Arriving in Da Nang & Shopping in Hoi An

After being dropped off in the centre of Ho Chi Minh City by our lovely air-conditioned tour bus we were on our own again and needed to kill several hours before our flight to Da Nang. We started strolling through the city but quickly gave up, sat down for a coffee and ended up in a fancy brewery. Having spent a fortune (for Vietnamese standards) on coffee and beer, we opted to take the local bus instead of a taxi to go to the airport. The 30min journey was surprisingly smooth and comfortable enough, especially compared to the nerve-racking airport experience that followed. Vietjet is certainly equally as shit as Ryanair if not worse.

When we finally arrived in Da Nang late in the evening we immediately passed out in bed. After a small lie-in, we rented a scooter for the next few days to avoid taxis because we just love riding around on crappy little scooters. 🛵

In the afternoon we packed up our scooter and rode to Hoi An (approx. 1 hour from Da Nang). On the way we stopped at marble mountain which surely used to be marvellous but now looks a bit tacky in our opinion.
After we arrived in Hoi An and checked into our very nice hotel, we went exploring around the old town. Of course we couldn't resist browsing around the hundreds of shops (souvenirs, clothes, tailors...) and of course we got massively ripped off with our first purchase. The hours flew by and after enjoying several snacks from the food stalls it was time for bed.

Our first full day in Hoi An was dedicated to shopping, getting quotes, being measured up and actually ordering a few items - dresses and tops for me and leather boots, a leather apron and a bespoke leather tool bag for Will. 😎 As much fun as it is, the limitless choices and the sometimes extremely pushy vendors make shopping in Hoi An a rather exhausting activity.
To recover from all the shopping stress, we first had a lovely dinner consisting of BBQ pork wrapped in rice paper and salad and then went on to have more than a couple of beers. Whilst enjoying some live music and a pint, we spotted a henna tattoo place and thought it'd be a fantastic idea to get funny fake tattoos....

The next morning, after regretting our tattoo choices, we had some coffee at our local coffee place near our hotel (we are now considering ourselves regular customers after going there twice in a row).
Since we were tired of shopping and also needed to wait for our orders to actually be made we took our scooter out for a long drive to My Son Temple. Never heard of it before but it was definitely a nice change of scenery. According to the signs there it is supposed to have some similarities to Angkor Wat, you can judge for yourselves.
Finished with our excursion, we rushed back into town to try on our freshly made items. Most of them fit perfectly, which was a pleasant surprise. We met up with Annika and Nils for dinner and just before we were heading home Will put some last minute orders in for some shoes and a linen blazer.Read more