Da Nang, Vietnam

[hangchoi]

My company went to Da Nang for a few days. From HK it takes about two hour flight to Da Nang Airport, which is rather a short flight.

The immigration process is interesting. Only a few countries have visa free to Vietnam, i.e. most of us have to get a visa to enter. People may get visa from consulate in HK by paying HK$6xx for a single visit tourist visa, or getting a pre-approved visa before arrival.

We took the second route because it is cheaper overall. You have to first get a travel agent (mostly in vietnam) to obtain an approval letter. The cost of it is about US$8 per head. Then upon arrival, you have to pay US$25 per head to get the visa at the visa counter just before the immigration as shown on below picture. Hence the overall cost is about USD33 per head, i.e. HK$3xx.

The story is not ended here. The approval letter is a PDF file with a list of visitors on the attachment page and the list shows a number of visitors (who are unknown to you) with the name and passport information. That means you are holding the same approval letter with tens of different visitors and you know their nationality and passport number, no privacy at all.

Well, service level is related to the price. Some travel agents offer you some special service. The one I used has these:
a) pay US$8 more, you can have a private letter for your own group, i.e. the attachment page only shows your group of people
b) pay US$20 per head, you can have their staff to help you get the visa, so that you need not to line up. Their staff will help you get the visa at the counter
c) pay US$30 per head, you can have the service in b) PLUS a separate custom officer to check you passport, i.e. express immigration service so that you need not to line up at custom.

Isn't it amazing???  

At last, we pay USD8 more to get a private letter.

[hangchoi]

Our trip is 5D4N, so we would not switch our hotel. We stayed at Banyan Tree Da Nang which is about 1 hour drive from the airport or Da Nang City. The resort is in fact in the middle between Da Nang and Hue.

The resort is run by Laguna so the setup is like the one in Phuket. Angsana hotel is next to Banyan Tree and they share the same facility. The location is rather remote and isolate so the environment is quite

[hangchoi]

Our room, 3 bedrooms suite was booked as it can cater up to 6 people and the cost per head is lower than booking three one-bedroom suite. The suite is huge with lots of common space for the guests.

[hangchoi]

The bedrooms. All  bedrooms have its own bathroom and toilet. Two of them facing the balcony with double bed and one twin bed bedroom. Quite spacious and you can jump to the pool when you wake up, even nude.....

[hangchoi]

You need to call buggy to move from one place to other. Breakfast is served at the same restaurant every morning. It is in buffet form with an interesting juice bar and a cocktail bar where you can make your own bloody mary every morning.

[hangchoi]

We arrived at Da Nang in the evening so our activity started on the next day. In the morning we went to visit Inter-Continental Hotel. The main reason was not for the hotel but for the restaurant. If you google Inter-Continental, you will find a restaurant Maison 1888 immediately before the hotel search, i.e. people searching this restaurant more than the hotel itself.

Maison 1888 may be the most famous restaurant in Da Nang. It was once rated as the best restaurant in Asia by some medias. They mainly serves dinner but they have lunch on Friday and Saturday, so we went there for lunch.

The location is a bit far from Da Nang city. The hotel is nicely built on hill side slope and you have to take the cable car down to the restaurant.
 

[hangchoi]

The restaurant is nicely decorated. Foods are good but not excellent. Service is wonderful. The price is expensive for the local but it is cheap if you compare it with that in HK. The lunch menu is limited but you may negotiate the main course with the chef in advance. Some of us did not want to have lamb for main dish so they served chicken instead.

[hangchoi]

More foods.......

[hangchoi]

Sightseeing after lunch. There is not many sightseeing spots in Da Nang indeed. Pink Church is one of them and it is also recommended by most of the medias. Other than the colour of the facade, there is not much to see. When I walked around it, I found something more interesting. There is a joss stick mug for worshiping Mary???

And a nice pieta too.

[hangchoi]

Opposite to the pink church is the Han Market, a local market but lots of tourists, maybe due to its location which attracts the tourists after visiting the pink church.

A lot of different stuff to sell, foods and snack, etc. There are a lot of shops for tailored clothing and the price is cheap, about HK$120 for a traditional 越南長襖（Áo dài)