Da Nang Honey Time (Part 1): The "Hot & Horny" Summary & Highlights ;)

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Day 1

• Touched down at Da Nang International Airport around 3:05 p.m. Note: Time difference is one hour.
• Checked in Rainbow Hotel (22 Bach Dang Street, Hai Chau District), about 3km away from the airport. See map below:

• The weather was freaking HOT!!! The sun was like a merciless giant ball of angry flames! HOT!!!
• Had our first bowls of authentic Vietnamese beef phở.
• Shared our first plate of Vietnamese kem (ice cream) at Kem Ky Co Phong, Tran Phu Street.
• By the way, why did every single vehicle, big or small on the road "practice" obnoxious horn-honking like no one's business? This explained "horny" in the title. Now, what were you thinking huh? ;)

Day 2

• "Splurged" on sunblock SPF110 before we ventured with "faith" onto the streets. The weather was still insanely hot.
• Hubby and I spoke zero Vietnamese and the Vietnamese's English was barely understandable.
• Found a lil' quaint cafe and indulged in my long-awaited Vietnamese iced drip coffee with milk (cà phê sữa đá).
• Took a taxi to My Khe Beach in the evening. Due to traffic redirection at the nearer bridge, the taxi driver had to take a longer route (and more expensive hmph!) via another bridge further north.
• So so so... disappointed to find My Khe Beach packed with sardines, I meant human beings. Didn't get to flaunt my bikini, I was too shy!
• For some adventure, we decided to take the 4.3km romantic night walk back from the beach, across the Han River via the nearer bridge, back to our hotel on the other side of the river. See map below:

 

• Stopped by roadside food stalls to satisfy our curiosity. At our first stop, we had bánh mì or bánh mỳ, a kind of short baguette sandwich stuffed with roasted pork, basil leaves, onions, and chilies.
• At our second stop, we had the scare of our life when we realized this foreign delicacy called hột vịt lộn that we ordered was half-hatched duck eggs! Argh!
• Had local beer called Bia Larue (resembled Tiger Beer) for supper.

Day 3

• Took a "sleeping bus" from Hanh Cafe, Da Nang to Hue City at 9:30 a.m.
• Passed by scenic Lang Co Bay. 
• Reached Hue around 12:30 p.m. and checked in Thai Binh Hotel II (02 Luong The Vinh Street).
• Had my first bowl of bún bò Huế, a kind of beef phở with lashings of chili oil. Hubby had bò kho, Vietnamese beef stew served with baguette.
• Took a taxi to the Citadel and spent our entire afternoon exploring this place.
• For some more adventure, we decided to take the 2.2km romantic late evening walk from the Citadel, across the Perfume River, back to our hotel on the other side of the river. See map below:

 

• Had some really nice dry noodles salad called bún hến and dessert by the roadside.

Day 4

• Took a cyclo to Chợ Đông Ba (Dong Ba Market) in the morning. Bought some souvenirs.
• Took the "sleeping bus" again at noon to go back to Da Nang.
• Reached Da Nang around 3:30 p.m.
• Lugging our luggage with us, we took another 2.3km late evening walk from where the bus dropped us, to get back to Rainbow Hotel.
• Stopped by a stall selling bánh canh and I happily slurped down the entire bowl of porky soup with gelatinous noodles.

Day 5

• In the morning, we took the yellow bus No. 1 (Da Nang - Hoi An) to go to Ngũ Hành Sơn (Marble Mountains), 12km from town.

 

• Bus tickets for foreigners were notoriously hiked up to 40,000 VND per person (locals pay 15,000 VND only). We managed to settle at a total amount of 60,000 VND for both of our tickets. Oh well, better than gotten thrown off the bus. Note: RM1 = 6,500 VND.
• Spent almost the entire afternoon at the mountains and did some minor caving. I was thrilled, I couldn't believe I actually climbed up and down those narrow passages and rocks.
• Our bus tickets back to Da Nang were 50,000 VND (total amount for both of us).

Day 6

• Walked to Chợ Hàn (Han Market). Bought some Vietnamese durian, coconut, and banana candies, and some snacks.
• Reached airport slightly after 12:30 p.m. Our flight back to KL was 3:30 p.m.

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Stay tuned for more blog posts about places of interest and our gastronomic adventure, WITH photos. ;)

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