When my friend asked me to choose between Hue and Hoi An, I picked Hoi An without hesitation. I was too impressed by the photos online. We planned to take a sleeper train from Hanoi to Danang, but we didn't manage to get a ticket. All the tickets were sold out three days before the departure day. =( The only option left was sleeper bus, which was much cheaper but it also took longer to reach our destination. We booked the bus tickets through the hotel receptionist. We were charged 18usd per person.
The pick-up from Hanoi Blue Sky Hotel 2 was scheduled at 6pm but we only boarded the transfer van at 6.20pm. The van was obviously over-crowded and the driver was pretty reckless in driving. We were dropped at the main office and there were a lot of confusions with buses heading to different destinations. And most people working there were unable to communicate in English. A big group of foreigners including us were very helpless, standing at the roadside with our bulky luggages.
And the bus finally came at 7.30pm. We had been reassured by the hotel receptionist a number of times that bus tickets would be provided at boarding area. However, apparently all other passengers had their bus tickets. What????? More confusions as we tried to explain ourselves to the bus driver. Somehow we boarded the bus in the end. Then another problem appeared. The bus was almost full because we were the last two passengers to board the bus. There were only 3 connecting beds connected unoccupied at the end of the bus, which meant one of us had to laying close to a stranger for the whole trip. Before we could make up our mind, a group of local people boarded the bus too. Oh wait, the number of passengers on the bus clearly exceeded the number of beds available. =/ Then an auntie came to chase us to the front because it wasn't very nice for girls and guys to lay next to each other. Sigh, at least we still got our own beds as some guys were willing to swap with us.
It was crazy because the local people started lying down on the walkways!!! The bus was so crowded and so noisy @@ Culture shock to both of us ! The trip to Danang would take about 16 hours, hopefully I could survive it @@
As the saying goes, life is not a bed of roses. We encountered a big problem early in the morning. Two tires blew out!!! We were totally blur and were wondering why did the bus stop moving. Thanks god we met a few friendly local university students who could speak fair English. They invited us to join them for breakfast and luckily we did. We waited for about 2 hours before the tires were replaced and the bus got moving again. Sigh~
The problem did not end there. We were not told that we had to change bus in Hue to another bus to Hoi An. What's more fantastic was we missed the morning bus to Hoi An, thanks to the previous incident. And the next bus would only depart at 2pm. So we were stuck at Hue and it was just 10am in the morning. 4 hours of waiting time!!! =.= What's worse was we would only reach Hoi An in the evening, there wouldn't be enough time for us to travel around. T.T Everything was just screwed up T.T
Since we hadn't paid for our bus trip from Hue to Hoi An, we decided to take a local bus to Danang followed by another bus to Hoi An. According to the helpful local people, the journey would only take about 3 hours and it was better than waiting at Hue. We thought it was a good solution. The bus trip to Danang was terrible. Very hot and suffocating as the driver did not turn on the air-cons. Sob sob. We suffered for at least 2 hours.
We tried to contact the homestay for a pick-up service from Danang bus terminal but the local people would not offer their help, They just wanted to earn our money by pushing us into a cab. I felt very frustrated. Desperately we could only take a cab to the homestay. It was rather pricey at 300000 vnd.
Bad luck would never stop once it started.The cab driver dropped us at a random spot on the street. Yes, it was the correct street but we wouldn't have known that the street was never ending. We walked for half an hour from one end of the street to the other end. Could you imagine how exhausted we were after all these shits?
Sorry for the long depressing stories just now. Hehe, let's talk about Hoi An now. I swear it's one of my favourite places in Vietnam! We stayed in Redhouse Homestay. It is situated between the beach and Hoi An town centre. The main consideration was its cheaper price compared to the hostels or homestays at the town area. No worries if you know how to cycle. You can get to the town easily with a bike. If you actually have plenty of time, you can spend time exploring the beach,
Address: 7, 77 Nguyen Duy Hieu, Cam Chau, Hoi An, Quang Nam, Vietnam.
After taking a shower, we started exploring Hoi An. I overestimated my cycling skills. =.= Took a while to get steady on bike, haha. The beautiful views and peaceful vibes in Hoi An really wiped all my bad moods away. I was so glad that I came despite all the unhappy experiences beforehand.
The ancient town was illuminated with hundreds of lanterns, so beautiful. It was a magical wonderland. Suddenly I felt like humming Rihanna's song (my addiction at that time):
Turn on your brake light,
we 're in the city of wonder.
Okay, back to topic. It's a must to make a wish with lantern in Hoi An. You could see a lot of Vietnamese grandma and kids selling paper lanterns along the river and on the bridge. It was hard to reject them. We bought two paper lanterns from an old lady and she insisted to get us into the small boat. Warning ahead, IT WAS HARD TO REJECT. She rowed the boat along the river. Vietnamese women are strong, regardless of age. When we got far enough from the crowd, the lady stopped and we placed our lanterns on the river after making a wish. Even though we paid extra for this extremely short trip, I think it was a good experience anyway.
We were quite hungry and it was time to hunt for good food. We discovered a "Cao Lau" street! You will know why I found the name amusing if you can understand Hokkien, haha. We ramdonly picked a stall and had our meal. The young boy was super cute and kept playing around with us. He even poked us, lol, how cute!
Pants bought in Hoi An! 20000 vnd for the shorts and 60000 vnd for the long one. The cheapest price I could get in Vietnam.
We left Hoi An early in the following morning. Even though we spent less than 24 hours in Hoi An, I would never forget the beauty of the little town. Like what I read from another blog, it's a little piece of Heaven. If you have an opportunity to visit Hoi An, stay longer please!
Some tips for transport to Hoi An:
From Hanoi to Hoi An
There is no direct transport from Hanoi to Hoi An. You must take either train, bus or flight to Danang first, then switch to bus or cab to Hoi An. Normally the hotel/homestay will provide pick-up service from Danang, do check it out!
From Hanoi to Danang
Flight
Price: Around $100
Duration: ~ 1 hour
Comfort Level: High
Sleeper Train
Price: Around $60, depending on the types of bed
Duration: ~ 12 hours
Comfort Level: Moderate
Sleeper Bus
Price: Around $20
Duration: ~ 14 hours or more, depending on bus condition and traffic
Comfort Level: Low (Extremely crowded and uncomfortable with people making noises and alighting during midnight)
From Danang to Hoi An
Bus is the cheapest option, however the drop off point can be relatively far from your hotel. Cab or pick-up service might be a better option. The price range should be around 250000 to 350000 vnd. Some cab drivers will try to cheat you by offering high charge, be firm to them and bargain hard.
Lastly, another photo of this little town =)
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