Vietnam Day 7 - fly back

 12/07/2023

Breakfast at La An Central Boutique Villa before leaving for the airport.

Scramble eggs fresh from kitchen.

Omelette ordered from kitchen too.

The best among all was the watermelon juice.

We sat at the lobby for a while waiting for our transport.

We reached Da Nang International Airport in less than an hour.

Checked in our luggage and our carton of cup noodles lolxx...

Requested for upgrade at the counter, no luck, 10 seats business class all taken up.  We were offer seats at the exit for free which we accepted.

Baby strollers for loan but not sure how it worked.

The airport was small, walking from one end to the other would take less than 10mins.  Not a bad thing as we were tired, could reach the boarding gate in a few steps.

There was nothing in particular for us to shop and food was on the expensive side.

While airport facilities and fancy entertainments like Changi Airport is the best thing in the world, clean airport toilet is the most important and the only essential thing I looked for.

That said, it's a simple decent little airport, comfortable enough.

Ate a bit to kill time heehee...

The airport used USD by the way.

Not bad but felt the pocket pinch.

Boarding SQ Boeing 737-8 Max, little boy.

Bread loafs from Hoi An were boarding with us back to Singapore, they smell as if I had a bakery with me.

Alright!  Here we were at the exit row with extra leg room.  I don't have long legs so actually it didn't matter.

We were gently reminded not to touch the emergency level unless instructed to do so (that would mean deep trouble if that happens) lolxx...

Look at the space.

Goodbye to Da Nang.

As a result of extra leg room, the tray was far away from me.  For this instant, the food box packaging was good, I held it and ate in my seat.

Morning flight by the window was great, soaring by the clouds was a blessing.

I was secretly wishing for a champagne instead of orange juice though.

Fried rice was tasty initially but later became too dry to finish all of it.

The oneh cake was fluffy soft yummy.

Where can I eat this again?

We had the row of 3 seats to ourselves.  I had a nap with my back resting on the window, that man who didn't mind my cute feet was my old man (in case there are airplane etiquette experts dying to give me a death sentence).

Beautiful blue sky all the way.

Smaller window but the view was great.

From one tropical country back to another, haiz... dread 30 degrees weather.

That's the end of our 7 days trip to Vietnam, Da Nang, Hue and Hoi An.

Next, I have 9 days of Chiang Mai and Bangkok (Thailand) to share.  I hope to get all posted and done before leaving for Turkiye in less than a month's time.  Thank you for reading.

Vietnam Day 6 - Hoi An

11/07/2023

Last day in Da Nang.  Run away from hotel's breakfast.

We walked farther.

Got distracted while looking for breakfast venue.

Found this small little cafe in google.  We walked pass it initially, cos it was "hidden" by a tree and many plants around it.

Lovely interior.

Green tea macchiato VND35,000.

Lemongrass peach tea VND42,000, both were so nice.

JM Full Breakfast VND140,000.

Smoked salmon avocado toast VND135,000.

Here's their menu.

Should be expensive to the locals, only affordable for tourists.

After breakfast, headed to Hoi An.  On the way, we stopped the car for this ox.

It's a 4 years old teen boy, he no longer likes working in the farm, prefers taking photos and interact with tourists lolxx... (I didn't want to ride on him initially, I just wanted to take a photo standing with it.  The owner insisted, so I got up and came down quickly).

There were numerous companies along the river doing coconut boat rides.  This brought to by the guide was probably not the cheapest, but we were okay for their service and good safety practice.

Anti-slip mat on the boat.

Haahaahaa...

After this photo we held umbrella.

 

They played loud music and performed furious boat spinning.

Melt iron weather.

Photo taken by the boat man, he actually stood in the shallow river.

Fish net throwing, every body went "waaaaaaaaa.....".

Back on shore, we had complimentary sea coconut drink.

After that we checked into La An Central Boutique Villa, it's only S$55/night for 2 pax.

My old man loved it here so much.

They had a small pool.

Our accommodation was less than 5mins walk to Thu Bon River and main area.

All nice, except that it was scorching hot.

Making our way to a famous Bahn Mi stall with google map.

Regretted not buying some clothes that I liked.

Accidentally found Hoi An's famous herbal tea.  It was less than S$1.

Super nice, should had them fill up our water bottles.

Pity that we had to reserve stomach space for Bahn Mi.

Famous Banh Mi Queen stall after 30mins of snail walk.

Very filling, we should had ordered one of share.

Absolutely delicious and super value for money.

Ta bao plain bread loaves, was S$0.30 or S$0.50, couldn't remember.

Bought 2 lanterns from a grumpy old uncle.

He then allowed me to take some photos.

Sad sia, no stomach space.

We hopped onto a tourist "bus" ride, it was 1 hour for S$6 or S$8.  They could take up to 8pax, so it would be more worth it with more people to share the cost.  But still affordable for 2pax ba...

Stopover at a temple.

Was this the cultural centre?  We didn't walk in, just took pics with the ship outside only.

Then the driver drove us to a 100 years old house.  No entry fee, but we dropped a token in the box provided.

Well preserved wood doors and frame.

Furnitures with intricate wood carves are getting rare.

There's a well in the house, but it's dried already.

The owner was very nice, showed us around and items left by her great grandparents.

Old tools for wood carvings.

Details on the ceiling.

Could had stay a little longer but we only hired the tourist tram for an hour, didn't want to pay for another hour either.

Back to the river.

Had a 1-for-1 foot massage for about S$5/hr.  It was soooooooo.... GOOD!

Vendors were setting up their stalls for the night market.

Old man was drained off by the heat, so we decided to go back to catch a nap and cool ourselves in aircon lolxx...

Stepping out again around 5pm, the heat subsided quite a bit.

Hoi An came alive when the sun goes down.

We were thrilled by the night market.

After seeing repetitive stalls, we found a very special one:

This young lady was able to write on a rice grain without any magnifying glass or tool.

I messaged my sisters and girls to ask who wants.  We ended up walking away and came back to the stall for a few times to get more lolxxx... it's hilarious.

Keychains with names.

This was a necklace.

Keychains.

Dinner place:  Morning Glory Signature.

It's very touristy ie. not the cheapest, whole restaurant full of tourists, but food quality didn't disappoint.

Viet style soon kuey.

DELICIOUS.

Curry prawns with cheese, came with a baguette.

Yummy.

Fish with mango salad, love it.

It was a very enjoyable dinner, old man had beer, I had mojito.

The alcohol contend was a bit high for me to handle...

Bill.

There some nice spots in the restaurant.

Looking at the night market from the 2nd floor of the restaurant.

The restaurant was very pretty, inside and out.

I giggled all the way, even sat on the floor to take photo with this big dog (need to pay S$1 to dog owner).

It's a real dog, not puppet, no human underneath, it's alive, it's not a soft toy lolxx...

I totally lost myself...

So this was how I looked like when I was drunk, any farther I would be dead asleep.

The night lights were charming.

We had beancurd pudding (豆花), not as smooth as it's supposed to be.

Nice right?

Many old ladies selling paper water float lanterns around the bridge.

While I empathize with the elders making a living, I feel that the lanterns are nothing but creating rubbish to the river.

Shops starting to close after 9pm.

Mobile food stalls not having much business.

Last pic of Thu Bon River.

When the crowd subsided and the lights went down, the beauty of the old houses revealed, but nobody admire.

That's our last night in Hoi An, Vietnam.  Next day we were catching a morning flight, we had the exit row with extra leg room for FREE!  Will go into details on the next post.  Thanks for reading.