Hoi An, a Must see.

It was March 2022. The world had been gripped by a pandemic for two years with border restrictions bringing international travel almost completely to a standstill. I had spent the COVID pandemic in Singapore. 2.5 years without leaving the country. A country that is good at making and enforcing rules, excelled at it during COVID as much as I appreciated staying safe during the worst of the pandemic, the restrictions were beginning to take their toll. 

It might sound odd, but I’ve often said that one of the best things about Singapore is its airport. I live 10 minutes drive from Changi airport - regularly voted the best in the world - with its many affordable, short flights to incredible destinations around South East Asia. It was time to begin to take advantage of it again. I had done the obligatory (and treasured) trip back home to see family in the UK, so it was time for a fun escape in South East Asia.

Some friends floated the idea of going to run in the Vietnam Trail Marathon which we had done a similar race in Vietnam a year or so before COVID and had a great trip. The run was tough but it had taken us to a little-known yet stunning part of Vietnam. This time the plan was to do the run and enjoy a few days in Hanoi, partly to make up for the lack of any nightlife over the last 2 years of the pandemic.

When I told Jin, my business partner and co-founder of Chickenfeet Travels, about this idea as usual she tried to persuade me to explore further afield. Hoi An and the Central Highlands of Vietnam just had to be seen apparently…Then she dared me to dust off my touring bike and take it with me.

When she made it a dare, I could not really say “no”, could I? It turned into an epic 3-week trip taking advantage of the newfound, post-pandemic acceptance of remote working. 

First, I started in Hanoi, followed by the Vietnam Trail Marathon, and then Hoi An and the Ho Chi Minh Highway.

Hanoi

I touched down in Hanoi on a Thursday early afternoon in mid-May 2022. After checking in at a really nice small hotel (which had reduced its rates to lure post-COVID travellers), it was lunchtime…and  I was in a city that is street food heaven!

First on the agenda: Bun Cha. And not just any Bun Cha. Bun Cha Huong Lien, the place where Anthony Bourdain took some guy called Barack Obama for dinner, was just a five-minute walk. Bun Cha is a pretty simple-sounding meal: rice noodles, fresh, tangy herbs, succulent grilled pork and the all-important dipping sauce. But the amazing combination was an assault of sweet, sour, spicy and charred on your taste buds is anything but simple. 

Then for a taste of the remote working that was to come, it was back to the hotel for some work calls, but with a spring in my step from being able to work somewhere new, different and exciting and a belly full of some of the best street food around. 

Vietnam Trail Marathon

Friday morning it was time for the coach journey to Moc Chau for the race, about 4 hours outside Hanoi. Hilly and muddy are the words that first spring to mind about the run. But it was an exhilarating experience, running through a mixture of jungle, plum trees (the area is famous for its plums), rice and tea plantations. I can recommend the series of runs organised by Topas in Vietnam, they are well-organised and a lot of fun. 

After the race, we found some lunch in a local restaurant. It turned out to be the owner’s birthday and the afternoon was spent pursuing two of the most common pursuits I’ve found all over rural Vietnam: drinking rice wine and singing karoake! The friendliness of the locals, who would not let us leave, was incredible and it only increased the more rice wine was consumed.

Fortunately we escaped late afternoon and got an early night. Back in Hanoi the next day, though, it was time for a night out. A really cool speakeasy cocktail bar was the first stop followed by a delicious Vietnamese dinner. Then, the streets exploded with excitement. Vietnam were playing against Thailand in the final of the South East Asia Games football and they won. Hanoi suddenly went crazy: thousands of Vietnamese paraded on scooters horns blaring, flags flying, fireworks …erm, firing … it was like they had won the World Cup, the atmosphere was incredible! We also really felt we were made part of the celebration, and the many, many toasts to the Vietnamese win made for an unforgettable night out!  

I spent the next couple of days remote working in Hanoi. My favourite spot to work was a cafe by the railway line that runs through the middle of Hanoi and is overlooked by cafes, bars and people’s houses. It was great to be able to do some work and then take a break for a wander around a new city or to find some of that great local food.

Hoi An

Soon, though, it was time to move on to the next part of the trip, which involved a night train from Hanoi to Danang. I like travelling by train, but 16 hours is, I think, the longest train journey I’ve ever done. But I managed to get some sleep on the reasonably comfy beds and chatted with the Vietnamese news film crew I shared a cabin with. After a bowl of noodles for breakfast in the buffet car with sea views over the Hai Van pass, I got through it unscathed. 

It turns out Jin was right...Hoi An does have to be seen! It is justifiably a UNESCO world heritage site since 1999. It is a stunning ancient port city with unique and beautiful architecture from the 15 - 19th centuries. It is unlike any other city I have seen in Asia and feels like a really special place. It’s definitely worth spending a few days exploring, enjoying the amazing local food (banh mi, cao lau, for example), and lounging in the many cafes. It does get busy with tourists in the evenings when the night market is on, so I headed out to explore first thing in the morning before it got too hot and strolling through the streets at that hour was an absolute pleasure. 

Greater Hoi An

After a couple of days of exploring the city, I met up with Uncle 9, a local guide who would take me out to explore the local region for a day by motorbike. Now, to be honest, I’m not really a huge motorbike fan and usually consider them dangerous. But in Vietnam it's just the way people travel. With so many of them on the roads and not that many cars it does feel safer. I rode on the back of Uncle 9’s bike. He was a very safe rider, and it was a great way to see the countryside. 

Uncle 9 kept away from the usual tourist sites - there are plenty of them where you can jostle with the crowds for what are mostly overpriced and underwhelming experiences.  He took me to see local people doing what they do - it wasn’t laid on for the tourists, it was just seeing people living their everyday lives. There was the couple who made rice paper and noodles - it was really cool to find out how they’re made and to have a go myself. There was the man making brooms from all local natural materials. People making roof tiles. And the place where they make peanut oil from their local harvest. Added to this were stories about the plethora of local temples we passed and the Vietnam war sites and memorials. Taking our motorbike over the river by boat was also a pretty cool novelty! All this alone would have made for a great day out. 

However, one of the highlights was a visit to My Son (pronounced like “mee sorn”). This is another UNESCO world heritage site. Essentially, these are incredible temple ruins in what seems like the middle of nowhere in the jungle. Think Angkor Wat but without the crowds! They were found by French archaeologists in the early 20th century and date from the 4th to 13th centuries. The site was the religious and political capital of the Champa Kingdom, which had its origins in the Hinduism of India. Yes, that’s right, ancient Indian Hindu temples randomly found in the jungles of Vietnam! There were so few other tourists around (admittedly tourism was still ramping up post COVID) I felt a little bit like Indiana Jones discovering a lost civilisation!

One of the great things about this area is that you can spend a few days exploring an amazing city and region but also there are really great beaches nearby too. So after a few days staying in town, I headed out to stay at An Bang beach just a few kms outside Hoi An. It was a great place to do a mix of working remotely and relaxing for a few days before the big dare to cycle the Ho Chi Minh Highway.