Saturday 5th November 2022
This morning we hired a private car for 4 hours, as we’d found one on Klook for 680,000 VND (just over £20). It was the only practical way we could see Son Tra Peninsula, as there isn’t really any public transport and hiking doesn’t seem to be a thing (it appears the only walk to walk up is via the road). If we ever return to Vietnam, we’ll get a motorcycle licence in the UK. Motorcycle is the best way of seeing this area, but driving without a motorcycle licence would invalidate our travel insurance (even though they’ll let you hire the bikes here with just a driving licence).
You can’t get to the top of the peninsula in a car, but the views over the bay were still fantastic from halfway up. We visited the Big Lady Buddha and Linh Ung pagoda. Apparently the Lady Buddha is the tallest Buddha statue in Vietnam, and can be seen from any point in Da Nang city. Made of solid marble, it’s an impressive sight.
We drove back down the hill and stopped off for a quick Bahn Mi at Ùmm Banh Mi & Cafe. Our grilled pork Bahn Mi was very good – better than the ones we’d had yesterday in Hoi An, but still not quite as good as the best in Saigon.
We continued the drive to Marble Mountain. Right next to the mountain are several marble sculpture places. Our driver took us to one, where we were able to see the artist at work. Some of the sculptures were incredible (including the giant chess sets), and we fell in love with a beautiful green coloured marble outdoor table. We later found out the price was $40,000!
There are two options for getting to the top of Marble Mountain, walking up a lot of steps (which is free) or taking the elevator (which cost 15,000 VND for one direction). We went for the elevator, at the top of which was a beautiful view and the Tam Thai Pagoda.
There are several caves you can visit on Marble Mountain, as well as various walking trails. We went to Van Thong Cave first. It turned out to be a very cool cave. If you go right to the back, you can clamber up to another cave, and then exit that chamber from a very rugged path at the back (it’s a bit of a scramble up over the rocks though!)
It’s then possible to follow the path right to the top of the cave, where you’ll find a beautiful viewing point. The trail then continues down to join the main path. It’s hard to tell you can actually do this (I didn’t think we’d be able to get out the back of the cave, but Pete likes exploring!), but it’s definitely worthwhile to do.
The second cave we visited was Huyen Khong. Gaps in the ceiling allow shafts of light to penetrate the dark cavern, creating dramatic spotlights inside. It felt almost magical, and is a great place for photos!
We then climbed to the highest peak. It’s steps all the way, so not a difficult path, but there are quite a lot of steps. It’s definitely worth it for the view at the top though.
The final cave we went to was the smallest and least impressive, although it would’ve been very hard to out do the first one.
Marble Mountain was a lot bigger than I was expecting and we could easily have spent more time there, exploring some of the smaller caves and walking the numerous small trails. There are also a few little outdoor cafes and the beer was cheap, so would have been a nice place to relax and enjoy the views. However, we had a train to catch, so we walked down the steps to the entrance and then found our driver to take us to Da Nang station.
We got to the station a little early and our train was slightly late, so we had a bit of time to kill. The station has a large waiting area with plenty of seats, so this wasn’t a problem, and proved a good opportunity to catch up on my kindle book.
We’d booked 2nd class seats for the train, and the seats were comfortable with plenty of leg room (much more than you get in the UK).
It was a beautiful train ride from Da Nang to Hue, passing through stunning scenery. There was also a trolley with reasonably priced drinks and snacks that passed through the carriage regularly. So all in all, a great train journey.
At the station, we ordered a taxi to Eva Homestay, where we were staying. It’s a small family run place, and the hotel is also their home so we had to remove our shoes before entering. The rooms were quite basic, but clean, and reasonably good value.
By this time it was late afternoon, so we didn’t have much time until our evening food tour, which we’d booked through Hue Student Tours.
Our guides were Vy and Nhi, and they took us on the back of their scooters to Bánh khoái Hồng Mai, our first stop. Here we got to try the traditional lemongrass skewers and Bahn Khoai, which are a speciality of Hue – crispy pancakes topped with pork, prawns, and egg. Vy showed us how to make rolls from the lemongrass skewers, with lettuce, herbs, and rice paper, which we then dipped in the peanut sauce. They were delicious! My favourite dish though was the pancakes. They were smaller and crispier than the Bahn Xue we had in Saigon, and I preferred the taste of the Hue ones.
It was then back to the scooters, to drive the short distance to the citadel. Vy explained a bit about the history, and we saw some cannons, the Ky Dai flagpole, and the Meridian Gate.
Our tour continued, with a stop at Bà Gái Hue Beef Noodle Soup for (you’ve guessed it) a bowl of beef noodle soup. The jelly like slab at the top was beef jelly, which I kindly donated to Pete. The soup was good, but not the best we’ve had in Vietnam.
Vy then took us to the Perfume River Pedestrian Bridge to walk off the food. She explained how the bridge, which is a popular hangout spot for young people, was constructed from ironwood imported from South Africa. This wood was chosen for its durability to water, a very important quality for a bridge that’ll spend a lot of time submerged (Hue has a tendency to flood during the wet season).
Our next stop was for Bahn Mi, at Bánh Mì Trường Tiền O Tho. This was the venue we’d been looking forward to the most, but sadly turned out to be the most disappointing. The pork was very tough and chewy, so i didn’t enjoy it all that much. It’s a very popular place, especially with young people, and was packed when we were there. So perhaps we were unlucky and just got a tough bit of meat (or maybe the locals don’t mind very chewy meat).
Our final destination was Kinh Do Hue (22), for a dessert of Che Hue, which Vy described as “sweet soup”. There were a lot of options to choose from. Pete predictably picked his beloved banana and I went for lotus seed – mainly because I had no idea what it’d taste like so wanted to try something new. I’m glad I tried it, but I probably wouldn’t order it again, it was a bit too sweet for my liking.
By this time it was getting late, so Vy and Nhi took us back to Eva Homestay on their scooters. We’ll definitely sleep well after all the yummy food we’ve tasted on the food tour!
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 