Vietnam

31/03/2026

For my last night in DaNang the boys had told me that I must go to An Thuong walking street. There are four separate streets here where foreigners flock too. But as soon as the bike pulled up I could her a group of Americans chewing on smoked ribs, doing what Americans do best - being loud. Walking along much food was typical American pizza or meat dishes, and I was surprised at the prices. More than reasonable for western food.

I walked all the four streets, but couldn't really bring myself to sitting down in a restaurant, so I hiked it back to the beach closer to my area. Here, I have a favourite woman who cooks skewers on the street. She was there, but this time a much more elderly woman was cooking. It such simple but delicious food. I sat down and ordered four.

One of the guys from the construction crew showed up and smiled at me. He grabbed a skewer and glass of tea like he owned the place and walked back out. I wanted to engage in some type of conversation, but I didn't really know how to engage with him. Unfortunately as I stood up I broke the plastic chair. I wanted to give them something for the damage, but they were having none of that.

It's hard to believe I have been in Vietnam for one month. My time at the apartments has ended, and I will be a bit sad to go. Although I wont miss the bed, I will miss the people and shops around the area. Last night Thuys husband shouted me a beer and this morning this morning Thuy had a coffe with me. They were very welcoming hosts that made the start of my journey in Asia memorable. I will try and visit again.

But for now I was off to the airport to pick up Goo. Her plane arrived at 10.30am and she was also bringing a kangaroo from the gift shop in Melbourne that I wanted to give to Hieu. My idea was this way he would have something to remember the Aussie bloke.

Goo arrived 30 minutes early, but by the time she passed through customs and out the gate it was 11.30am "Welcome to Vietnam!" I exclaimed as she wandered around looking for me.

We grabbed a cab and headed to Our.Lok Coffee where I planned to say goodbye to a place that I visited every day and I would give Hieu his kangaroo. Upon arrival everyone came out of the shop and helped with bags. Then Linh (cafe owner) insisted he take us out for lunch. When I went to do the intros for Goo, not only did I struggle to remember her real name, I also couldn't think of Linh's name, which I later apologised for. He told me "you can call me "Henry". How apt I though, he reminded me of a King.

I grabbed the Kangaroo from Goo, and headed of to see Heiu, but his place was locked up. A neighbour noticed me and came over. He opened the door where I saw an elderly women on the sofa. After some chat I was told Hieu was sleeping. Come back at 2pm. This was obviously a problem as we would have left for Hoi An by then.

Returning to the coffee shop, word had obviously spread and his son Hoang turned up. It was good to see him. His the type of guy I would like to be mates with if I was younger. He told me his father had disappeared with some mates, probably drinking, but he didn't really know where they were and couldn't say when he would be returning. I gave him the Kangaroo and told him to tell Hieu not to forget me.

I figured this type of gift was the best way I could say thank you for the hospitality that he showed a complete stranger from a different country. An experience I found quite overwhelming.

Henry called his business partner who picked us up, and Goo, myself, Henry, and his wife were taken to Donald Trump (Donald Trung) restaurant where we all made jokes about Donald Trump sucks, but the food is good. As always, Henry was a wonderful host and we enjoyed a great traditional Vietnamese meal.

I had really wanted to pay for the meal, but for some unknown reason Wise would not allow me to make payment to Moreta Pay. It became very frustrating. I went to check with the restaurant if they accept cards, but when I went to do so, I discovered Henrys wife had already paid. I made an announcement on the way back "When I come back, we are all going out for dinner, and I pay!". His business partner said, "No, next time we go out it's my turn to pay". OMG, I thought, this situation where I pay nothing all the time has to stop.

Arriving back at the coffee shop, our grab was waiting. He was the same driver that we used from the airport. I had negotiated with him to take us to Hoi An for $VND300,000 ($AUD16) over the $VND450000 ($AUD24) the app would have charged. Because I couldn't put money in Moreta Pay, I asked him to stop at the ATM. This was a good chance for Goo to understand how getting money here works, and that only certain ATMs do work.

We arrived at Loc Phat Hoi where she could not find our booking. It didn't matter because I had to have a massive stomach explosion. I asked for a toilet and thankfully it was close. After an hour she returned and said "I have found your booking". Sounds like they had to clean the room more like it, lucky it's a beautiful place and at $AUD21 it's a bargain.

01/04/2026

For dinner we found a place not to far away called Nans Kitchen (7/10) which was full of Australians. Here I was, an Australian, amongst my own country men and I started thinking about the Americans at An Thuong walking street. I didn't know who was worse - the Americans or the Australians? They were loud and classless. Maybe this is why these two countries are allies? As the Vietnamese would say "same, same".

In the morning we decided to walk into the old town. As we got to the edge of old town, a woman grabbed my arm and started telling Goo she had a wonderful looking husband. As this banter continued she unknowingly guided us to the cloth market entrance. Hitting us up with "You look at my shop, just look!" I asked Goo if she wanted to go inside and she proceeded to walk into the entrance of the market, while I proceeded to walk in the opposite direction.

There was no way I was going in there. Doing so would be like travelling to the centre of a spider web.. there would simply be no way out. I walked over to a seat in the shade, and another woman came out of the market and told me "You're wife is at shop 52". "She's my friend, not my wife" I responded. She looked at me and said "yes, your wife's in shop 52. You go see her!". "I'm fine" I said. "But too hot here. 3 fan inside. Cool" she insisted. Looking at her and noticing that she was wearing a sweat top and jeans, I repeated "I'm fine thank you" and she left.

10 minutes passed and no sign of Goo. I sat there chuckling to myself thinking she's getting a real work over. Suddenly the woman appeared with a screwed up face and a status update. It was like I was sitting outside a delivery room and she was keeping me informed. "She look, but no buy" she said. "Just looking". She then went back into the depths of the nest, and another ten minutes later she returned where I half expected her to shout "it's a boy! it's a boy!" but instead she exclaimed "she buy! she buy!"

Figuring that since she bought something I would be safe, I proceeded inside to find her out laying $6,900,000 (AUD$375). OMG what are you doing!! They did her good alright, worked over a treat. I asked if she was sure and she said "Yes, I'm very happy".

At this stage I was feeling pretty good about my self. I had avoided a nest of tourist dollar sucking cloth women. We walked further on into the Old Town but soon discovered to see the UNESCO buildings you needed a pass. At SUS38 we didn't bother because most of the buildings where your typical Chinese construction of architecture that I don't find that interesting. Old town Hoi An is very influenced by China where traders really moved in during the 1500s. But the Chinese influence can be seen throughout Vietnam.

My feelings of being a pro traveler completely vaporised when we came across a woman selling fruit, and she insisted I hold the basket for a photo "no cost for memories" she said. But then somehow when I gave her back the basket, she was giving me a big bag of fruit, and insisting we buy the basket for the ridiculous price of $VND150000. Walking away with out bag of fruit, I decided this was lunch. We were going to sit down and eat the fruit before anyone else saw us and knew that we had been scammed.

There are videos on YouTube warning of scammers in Vietnam, and I had been very dismissive of them because it didn't reflect the Vietnam that I had come to know in DaNang. No one had scammed me there. No one had even tried, they had all been very honest and open. But in Hoi An, hawkers and beggars find their way with innocent tourists. It's for this reason I didn't really like Hoi An. It's a tourist town, all about the tourist, and it doesn't feel genuine.

China is why the town has lanterns everywhere and looks very beautiful at night. However, venturing into Old Town at Night is completely crazy. At 6.30pm we got the grab bikes to drop us off as close as possible to the old town boundary (vehicles not allowed), but here we were met with an insane amount of tourist. It was worse than New Years Eve at Sydney.

Street stalls lined the streets with trinkets and who knows what, while people shuffled past each other. The number of people was pure and simple insane. I don't think I've ever seen so many people in one place. Everyone was bumping into everyone and you just had to role with it. People were also lining up for boats in a queue 200+m long while hawkers annoyed everyone to take a boat trip for $VND100K per person. On the other side of the river, just as many people were trying to float lanterns down the river.

It wasn't long and my frustration levels began to flair. Especially because I expected street food to be everywhere, but it was nowhere. I asked a hawker trying to sell us a boat ride where is the street food?! She said it was on the other side of the bridge. Now on a mission, we then headed for the bridge where the shuffle began in earnest. I don't know how many people were on the bridge, but as we crossed I was waiting for it to collapse.

We found limited street food on the other side of the bridge. It even said on Google maps street food market, but it was very disappointing. What we did find, wasn't bad but it wasn't outstanding either. Maybe I have just been spoilt in DaNang where street food abounds on the Han River. Give the amount of people hard to believe it was so limited. I guess the resturants were all packed, so maybe they keep the the street food away.

One place worth visiting is the indoor food market where they have stall the resturants packed inside the building all next to each other.

02/04/2026

We kicked our second day off with breakfast at Roving Chill House. A restaurant/coffee shop on the edge of the rice fields. I had heard about this place on YouTube and it's a must visit if in Hoi An (9/10). The best part is sitting on the edge of the rice fields and watching the bicycles pass by. They are usually western families with Dad at the front, the kids in the middle, and Mum bringing up the rear. It became amusing hearing fathers tell there kids "I reckon you have 15 more minutes in you" while the kids all complained "are we there yet? It's too far". The funniest thing was family after family would repeat the same scenario.

In the distance we watched a tourist bus pull up, and the tourist all take turns in riding a Buffalo through the paddies. I watched, disposing tourists on organised tours, and yet before the day had ended, I would be one myself. Goo wanted to see the silk weaving process which Hoi An is famous for.

Gritting her teeth, we ordered another Grab bike. I had made it clear to Goo that if she wanted to go anywhere with me it would be on the back of a bike, and although I think she has found this challenging, she has embraced it like a champion. We booked a tour ($20USD) and zoomed out to the Silk Factory. I had no idea about silk worms or mushroom trees, and although they tried to make out silk was a Vietnamese thing, Grok told me that took it from the Chinese 2000 years ago. The tour was interesting. 7/10

For dinner Thuy (my host at the appartment in DaNang) had told me about a famous resturant amongst Vietnamese call Com ga Nga. It was absolutely packed with Vietnamese people when we arrived and had to wait 20 minutes to get a seat inside. Once inside I had no idea what anything on the menus was, and somehow ended up with a chicken rice and a chicken salad being put Infront of us. Next time I think spring roles and a chicken rice would be the perfect meal for two. It was cheap as chips for two at $VND80000 ($AUD4.40) 8/10

03/04/2026

Returning to DaNang to catch a train to Hue, we went to the 3D Art Musiem. These are 2D paintings, but when photographed or viewed from certain angles appear 3D. It was a lot of fun, and we both enjoyed it. 7/10

The mirror room was totally nauseas.

04/04/2026

The tour bus picked us up from the hotel at 6.50am. We were ready, but what I couldn't believe was that others had paid good money for this tour, but were no shows. We waited at 2 hotels for couples that didn't show. It seriously makes me wonder if people just piss money?

We were taken to DaNang train station where the Heritage train awaited to take us over the Hai Van Pass. This is a world renowned train journey, but if I was going to do this tour again, I would skip the train trip. There is so much to see in Hue regarding the Vietnamese royalty that for the train journey of 2.5 hours, you are better spending elsewhere.

I also didn't realise at the time that the railway line from Ho Chi Min to Hanoi is a single line, track from one end of the country to the other. Thus, when we catch the train to Hanoi I will be repeating this journey.

Out tour guide was great in explaining the dynasty of royalty that ruled Vietnam between 1802 to 1945 and made it very interesting. Most of the remains today are from the 12th King who was heavily influenced by the French, and was very obviously Gay. He was the last King to live officially in the citadel, with his son (the last King) advocating and moving to France.

The tour included an excellent traditional lunch, the 12th Kings tomb, the magnificent bonzi trees from the Buddha pagoda, and the citadel with the kings private resident. These are all mind blowing sites to see, but I think doing a tour like we did is an injustice. The citadel deserves a full day to really explore the history here.

Our guide had asked everyone to please ensure they go-to the "happy room" before leaving as our return journey was 2.5 hours in the bus and there were no rest rooms. 10 minutes into the journey and my stomach cramped and I was in problems. I clenched with all my might and told the guide it was an emergency. Why this has to happen to me.. like fuck!

The driver searched for a place, but it took another 15 minutes to find a service station with a toilet. It wasn't a moment too soon, and bracing for the worse, I jumped out of the bus and headed to the WC. Here I was faced with very clean and friendly toilets. What a relief. Vietnam had surprised again.