Welcome to the backpacking diaries, where I’ll be updating you weekly on where I’ve been, what I’ve been getting up to, and most importantly, how I’m really feeling about this insane decision I’ve made.
As you probably know, I’m currently backpacking through Asia after quitting my job and leaving London for good.
I want to remember every moment of this experience, and document as much of it as I can, just like I’ve documented everything else in my life post-18 on this website.
You can keep up to date with my travels on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube but for now, enjoy week twelve of the travel diaries!
If you missed the first eleven weeks of backpacking diaries, you can catch up here.
Top tip: for mobile data around Asia, we used the Airalo eSim which was super handy and easily installed onto our phones as soon as we arrived in Vietnam!
Day 78: Monday 3rd June 2024
Location: Hoi An & Da Nang, Vietnam
Dear travel diary,
We woke up early this morning to beat the heat as much as possible. I was dreaming about the salted caramel coffee I had yesterday, so we headed back to Inner Hoi An coffee shop to have another couple and work on our laptops.
At 11am the weather app on my phone said it felt like 42 degrees outside. So, to put it lightly, I’m struggling.
We worked here until 1pm before heading back to the vegan banh mi spot we tried yesterday. The tastiest lunch and only 50p, we filled ourselves on these before heading back to our hotel to check out and grab our taxi to our next destination.
It was a quick 45 minute taxi drive to Da Nang, Vietnam – a beach town area of this part of the country. We were actually quite sad to leave Hoi An, even with the hot temperatures and chaotic traffic, it’s definitely been one of the prettiest places we’ve visited recently.
We had a bit of a nightmare checking into our Da Nang accommodation. Our taxi pulled up at the address and then the lady inside took us to another location (with the same name) at the street behind.
When we were brought to our room, it was two separate single beds… and there was no bathroom. The bathroom was across the hall, next to a different room.
We looked at our booking on booking.com and we had booked a Queen room with a private bathroom. So… this definitely wasn’t it. But there were no other rooms available, so we had to make do.
Plus, we were paying £7 a night (£3.50 each) to stay here, so could we really complain?
We headed to another coffee shop nearby to hop on our laptops while the sun went down and then explored Da Nang waterfront, before going to dinner at Thia Go restaurant.
Day 79: Tuesday 4th June 2024
Location: Da Nang, Vietnam
Dear travel diary,
We woke up early this morning since our bedroom looked over the reception area of the hostel and there were kids shouting from 7am. Not a great night’s sleep, I won’t lie.
We spent the morning in coffee shops as it was too hot outside to do anything else. I had found a blog post listing working coffee shops in Da Nang, so set off to number one on the list.
The first coffee shop was very artisanal. Too artisanal for our tastes. We were in the market for an iced late, but here you could pick your coffee beans and they had three options – filter, milk or drip. We paid around £7 for a shot of coffee that neither of us enjoyed.
So we headed on to a different coffee shop from the list that looked much more up our street. A cosy little brickwork cafe where we were able to have an iced coffee with condensed milk (they put condensed milk in everything here) and avocado on toast with a poached egg for less than our cup of coffee from the first place.
You live and learn!
There’s a famous bridge in Da Nang called Bana Hills that you’ll probably have seen lots of photos of – it’s a bridge held by two giant hands. Anyway, it’s part of a theme park and the entry costs $35. It would have cost us $70 on entry alone, just to see the bridge. So we opted not to, and to keep our budget.
Before the sun disappeared, we headed down towards the beach front of Da Nang to see the main reason tourists come to this area.
The beach was packed full of people swimming in the sea, sunbathing, doing tai chi, paragliding and wind surfing. Walking along the promenade was actually quite peaceful and enjoyable as you were far enough back from the beach for it to be quiet, and there were no motorbikes joining you on the pavement which was a nice bonus.
We passed a large fish restaurant which had a warehouse attached to it full of tanks of live fish. I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many sea creatures in my life. An aquarium wouldn’t even have that amount of fish. I wouldn’t be having fish for dinner, that’s for sure.
We headed to an Indian restaurant for dinner and had a plate of momos each (one of my favourite dumplings) and then had a final night in our painful hostel watching the first episode of Love Island.
Day 80: Wednesday 5th June 2024
Location: Da Nang & Hue, Vietnam
Dear travel diary,
We checked out of our hostel this morning after being wakened by screaming children (and their parents) at 7am.
We headed back to The Hide Out Cafe to have breakfast – I mean, you can’t really beat avocado on toast with a poached egg and an iced coffee for £2.74, can you?!
Then it was time to grab our bus to Hue, a two hour drive away.
We didn’t have long in Hue, and tried to see as much of the city as possible. However, it was a scorcher each day which made being outside quite unbearable.
We checked into the most incredible hotel that looked like something straight out of Marrakech. Steff booked it as a honeymoon stay (as he likes to do) and they gave us a souvenir candle each. Our first souvenir of our whole three months of travelling Asia.
We got our 10,000 steps in and headed across the bridge to one of the top attractions which is the local market. It’s simply chaos, but definitely cool to visit. We were the only tourists here which made it even better.
For an afternoon snack, we tried a local dish of rice cakes with shrimp and fish sauce. It comes as a platter of 16 small dishes, and I was not a fan. I had around four of them before I had to give up. We also ordered some fresh spring rolls, but these had an incredibly fragrant taste to them, so it was one bite and finished.
After more walking and coffees in a lovely shop that played nothing but Westlife, we headed for dinner at a top-rated restaurant. We found the restaurant was actually adjoined to a hotel down a side street.
We were the only ones eating, and there was a window inside that connected directly to the hotel’s swimming pool so we had our fishy pho with a side of children screaming and splashing around.
Like I said, the pho had a fishy twang to it and wasn’t our favourite. So far, Hue has been very disappointing food-wise.
Day 81: Thursday 6th June 2024
Location: Hue, Vietnam
Dear travel diary,
Since our stomachs were rumbling from the lack of good food yesterday, we headed out for some brunch. This was another highly-rated spot that also turned out to be a hostel.
I had a very generous serving of avocado toast with poached eggs while himself had a breakfast burrito. Because of the food we had yesterday, I was still a little apprehensive to eat and couldn’t let myself enjoy it.
It was another scorcher of a day, but we wanted to do something touristy since we were leaving Hue tonight. We headed to the Citadel to explore the large grounds and palaces. It made for a lovely walk, especially as a lot of it was shaded but the sweat. I’m not sure I’ve ever sweated as much during our time in Vietnam.
We headed back to the hotel to grab our laptops and went back to the Piano coffee shop to sit and work for a few hours until it was time to grab dinner.
Wanting to play it safe because of our overnight sleeper bus, we grabbed pizza from a highly-rated spot. But, we definitely received frozen shop-bought pizza, which wasn’t great.
I have to say, for Hue to be the best place in Vietnam for food because the King used to live here, it definitely didn’t feel like it. We didn’t eat like Kings and Queens here, that’s for sure.
Around 7pm, we headed to grab our 11-hour sleeper bus. Or so we thought.
Day 82: Friday 7th June 2024
Location: Tam Coc, Nimh Binh, Vietnam
Dear travel diary,
What a day. Our sleeper bus was more spacious than our previous sleeper bus experience, but it was still as uncomfortable. There were no stops for a toilet break and we actually arrived at our destination two and a half hours earlier than expected, which is slightly unheard of in Asia.
We were due to arrive into Tam Coc at 7am, and with the usual delays, we actually expected to get in at around 9am which would work out well for a good sleep.
However. We actually arrived at 4.30am in the morning, can you believe?!
It was the middle of the night in a brand new place and we obviously had nowhere booked to stay that night. We called our lovely homestay owner who got out of bed to let us check into our room and nap for the rest of the morning. Bless her, she was half asleep and in her pyjamas checking us in.
To top it off, Steff experienced the worst stomach cramps from the moment the bus took off from Hue. As soon as we stepped off in Tam Coc at 4.30am, he was sick at the side of the road. So it was straight to bed as soon as we got checked in.
Which is where he remained for the duration of our time in Nimh Binh.
This actually ended up being something very needed for both of us as I caught up on the week’s Love Island and switched off for two days. It’s been a crazy time of travelling and I haven’t overly loved my time in Vietnam just yet.
We lounged around the homestay room, walked around the lake we were staying at and headed to the restaurants nearby when it was time to eat.
Day 83: Saturday 8th June 2024
Location: Tam Coc, Nimh Binh, Vietnam
Dear travel diary,
Like I mentioned in yesterday’s entry, Steff wasn’t feeling well at all the entire time we were in Nimh Binh, but we ventured out this morning to a cafe near to our hotel for a breakfast of crepes and to work on our laptops.
He didn’t last too long and headed back to the hotel room to lie down. I sat here for a few hours and caught up on emails, blog posts and planned what I wanted to do once we get to Bangkok next month.
We headed out for an early dinner of pho in the town of Tam Coc and then came back to watch more Love Island.
I have to say, even though it’s the usual suspects of wannabe influencers every year, it does always deliver. Plus, the introduction of Joey Essex to this year’s season just makes it even better.
We had another early night as we’re leaving tomorrow for Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam and I can only imagine that it’s going to be hectic.
Day 84: Sunday 9th June 2024
Location: Tam Coc, Nimh Binh & Hanoi, Vietnam
Dear travel diary,
We were up early this morning to have breakfast at our homestay. The first time we actually managed to be out of bed before 9am. We had some pancakes before heading up to pack our room and check out.
Our bus to Hanoi was at 11.30am, so it wasn’t too rushed of a morning. Steff was thankfully feeling a little better for the bus journey. Plus it was only 90 minutes away from Nimh Binh.
We arrived in Hanoi to rain, so had a very quick walk around to get something to eat for lunch. Then back to the hotel to relax in our very spacious room and shelter from the rain.
The bed proved very comfortable so we actually had a nap (not something I’m prone to). And then headed out for a late dinner in an Indian restaurant for some momos.
I ended the week with a phone call home. A catch up on all the happenings and goings on back in Ireland.
Make sure to come back for week thirteen as I fall in love with Hanoi. And we head on a very special night away to Ha Long Bay on a cruise!
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