We are sand and sun people through and through. We love the heat, we love the humidity, we love the ocean. We are happier on the beach. Danang'd My Khe beach is one of the most incredible beaches we have been on in our entire lives. The sand is like fine flour and the water is a warm as a bath. The waves are fun enough to play in but the water stays shallow for a very long time which is perfect for families. The Lady Buddha overlooking from the beach creates some serious magic. And the history of the beach (it was a landing spot during the Vietnam war) makes it that much more interesting.
Every minute we spent on this beach was spent together as a family. We buried the kids in sand, jumped in the waves, made new friends (English speaking and not) and played with sand toys. We had lunch in the shade and learned how to get kids less sandy pretty quickly and we also brought have of the beach with us back to the apartment every day.
When we look back at our time in Danang, The beach was easily the highlight. It took us minutes to get there in the morning and we had the best time. Often happiness comes from simple things.
When you sit on My Khe beach in Danang and look to your left towards the mountains, the one thing that stands out along the skyline is the glowing white Lady Buddha statue.
The Lady Buddha statue is a massive depiction of the buddha in female form that stands almost thirty stories tall. It is surrounded by beautiful grounds and many ornate pagodas. it is a short taxi ride up the hill to the grounds, entry is free and you can easily walk the entire site (without prayer) in about an hour. She is imposing and beyond beautiful when you are stantding up close, and there is a open temple in her base. The location also offers up fantastic views of the Danang skyline and beach. We also had a giggle at the men's washrooms which were a little less than private... see the photo below. Worth the trip up the hill for sure!
If you were to look up "Perfect, stereotypical image of Vietnam" in the dictionary, you would find a photo of Hoi An.
It is impossible to even try to describe how amazing ancient Hoi An really is in real life. It is like a dream. It is almost like you have stepped onto a beautiful movie set or into a postcard. True, beauty. I always knew I wanted to go to Hoi An, David wasn't as sure. I had seen a million photos of the town and had read a million blog posts on what it is like. I knew that we would love it there. It didn't take too long, but I managed to convince Dave that it was worth an afternoon/evening trip.
We put Hugh down for a morning nap instead of an afternoon nap on our chosen day and called a Grab car as soon as we finished lunch. A quick forty minute trip... on the widest, emptiest highway... with an overly cautious driver going no faster than 50km... and we were there. Step one was to barter for some iconic bamboo cone hats ($10 for all five) and then we were ready to explore!
I had done some research on the must-see places in Hoi An before we left Danang. Aside from the few historical locations in town, most bloggers focus on the most beautiful locations for photos. The ancient townsite is filled with unbelievable photo opportunities which we took full advantage of.
After a few photos we wandered. Watching the rickshaws go past and counting the lanterns hanging over the streets. We passed through some shops and I even ordered a custom silk dress (more on that later). It was all so dreamy and relaxing. The heat of the afternoon was pretty intense so we stopped for a quick ice cream cone. The window where we bought our ice cream from happened to be a bit of a famous little ice cream shop. The owner makes all of her own ice cream every day with locally bought ingredients and it is incredible!
While wandering the back streets, we ran into a family that we had seen outside of our apartment in Danang. The Taylors are a fantastic family of four from England who are also travelling long term. We clicked immediately and ended up walking to the river to take twilight photos of old town while the kids chatted and played. It was so nice to connect and make new friends.
It seemed like a good time to grab dinner, so we went our separate ways. We ended up eating at a beautiful restaurant called Cargo overlooking the river. We enjoyed our meal as we watched the sun set and the water fill with boats and lanterns. The whole scene was so surreal and calming.
After dinner brought the icing on the cake of a perfect day. We walked over to the river where we hired a boat for half an hour and bought some floating lanterns. We spent the next half hour taking in the moment, releasing our lanterns and enjoying that time as a family. It really was magical. We finished the night off with a quick walk through the night market before catching another (much quicker) Grab car home.
Our time in Hoi An was unforgettable and I really think we created memories to last a lifetime. Even the kids were fully aware of what a special experience it really was. They have been talking about it ever since.
