made for a good team, though, and the wife was an angel.

After leaving the hostel, I got on a sleeper bus to Phong Nha, a national park with the world’s biggest caves. The ride felt painfully long, but I finally arrived in Phong Nha at 11pm and the guy from the homestay I was staying at picked me and a Dutch couple up from the bus stop.

(This cabins on this sleeper bus were a little too small for me.)

I had a nice early breakfast in the morning to try to beat the crowds to the caves that were open to the public. I adventured all day with this Dutch couple, Marvin and Mariah. We had a beautiful drive through rice paddies and mountains to Paradise Cave. We saw a bunch of goats being herded by a sheepdog and it reminded me of seeing tons of cows being herded at Mount Aspiring National Park in New Zealand.

Paradise Cave was cool. It was a massive cave, 31 kilometers long and very wide and tall, up to 75 meters high at points. The boardwalk we could go along only went for the first kilometer, but we still got to see lots of cool parts of the cave. It was massive with tons of interesting stalagmites and stalactites (don't quiz me - I don't know which one is which).

We sat for a coffee from one of the vendors outside the cave before driving through more of the national park until we were running low on gas. The park was beautiful, even as it was shrouded in mist. Marvin was super into animals so we stopped to watch some rare monkey he’d spotted.

In the afternoon, we went on the boat tour of the Phong Nha Cave, the other big one that was easily accessible. The ride there was somewhat scenic along a river, but I was feeling tired and it was a bit long. Once we were in the cave, I felt like I was in a Disney movie. The water was so serene and the cave was massive; it felt surreal. I liked this cave more because of the river running through it.

I decided midday to leave Phong Nha that night because I hadn’t heard from the two-day tour I was considering doing the next couple days, and honestly, I was feeling caved out and still wanted to see a lot more with my limited time in Vietnam. I had a few hours at the homestay to kill before my bus so I worked out, dipped in the pool, ate dinner, and then went to the bus station to get on a sleeper bus to Ninh Binh. I actually slept pretty well and got into Ninh Binh a little after 5am on February 6. I'll write about the north of Vietnam in the next post. Thanks for reading!