My recent trip to Vietnam with my wife and 9 year old son reminded me of travelling through South-east Asia twenty years ago. I could see at that time, and I spent about three months backpacking through Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia. Since losing my eyesight, and also having a young child, I have taken easier holidays in Japan or in resort areas with good hotels and facilities for tourists.
In Vietnam we stayed in three different hotels – a small, cheap hotel in Hoi An, then a more luxurious hotel in central Da Nang, then a cheaper hotel near the beach in Da Nang. The switch from cheap hotel to luxury hotel amazed my son. When he saw the second hotel, and we were invited to enjoy the free afternoon tea (with a chocolate doughnut), my son kept saying, “I am rich! I have become rich!”
The thing which reminded me of backpacking years ago was wandering around a place where people didn’t speak English, and having random encounters and experiences. There was a banh mi, or Vietnamese style baguette restaurant just across from our hotel in Hoi An, and we decided to give it a go. It was lovely, and much nicer than the banh mi restaurant recommended by guide books and frequented by tourists rather than locals.
We wandered through the back streets near our hotel in Hoi An, looking for a launderette. We found kids kicking a ball up and down a narrow street, dodged passing scooters, found a place to get our laundry done, and bought some wonderful coconut flavoured iced coffee from a street vendor.
Things became much easier once we reached the luxury hotel in Da Nang. The beds were bigger. I broke a glass at our first hotel by kicking it because I was sharing a bed with my son, and sleeping with my feet next to his head, and the night stand with my glass of water. We could all stretch out and relax in the second hotel.
The breakfast was also a delight in the second hotel. I tried dishes such as roast duck, sticky rice, dumplings, and pho noodles.
But despite the greater luxury and convenience of Da Nang, my wife and I much preferred the back streets of Hoi An.
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