Picking your own seafood, a beach party, a slice of war history and sending off a postcard — a host of interesting travel experiences awaited this My Kolkata writer on a recent trip to Vietnam. A few days in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City were peppered with great food, the bustle of night markets, history lessons from the Vietnam War and more.
Here’s a quick itinerary to plan your own getaway to this popular Southeast Asian country.
Da Nang
The beach at Da Nang Urvashi Bhattacharya
Seafood delights: Just along the coastline, are a number of seafood markets and several restaurants, but after a friendly cabbie understood what we were craving he dropped us at Cua Biển Seafood Restaurant. The place not only serves seafood, but also lets you choose from the fresh catch of the day. And no, it’s not only lobster and crabs. The place is stacked with seafood, still moving and swimming around, and you can make your way around the place, choosing your pick.
Fresh catch at Cua Biển Seafood Restaurant Urvashi Bhattacharya
From crabs, shrimps and lobsters the place also had various molluscs and shellfish — different kinds of clams, stone fish, live octopus, abalone and more. After choosing your shellfish, the staff asks you how you want it prepared — barbecue, sashimi, boiled, stir fried or any other way. It is then served to your table, along with your pick of sides and other dishes. We chose some lovely beef stir-fry noodles.
Street food at Son Tra night market Urvashi Bhattacharya
Son Tra night market: Night markets are one of the best ways to get some authentic tastes of Vietnam back to your home, and into your tummy. The Son Tra Market has it all, from food to clothes, home decor, games and even some good ol’ maalish and all. One side has two rows of food stalls that serve up all kinds of shellfish as well as pork, chicken, and beef options. The other side is where you can get all your shopping done picking local styles of clothing, accessories, belts, toys, and beauty products. There are interactive games, where the prizes are cute soft toys and Vietnamese ladies who are masseuses come to your aid if your feet get sore. If a massage is not your thing, and you want a break from the shopping, you can find a spot at one of the restaurants and enjoy a bite with the best company — puppies!
Golden Bridge Urvashi Bhattacharya
Golden Bridge, Ba Na Hills: A one-hour drive from the beach at Da Nang will take you to Ba Na Hills for a day of adventure. The most popular spot here is the Golden Bridge, which was made in 2018. To get to the bridge visitors have to take a long cable car ride — one of the longest in the world — that goes over the Ba Na forest. It almost makes you wonder how humans installed such a cable car to begin with. On reaching the top, after a wonderful ride with a vistas of the forest, you reach the bridge and the view is spectacular. The design of the bridge has two large hands holding up the walkway, which seems to loop back. After a walk on the bridge and several photo ops, you can check out nearby spots like the theme park Fantasy Park, which some visitors claim has “the best 7D experience ever”.
Ocean Lounge Club Ocean Lounge Club/Facebook
Ocean Lounge Club: Coming back to the beachfront by dusk, the Ocean Lounge Club at Phước Mỹ Beach is one of the few places open late. There’s a beach party almost every night with booths, and bean bags with low tables where you can sit and enjoy with friends. We spotted a DJ’s stage with lights and screens and the vibe was just different. The style of music was a hardstyle EDM mix with Vietnamese and English lyrics — rapid, pumping but very melodic. What added to the hype was watching the staff vibing to the music, breaking into dances and cheers just to keep the party going.
Shrines inside Marble Mountain Urvashi Bhattacharya
The Marble Mountain: This network of caves, tunnels, towers and pagodas spread over five marble and limestone hills was built by Mahayana Buddhists and the Nguyen dynasty kings. We were unable to finish the entire trail but the experience of being inside or seeing each of the caves and pagodas is worth the climb or the walk. There are shrines and towers dotting the trail and while it makes for really good photos, visitors must be mindful and respectful of customs as well. You need to take your shoes off before entering the pagodas, keep your volume low and, if you wish, you can light an incense stick at the shrines. The expansive view from the top of the stairs through the place shows you all of the city and the ocean.
Hoi An by night Urvashi Bhattacharya
Hoi An: If you like long walks, window shopping, meals with a riverside view, then this is the place for you. Sip an egg coffee at cute French cafes while you wait for evening, when the real magic begins. After the sun goes down, boaters take to the water with passengers and light up little floating paper lanterns that illuminate the entire scenery. The roads are also lit up with lamps and visitors are also allowed to float their lamps on the water. At Hoi An, what begins as a quiet stroll can turn into a festival of lights.
Ho Chi Minh City
Saigon Central Post Office Urvashi Bhattacharya
Saigon Central Post Office: When was the last time you sent a handwritten letter or a postcard with a stamp? The Saigon Central Post Office is one of the oldest functioning post offices in Vietnam . Although built in the late 19th century, the grand building has been maintained well, and visitors can send off a postcard from Vietnam if they wish to. There are a few shops selling souvenirs just as you enter, but beyond that is where the real magic happens. You can buy your stamps, postcards and letter-writing essentials before making your way to a writing booth to pen your message. After wrapping up you hand your letter over to the mailer. We were eager to send out a few postcards, but could not recall any addresses!
The writing benches at the post office Urvashi Bhattacharya
Cu Chi Tunnels: This had to be one of the most interesting sites to visit in Ho Chi Minh city. This area served as a strategic hub during the Vietnam War, utilised by Viet Cong soldiers for various purposes including concealing themselves during battles, facilitating communication and supply operations, medical facilities, storing food and weapons, and providing shelter for a significant number of north Vietnamese fighters. An exhibit on aircrafts, helicopters, machine guns and more equipment used by the US military is on display at the site and you can look at them before venturing into the bunkers.
The entry to the tunnels and bunkers Urvashi Bhattacharya
A small hike from where the machinery is exhibited takes you to the bunkers and the battle site. At the height of the war, these entries to the underground system — each the size of a large tile — would have been camouflaged. Underground, was a network of tunnels with small vents for air supply and small peepholes to keep an eye on the enemies. Narrow pathways connected different tunnels. The site overhead would be boobytrapped, enough to injure and trap a soldier but not kill them. This would cause their mates to come to their rescue, and the soldiers watching through peepholes would then attack.
Urvashi Bhattacharya
On either side of the trail you see great depressions that were caused due to bombing. The soldiers had a strategy to mislead US military dogs as well, so as to keep their tunnels a secret. They would fill the vents with the US Military’s bombshells, cigarettes and other items so the dogs would be tricked into thinking no one was present beneath the ground!
Cu Chi firing range: Not too far from the battle site, is a firing range.. The place had several rifles and machine guns like AK47s and M16s, so move aside PUBG, because this is the real deal. We bought five bullets for the M16, hoping one of them would hit the target, but the untrained eye can hardly see a bullet that small zipping through the air. The experience was exhilarating and we promise we were not thinking about our nemesis. With the gun in my hand and safety headphones in place, you can go ‘pew pew’ pro max!
Cu Chi firing range Urvashi Bhattacharya