I was talking to hubby about Vietnam early this year, when
he told me that we have partially covered the North and South Vietnam. So he
suggested Danang, one of the port cities and eventually, the biggest city in
Central Vietnam. And I said, why not? We could bring Pak Ein and his wife
along, as my yearly-travel-treat to them.
As usual, hubby did all the preps, right after we came back
from Jogjakarta. Meanwhile, I was dreaming big time that hubby would
complotting with AA crews, to do a birthday surprise for me, since we were
flying on my birthday.
But neah…hubby has always played himself. I tell you why.
2 weeks before the boarding day, we met #TravelholicAwesome
at Ely’s house for Iftar. While discussing on everyone’s next trip, we found
out that Dan Arif will be going to Danang with his bro, exactly on the same
date and time with us. So we jumped into conclusion that we should go together,
where we then, cross-referred our itinerary that ultimately turned out to be
slightly the same. Well, traveler talks the same language huh? Hahaha.
We use the same route and method to LCCT. I’ve warned Pak
Ein and his wife to travel light if they want us to bring them around. Knowing
our style of traveling, Pak Ein and his wife combined and packed their
belongings into one cabin-size trolley bag, while Pak Ein carried one backpack,
loaded with foods and rations. I told him,
“Abah, no rice. Ok? So don’t ask for one.”
“Roger that.” Uih…confident.
I kept on telling him that we normally don’t take rice while
travel, but if we happened to see any cheap halal food with rice, we have no
issue taking it. I remembered once when we brought him to Medan. Right after we
landed and passed thru the immigration, Pak Ein straight away asked for rice! “Nasik
ada? Nasik? Murah, banyak, dan sedap!” Hahaha!
So this time, as usual, we brought “serunding” (that we
bought from Terengganu during our trip with #TravelholicAwesome), tuna, bread
and cereals. And so did Dan Arif. We met Dan Arif and his bro at LCCT and
boarded into the aircraft. Earlier, my seat was auto-assigned far from hubby,
Pak Ein, and his wife. Indirectly, I was actually being forced to purchase one
seat, in order to sit close to them. So I bought. That time, I didn’t know that
it will be next to Dan Arif. If and only if I knew, I wouldn’t want to buy it.
Hmph!
I was waited for the surprise. I was waited for the birthday
song…but…
No announcement being made at 30,000 feet above sea level,
neither surprise nor slice of cake from AA crews. But I got a father-daughter
handshake from Pak Ein…after being plainly told by hubby, right in front of my
face. Pfft!
So, be it.
2 hours later, we arrived at Danang International Airport,
and had a clean smooth immigration process. It was raining and the sky was all
white and cloudy. Hmph. We walked out from the arrival hall and looked for someone
whom hold hubby’s name. He earlier booked a transport to take us from Danang to
Hoi An, and opted for Vietland Discovery, which was the cheapest compared to
other companies.
The Viet guy who held the card smiled from afar. He said
nothing but only smiled. Even when we took his picture, he still stood still
and smiled. He then asked us to wait there while he took the car. Well, he
didn’t actually say it in words; he just gave a sign language lah. Funny!
In the car, the driver was sitting straight. Meantime, we can’t stop talking and laughing, while taking
pictures. Each of us had a window in this Toyota Hiace, to shoot. Hubby was on
the left hand side, I was on the right hand side, while Dan Arif covered both
sides. The van was spacey! And the road was super straight, hole-free,
bumpy-free, but the rain did fail us sometimes.
At one point, the driver drove 40km/h on one long straight
stretch. We had no idea why he did that, and looked at each other’s face and
the road, simultaneously. Seeing this, we still can’t figure out why he drove
that slow, like, what was he trying to do and show. Nothing out there. The
driver then pointed at the road side. There were beautiful and exclusive
hotels, and some were still under construction. Ahhhhh…got it! He was giving us
the time to snap pictures! Hahaha!
The rain went on and on, till we arrived at the Sunshine Hotel. The first thing that caught our eyes was two rows of silver-colored
bicycles. Great! It will fulfill our initial plan to cycle to Old Town. We had
a smooth checked-in and paid the driver. The cost of one way from Danang to Hoi
An was only USD22. It was six of us, so we paid USD3.60 each. Yup! That’s the
good thing if we travel in a group.
Since the driver only knew how to smile, it was a major
communication breakdown when we tried to tell him, to come back tomorrow for My
Son stopover. Luckily he loaned his phone to hubby, where we got to talk to
Ms.Ha, and sealed the deal.
All of us went into the room and the room was super clean
and nice. The room was beautifully decorated with couple of swan towels, with
hibiscus in the middle. We can’t hold ourselves from taking romantic pictures,
before we dissembled them. We then explored the balcony, where we tucked our
head out, and saw Pak Ein and his wife in the next room. Hahaha! Looking
upright, we saw Dan Arif and his bro, Aqram, waving at us.
The reason why we chose this hotel was due to its location that is just 15 minutes away from town. It has plenty of rooms with garden or pool views, spa, wellness center, library, car hire, tour desk, shuttle service, and many more. The hotel looks new and the staffs are all friendly. So, the 8.5 scores from Booking.com and excellent remarks from TripAdvisor.com is nothing to be doubt of.
Internet is free, bicycle rental is free, and guess what? Pets are allowed! With no extra charges! How bout that? (I should have bring my Chihuahua Kiki huh?)
“Eat and rest first. Later at 6.00pm, we cycle to town, ok?”
“Roger.”
“Roger.”
And Pak Ein quickly asked for “serunding” and bread. Lapaq!
Note : Click link for Sekupang version (Hoi An: Old Beauty of Vietnam).
13 comments:
korang beli tiket flight asing2 ke? normally, kalo nama dalam 1 booking, automatically akan dapat duk sebelah2. unless lain2 booking.
amboiiii pak ein, siap dgn bagpack lagi tuh! hahaha
nice hotel by the way, how much is the rate per night?
sonok dengar citer pak ein, chaiyo pak ein!
john, that surprised us...kitorang beli skali (4 org), tapi satu seat tu terpelanting ke depan, lagi tiga kat tengah. so by hook or by crook, aku kena beli gak. IF and only IF aku tau seat tu sebelah Dan, tak perlu la aku beli haih...nyampah kan.
pak ein mmg, berjalan punya pasai, apa pun sanggup! hahaha! i'm glad that he still in tact :)
Frankly speaking, I do agree that travel in group is much more cheaper than travel alone especially when comes to sharing transportation. So at the end, your hubby did any birthday surprised for you?
Amboi pak Ein, segak cergas demi ke vietnam! Dia xpi terjun kolam ke?
diana, yup. we cut down the transportation quite many la coz there were 6 of us. senang :)
surprise? noooooooo! takde punnnnnn! pfft!
na, sanggup le nak jalan merata nyer pasal hahaha! tak terjun pun, takde masa. jengok2 jer. hehehe!
pak nak mintak nasik sebenaqnya time last tu..hehehe
i saw rows of potted trees....pokok apakah itu????
limau?
(me with my imaginary-owned-farm)
mrs gold, tunggu next entry hahaha!
anash, not sure la pokok apa tapi kitorang tuduh pokok ganja hahaha! tak la, pokok limau le kot...
ehhh...sana kan ada satu tempat leh naik cable car kan....apa tah nama gunung tu...lupe lak...kalau dari da nang dalam 30 minit kot kalau x silap...
hulubalang, cite danang tak sampai lagi, baru nak start hoi an :D
* nganga mulut *
cantiknya hotel.... siap ada angsa pakai skirt
meng, patu skirt dia ada kotor skit kena serbuk bunga raya tu kaler kuning tu...cis!
*sumbat bunga raya dlm mulut meng*
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