Please press play to set the vibes for the Hoi An read
HEART TO HEART – MAC DEMARCO
DAY 32 – Paradise In Vietnam
To my surprise I woke up feeling a bit less shitty. I had an everything shower and went for a Da Nang mooch. This place screeeams money and wealth. I went to get a coffee on the wide pavement and strolled to the beach near my apartment. I’ve never seen a proper city with skyscrapers on a coastline before but it was gorgeous and so clean. The landscape and city scape was one of the coolest things I’ve seen, I imagine this is how LA or Rio looks.
I was wondering whether to stay there for the day but I decided to venture on for 40 mins drive to the next town of Hoi An, mostly because my hotel was pretty shit.
I stayed at Fuse Beachtown Hoi An (there is also a Fuse Old Town which is in the city) where there is a beachclub called Barefoot opposite. I genuinely couldn’t believe my eyes. The vibes were set but this was the most beautiful beach I had ever seen. The colour of the sky was just glorious and the sand was perfect. On top of this it was absolutely scorching, I knew immediately that this would be my spot.
COUPLE SELFIES
After having some pork chops for dinner I ventured into the old town (about 15 min drive via grab bike). I was just stunned with the beauty of the place, I’ve never seen anywhere like it. I had some mojitos and picked up some street food for dinner. Hoi An is called the city of lanterns and you can see why. The whole day was perfect. I got some shut eye in preparation for my rotisserie chicken day the following day.
DAY 33 – Rotisserie Chicken
I had a wander down the road from about 7.30am inkeeping with the tanning and UV schedule I had made in my head. I had some cold brew at the Sound of Silence Coffee Shop and ended up coming back here everyday. I headed back to the beach club for a pancake breakfast to prepare me for the sweltering day ahead.
SOUND OF SILENCE COFFEE AND BREAKFAST AT BAREFOOT BEACH CLUB
After dipping in and out of the sea I bumped into some people I had met at Tigon Hostel in Da Lat. They invited me to their hostel later for some free rum and coke between 8-8.30pm so I could not refuse.
I came back to the old town in the evening to see if I could find a tailors to get some clothes made, Hoi An is the place where you must get handmade things. There are so many options for clothes, shoes, bags and bikinis at a really good price. I found the whole process quite overwhelming so I went on vibe rather than specific patterns. I found ‘I Choose’ to be clothing kryptonite as when I stepped in the owner filled up my water bottle and put her hand on my leg and had a laugh with me. I showed her which pieces I wanted (I had found some stuff online) and they helped me to choose some fabrics and settle on a price. I was to return the next day for my first fitting.
OPTIONS FOR SHOES AND FABRICS
I was feeling tipsy after more 2 for 1 mojitos at dinner, but I made it to the hostel of my friends. I ended up getting rather drunk and was channeling my inner Tina Turner while singing karaoke with a nice man called Shane, getting down to Ki Ki Di and Elton John. We all went to the clurb and even managed to squeeze in a mango pancake afterwards.
DAY 34 – VIP Couture Service
I wasn’t feeling too clever the next morning, but I managed to read some of my new book, the memoir of Julia Fox called ‘Down the Drain’. It cost me bloody £10 but I wanted something I know I could get into.
Shane came to meet me at my favourite café which he loved because he’s really into coffee. We spent a lovely afternoon going swimming in the sea and enjoying the sun. He told me lots of stories and I suggested that we go out for dinner once I completed my fitting.
I picked up my new handmade shoes (£15 for the birkies, £30 for the silver stompers) and then went for my fitting. The clothes were glorious, and after a couple adjustments, we agreed a time for me to collect the clothes the following day.
Shane came to pick me up on his motorbike and we went out for a very tasty meal.
DAY 35 – Good Food and Better Booze (and karaoke)
Shane and I met for one final coffee where he completed a rubix cube he conveniently had in his bag. We said our goodbyes as he was making his journey back to the Netherlands in the next few days.
RUBIX CUBE AND MOTORBIKE FLEX
I started chatting with Ken who had just moved in to my hostel room, the vibes were really good.
On the way to my jewelry class I picked up some cigarettes. The lady who sold them to me started to touch my face, she brought me some tea then started wiping my face and arms really gently with a cool flannel. The whole thing was beautiful, we hardly said anything to each other but this was a really maternal moment.
I met up with Alisha, who I had kept in touch with from Ho Chi Minh and Da Lat, to do a jewellery making class. We grabbed a very naughty little bagel and a coffee from a place nearby and headed off. Alisha smokes more than me which makes me feel better about my smoking habits haha.
PORT CITY BAGELS – 10/10 WOULD RECOMMEND
I picked out my ring and we spent the next hour getting out £30’s worth, and were even able to engrave our names on the inside of the ring. We went to go and pick up my new clothes. Once we finished we decided to grab one more coffee when we walked past a wine bar … Alisha is from Swizerland so I know she loves wine (and neither of us have had any since we started travelling) so we decided we’d pop in for a cheeky glass. Due to an undeniably good price, we agreed that a bottle would be the most economically viable and most fun option. We ended up getting quite pissed, and smoked loads of cigarettes (it was about 2pm). It was a silly, girly, funny time and I got to wear my new outfit.
JEWELRY MAKING WITH MY BAE – I MADE A SNAKE RING WITH MY NAME ENGRAVED ON THE INSIDE
I showed all my roommates my new clothes fashion show style, and then basically invited myself out to dinner with Ken and his friend. We popped over the beach club for 2-4-1 margaritas (very slippery slope) and Taco Tuesday and found that we were both colour coordinating with cushions.
Ken’s friend Thea came from a nearby hostel. It was meant to be. We went to the Fuse Old Town pub crawl that was really not the vibe so after moving onto espresso martinis (VERY slippery slope) and singing Love Yourself by Justin Bieber on karaoke as a trio, we decided to carry on the karaoke party.
We stepped into the coolest Karaoke place I have ever seen and started doing a bit of Turning Tables by Adele, all of us smashed and having the best time. THEN all the lights turn off and transpires there is a massive powercut on the whole street, just as we were getting into it as well. We stumbled to another place but alas, it was fully booked. Ken, who is Vietnamese American, took us to a little street food place (where they defo wouldn’t have served us if he wasn’t able to speak Vietnamese) and we taxid home.
DAY 36 – Swimming and Dinner (and karaoke)
I woke up definitely still drunk and ordered Ken and I a bagel from the same place as yesterday. It was actually quite steep but I hadn’t stopped thinking about it the whole of the day before. We headed to Thea’s lovely hostel for a swim and a chill, it was beautiful. I was supposed to be flying to Hanoi in the evening, but when I found that my flight was delayed till 2.30am I decided to cancel it and rebook for the next day. I didn’t want to leave Hoi An ever, but leaving this day would’ve definitely felt like too soon.
After the bagel had revived me we went back to get ready for dinner, and Ken had ordered us some Tacos before we went out. We met Thea on the same rooftop bar as the first night and drank 2-4-1 cocktails and ate spring rolls. Although the sunset wasn’t very good, the vibes were topnotch.
When Ken left to catch his flight to Saigon, Thea and I grabbed some ducky dinner. We then returned to the karaoke bar for part 2 (no powercut this time).
After starting strong with Like a Virgin by Madonna while Thea went to the toilet, we chose to do ‘Summer Nights’ from Grease as our first duet. I have never laughed so much in my life, I think I actually wet myself. The song is surprisingly belty and demands a wide range of octaves. Other songs on the roster included:
There Are Worse Things I Could Do – Grease
Teenage Dream – Katy Perry
I Love It – Charli XCX
Rock With You – Michael Jackson
Slipping Through My Fingers – ABBA
When We Were Young – Adele
Skyfall – Adele
DAY 37 – A Morning For Clarity and Gratefulness
After booking 1 more day in an all female dorm (made me realise how naff my other dorm room was) I got up to enjoy my final morning in Hoi An. I went for one final cold brew and read my book in the sun. I have never been somewhere so beautiful. I reflected on the many small moments in Hoi A that I will remember forever. As I looked out onto the ocean, watching the early risers swimming, I shed a tear thinking about the following quote from one of my favourite films, American Beauty:
‘I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me;
But it’s hard to stay mad when there’s so much beauty in the world.
Sometimes, I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much.
My heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst.
And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it.
And then it flows through me like rain.
And, I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life.‘
I found it really bitter sweet leaving Hoi An, I could’ve missed other parts of Vietnam and stayed for longer, but I thought best to move on and then return if I really feel the urge to. I reailsed that for me, the beach is everything. While I loved being in the mountains, I am always at my happiest when I am at the beach. I don’t even like swimming that much, there’s no need to psychoanalyse because that’s just what I like and that’s that. So I am using this as a focus on where to visit next in other countries.
I got a taxi back to Da Nang airport and prepared for the chaos of Hanoi. I jumped in a taxi from the airport and finished off the Julia Fox memoir.
I was basically going to Hanoi to find a company with whom to do the Ha Giang Loop with, so I booked to go to One Hostel. I stepped one foot in that place and said absolutely not. It is giving no personal touch, just big money guzzling building full of English people looking to get pissed.
After stumbling across a Vegan Banh Mi place (not very tasty but filled the proverbial hole) I walked to Buffalo Hostel. The walk was very uncomfortable, the streets are tiny and rammed as soon as you step foot outside, but I decided to book my tour for the following day through them (£150 for 3 nights), mostly because I couldn’t be arsed to keep on walking around the streets fearing for my life because of the traffic.
I prepared myself for an early night. I called the lovely Denkie and the lovely Shayna to fill them in on the trials and tribulations of my trip, and ordered myself a maccies. I was rudely awoken by drunk people jumping in the pool and screaming from 2am to 4.30am so that really fucking ruined my night. To the point that I actually refused to pay for the room. I even went out there teacher style, but to no avail, the sleep was fucked. I was extra annoyed because I had my big journey to Ha Giang the following day.
PRETTY SHOCKING MACCIES TBH
I reluctantly retract the last statement from my previous Da Lat post, because Hoi An is now my new favourite. The vibes were unmatched, sun was shining and I got to drink margaritas watching the sunset with friends. I feel reset and happy. What a pleasure to have these experiences (apart from the pissed people in the pool). I know I will be back to Hoi An in the future and am feeling grateful as ever to be a Bradford On The Move.