The Real Asia

The weekend before last I visited Hoi An in Vietnam, and to say it was a bit of a shock to the system would be an understatement. You have to remember, although Singapore is technically in Asia, we’re essentially living in this weird bubble that’s very similar to London so it makes stepping into the ‘real Asia’ a little bit daunting – especially on your own. That being said it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing and I’m 100% glad I went (despite getting dreadfully ill, but I’ll come to that later).

I arrived in Da Nang (the main city closest to Hoi An) around 7pm local time on Thursday and my hotel arranged a pick-up service to take me the 45 minute journey from the airport to where I was staying. The first thing anyone mentions is how bad the driving is/how many mopeds and motorbikes are out and it’s very clear why – I spent the majority of that car journey with my eyes shut trying to block out the constant horn beeping going on. We eventually got to the hotel in one piece – and although it was the nicest hotel appearance wise and the staff were amazing, it was in a bit of an odd location (by odd I mean the dodgiest of dodgy) but it was still okay.

My first day in Hoi An was spent at An Bang beach, my hotel obviously have a deal with the Dolphin Beach Bar so we got sunbeds for free which was nice and the beer was super cheap (50p a bottle) so I was set for the day! I also managed to get really sunburnt on one side of my body which made for a very good look (picture a drumstick lolly and that was basically me) but I met up with some of the girls who were on my plane and made friends with the cutest dog ever so all in all it was a pretty good day.

Saturday came and it was time to venture into the Old Town, and I’m going to be honest but I don’t get the hype at all. Yes the clothes and little souvenirs were cheap and it was fun to look round for probably an hour but I was soon bored and (extremely) lost so I decided to go and drop off the bits I’d bought for my family and have a nap before heading out to see the Hoi An nightlife.

Hoi An at night is as strange as Hoi An during the day, there’s a bar dedicated to Mr Bean and Tiger Tiger nightclub is alive and kicking over here but I was starting to feel ill by that point (surprisingly not alcohol induced) so I didn’t last very long before retreating back to the comfort of my room for the remainder of my trip.

Processed with VSCO with q3 preset

Processed with VSCO with q3 preset

Processed with VSCO with q3 preset

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Sunday was a complete wash out – I made it out of bed for all of half an hour before I realised the only way I was going to make my flight home was if I drank a shit load of water and slept for as long as possible. Thankfully my hotel staff were absolutely amazing (special shout out to Chloe who was an absolute angel looking after me) and gave me a room until it was time for me to head to the airport.

So yeah, not a wasted trip but not the best – Bali, you’re up next!

Amy x