vietnam
We were invited to An Bang Beach, Hoi An for a week in April for a 40th birthday party. The birthday boy is a friend from HK who has taught all over the world so he had over 35 people flying in from all over for the occasion, as far as New Zealand or Kenya for example! It was a very relaxed affair with various groups mixing and matching on activities during the week then 2 nights of partying on the final weekend, one at their villa and one at a beach club. It was super fun and another great chance to catch up with friends who bailed from HK during covid.
Before the party started we spent a couple of days in and around Da Nang. Firstly we headed to Marble Mountain and sweated our way up to the top, checking out the temples and statues along the way and enjoying the views from the top. We then took ourselves on a DIY street food tour through Da Nang, along the way we discovered a bunch of little alleys full of art then tasted yummy noodles, cheap ‘n yummy Banh Mi and finished with excellent iced coconut coffee/chocolate. In the evening we enjoyed the city views from above and wandered the riverside checking out the dragon bridge.
The next day we headed out on a trip to the My Son ruins, we got an early start which was ideal as we got to see the ruins with barely any other people around. The ruins were really pretty and it was an interesting place to explore, there were multiple areas where ruins had been destroyed in the war and you could still see some huge craters in the ground. On the way back we stopped in a restaurant in someones home out in the countryside for some more really yummy noodlees.
Once we moved into the 40th party villa we started joining in on a few group activities, starting with an amazing meal out in Hoi An. One of the funniest was a ride in basket boats through the coconut forest, there were groups all over the river so it was very packed, each boat is a circle and holds 2 guests being paddled along by the boat driver. Occasionally we stopped, once to see a crazy performance with one of the drivers spinning and dancing wildly to Gangnam Style, another time was a crowd-involvement one where someone got into a different boat and held on for dear life while the driver spun the boat around. It was one of the more touristy things you can do around there (see the triangle hats we all wore) but it was still quite fun nonetheless! We managed to also make time for chilling on the beach, swimming, playing Rummikub and drinking smoothies and beers on the loungers. On our final day we hired bikes to ride through the rice paddies to a lovely breakfast spot, for more Rummikub.
Feel so lucky to have had this week together with a great bunch of people, thanks to the birthday boy for bringing us all together!
