Vietnam: a troubled beauty | Strapping Times

As I write this article, it is less than fifty years since the American military conceded defeat and withdrew from Vietnam. The wound is still raw and bloody for both parties

So I’m surprised that in the week before I arrive in Da Nang, the US Navy is there ahead of me. For the first time since 1975, America has a military presence in Vietnam but this time, it is a political handshake and public relations show to illustrate a newfound camaraderie. Make no odds about this, it is extraordinary – the one-party communist state of Vietnam’s new best friend is the Trump-led capitalist car-crash freak show, the US of A.

Given the still unresolved differences triggered by the US Navy’s previous visit to Da Nang, I know I am watching a little piece of history in the making and I’m sorry I’m not already there to witness it. I’m delighted, though, as I’m watching the CNN newsreel, to get a WhatsApp message from the woman I’ll be meeting in a week’s time; Truong Duy Nhat Phuong, and it’s a photo of her on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson. Evidently, I have connections in the right places.

Ti aboard the USS Carl Vinson translating for the US Navy

Phuong, aka ‘Ti’, is my guide and translator for my tour of Vietnam. A native of Da Nang, Ti has prepared me for my visit with stories of her home country including her family’s experiences during and after the America-Vietnam War. It is not easy listening.

Ignored and betrayed

After the First World War, when Vietnam was part of France’s Indochina ‘empire’, Ho Chi Minh was part of the political group Groupe des Patriotes Annamites (The Group of Vietnamese Patriots) petitioning in Versailles at the peace talks (1919-1920) for his country’s autonomy.

Vietnam was part of a combination of south-east Asian countries invaded and occupied by France since the late 1800s. The Western practise of invading and occupying countries populated by people not of European descent was more prevalent then than it is now. Sadly, though, it still happens to this day with the USA being the biggest offender.

Which is ironic because Ho Chi Minh thought the Americans would understand and respect the Vietnamese people’s call for self-determination. It seems Ho Chi Minh had thought his own peoples’ struggle would be seen by the Americans as synonymous with their own ‘war of independence’. Perhaps, if it were the French colonists in Indochina rebelling against their homeland’s taxes, they might have gained more sympathy from the Americans.

He was ignored by both the French and the Americans. When WWII broke out the Japanese invaded Vietnam and the French collaborated in order to maintain their own occupation of the country. America sort help from Ho Chi Minh and his Vietnamese independence movement, the Viet Minh, to assist their forces in fighting the Japanese. The Americans promised support for independence with democratically elected self-rule once the war was over.

They lied.

When the Viet Minh defeated the French, the Americans did not see the Vietnamese winning their independence, they saw the Soviets expanding communism

At the close of WWII, with the Japanese defeated, the French invaded Vietnam again but this time with the backing of American money. The US picked-up in excess of 70% of the costs of France’s invasion. Fighting against the combination of old-school imperialist French military might (Yes, I know, but bear with me) and the capitalist imperialism new money of the Americans, Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh were very much the Asian David to the Western Goliath.

When the Viet Minh defeated the French in the First Indochina War in 1954, the Americans did not see the Vietnamese winning their independence, they saw the Soviets expanding communism. The subsequent American invasion divided the Vietnamese in a civil war and ultimately, divided the American people too.

Pay the price

Travel blogger ‘Nomadic Matt’ declared in 2010 that he would never return to Vietnam on account of being fleeced by street vendors and cab drivers because of being American. It was not about the money, he protested, but a lack of respect. He wrote:

‘The Vietnamese are taught that all their problems are caused by the West, especially France and the United States and that Westerners “owe” the Vietnamese.’

During the 20 years of their military intervention in Vietnam, the Americans dropped three times the number of the bombs dropped in WWII by all the combatants combined. With indiscriminate bombing campaigns and chemical weapons, the American military aimed to destroy the infrastructure of both urban and rural landscapes with scant regard for civilian casualties.

Since US troops left in 1975, over 40,000 Vietnamese have been killed by unexploded ordinance

The Vietnamese don’t need to be taught anything about the damage America has done to their country, they live with it every day. Since US troops left, over 40,000 Vietnamese have been killed and many more injured by unexploded ordinance. Vast tracts of land remain unsafe from the estimated 350,000 tons of unexploded bombs scattered on the surface, and toxic on account of the defoliants sprayed over it. How many Vietnamese suffer from disabilities and ill-health owing to the chemical weapons used by the US no one knows because no one has collated the data. The US government still denies that the defoliants are toxic to humans.

Well, to civilians. After protracted legal action, the US government was forced to concede liability and now pays out to the US servicemen who suffer from poor health as a consequence of being doused with toxic chemicals by their own airforce. To this day, though, the US government still refuses to acknowledge responsibility for the consequences of its actions in Vietnam and has offered no assistance in repairing the damage its military actions caused.

A different story

Imagine if the Vietnamese had been granted autonomy at Versailles at the end of WWI. The Americans would have had to fight hard against the old imperialism of Europe but they’d done that before and as the strongest military and economic power in the world, it would have been an easy win.

What if, instead of funding the French reinvasion of Vietnam, America had supported Ho Chi Minh and spent that money funding the building of a free Vietnam?

If not then, then after WWII. With Vietnam liberated from the Japanese by the Viet Minh fighting alongside the Americans, they were in the perfect place to be the heroes of the moment. The French had now been rescued from German occupation twice in wars in which American forces had been instrumental in victory. What if, instead of funding the French reinvasion of Vietnam, America had supported Ho Chi Minh and spent that money funding the building of a free Vietnam? Imagine the political, social and economic influence America would have in Vietnam today if it had chosen to be as instrumental in its freedom as it was for the French.

The American-Vietnam war need never have happened. If the Vietnamese people feel that the scars their country bears are the faults of the Europeans and the Americans then it is because this is true.

As Ti and I explore the 9th-century ruins of the beautiful Cham dynasty temples at My Son, I point out a distinctly 20th-century artillery shell casing stood neatly among the temple columns. ‘What’s that doing here?’ I ask. ‘They dig them up all the time,’ she shrugs.

Da Nang

I arrived in Vietnam at Da Nang in March. The beach was clean and cool with the breeze off the South China Sea taking the edge off the humidity. I was there outside of school holidays but nonetheless, was amazed how many tourists weren’t crowding the beach. Often, it felt like I had all of it to myself. If you want more than just soaking up the sun, Da Nang has plenty of interesting sites in and around it. Ti showed me the Marble Mountains, the Lady Buddha and the Cham Sculpture Museum by day and fine dining and dancing by night.

The Dragon Bridge over the river Han in the heart of Da Nang

A whale temple at My Khe beach. When the body of a whale is washed ashore, it is buried and a temple built over it

You can buy anything off the back of a scooter in Vietnam

A street trader taking no chances with exposure to the sun

Those traditional hats – nón lá – defend against the rain as much as the sun

Land values and taxes mean modern buildings are narrow-fronted and tall

A herd of the native scooters resting in the shade in the midday heat

Fantastic creatures carved in the limestone and marble of the Marble Mountains, Da Nang

Ti, fighting the temptation to pole dance...

One of the temples on the Marble Mountains

The Marble Mountains are riddled with caves with temples inside them carved from the mountains

Five dragons representing the five Marble Mountains and the five elements of earth, water, air, fire and metal – which the mountains are named after

Some of the caves in the Marble Mountains, and the statues and temples carved inside them, are very large

Drinking fresh coconut milk on the climb back down the Marble Mountains

The morning sun burning off the remains of a heavy sea mist from the previous evening on My Khe beach

The view from My Khe beach looking north to the Son Tra peninsula with the huge, Lady Buddha statue just visible

A terrace bar on a near deserted My Khe beach

The only thing that litters My Khe beach is newlyweds – every ten metres there's another young couple shooting their wedding photos

Man down! The coracles used by the fishermen are designed to look like 'baskets', a historical dodge of a tax on boats

Dancing Argentine tango on the plaza on My Khe beach, Da Nang

Lunch at the restaurant 'At The End Of The Beach'

The banana print on my souvenir shirt (from Han market) was available on everything from shorts and playsuits to dresses and suits

The architecture in Vietnam is a chaotic mixture of ancient Asian, colonial European and contemporary toy town

Street traders at the Han market, Danang

Small houses with grand designs: there's evidence of the French colonial style in even the most modest buildings

The vegetarian restaurant, Liên Hoa, looks rough and ready from the street in Da Nang, but this local vegan dish was exquisite

A spectacular burst of colour as a garden makes an escape over the wall and climbs along telephone cables

A mixture of cultures and decades with the pastel pink Catholic church in central Da Nang, built in 1923, backed very a modern skyscraper with a 1967 VW Beetle wearing the So-Cal look parked in front

Hot, humid days followed by cooling evening winds on the seafront bring refreshing mists

I saw very few old cars in Vietnam, this bad boy MkI Toyota Corolla was a nice surprise

Heat and humidity do not slow the locals down, dancing Salsa at the club CohibaR in Da Nang

The Cham Sculpture Museum in Da Nang is dedicated to the history and culture of the ancient Champa Dynasty which occupied what is now southern Vietnam

Ti is proud of her Cham heritage. Her features show she is of the ancient, southern dynasty. And she's got the moves too

Dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant & Bar with a view over the Han River, Da Nang

The Lady Buddha is at the Linh Ung Pagoda on the Son Tra Peninsula and was completed in 2010. She gazes serenely out to sea to calm the monsoon storms

The Linh Ung Pagoda and reclining Buddha are adjacent to the Lady Buddha statue

Hue

For my first tour, Ti booked one of the many available in the leaflets in the hotel. The tours are comprehensive, taking care of your travel, food and admission for all of the stops on the tour. They pick you up and drop you back to your hotel and are so cheap it is not worth converting the cost into your own currency.

Our trip took in a number of stops but the top billing goes to the ancient capital city at Hue and the Tomb of Khai Dinh.

Hue was the capital city of the Nguyen Dynasty, from 1802 to 1945. A 19th-century citadel, it is surrounded by a moat and stone walls and encompasses the Imperial City with its palaces and shrines and the Forbidden Purple City – once the emperor’s home.

All this ancient and beautiful history is marked with the far more recent sort. Hue was the scene of one of the most bloody battles of the American-Vietnam war when the Viet Cong seized control of the city in its 1968 Tet Offensive. There then followed three months of hand-to-hand fighting as the Americans re-occupied Hue, street by street. The scars of these battles are clear to see in the buildings that survived.

Song Huong or the 'Perfume River', flows though the city of Hue

The Perfume River is so-called because in the autumn, flowers from orchards upriver of Hue, fall onto the water and give it their scent

The Pagoda of the Celestial Lady is a historic temple in the city of Hue

This chap stands guard in the entrance way in to the grounds of the Pagoda Of The Celestial Lady

The grounds of the The Pagoda of the Celestial Lady comprise a Buddhist temple and gardens

In the grounds of the temple adjacent to The Pagoda of the Celestial Lady is a memorial to the buddhist monk; Quang Duc, who immolated himself in Saigon in 1963. This is the car he travelled in and which appears behind him in the extraordinary photos of his protest suicide

This small pagoda is part of a memorial garden in the grounds of the Pagoda of the Celestial Lady. Do not take selfies here, you will be forecasting your own death

The Flag Tower in front of the Imperial City at Hue

For my tour of Vietnam's ancient capital city, Hue, Ti donned her traditional, silk áo dài dress

The Cua Ngo Mon, or 'Meridian' or 'South Gate', is the most prominent of the ten gates into the Imperial City. In the foreground you can see the moat which surrounds it

In the Forbidden Purple City, right in the heart of the Imperial City, the architecture that has survived bears the scars of the wear and tear of weather and the more recent military actions

The Hall of Mandarins in the Forbidden Purple City

This garden is in the heart of The Forbidden Purple City, inside the Imperial City in the area which was purely for the use of the emperor's family and their servants

Cua Hien Nhon is the 'Gate of Manifest Benevolence'

The reconstruction of the Emperor's Theatre inside the Forbidden Purple City; the original was destroyed during the French invasion in 1947

In the Emperor's Theatre are exhibits of musical instruments, costumes and props

The Emperor's Reading Room, the only part of the Forbidden Purple City to escape damage during the French invasion of Hue in 1947

Those beautiful floor tiles do little to soften noise, so you'll need some silk slippers to avoid disturbing the emperor while he is reading in his Reading Room

This detail from one of the pillars of the Emperor's Reading Room shows how the designs are made from a mosaic of broken and painted pottery

Tomb of Khai Dinh

Built on the steep hillside of Chau Chu Mountain, not far from Hue, the tomb is a beautiful building set amongst breath-taking views. Khai Dinh was the 12th Emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty, reigning from 1916 to 1925 and he was not a wholesale success. A puppet of the French government he was seen by his countrymen as a collaborator. In 1922, the political activist Nguyen Ai Quoc (who would become known as Ho Chi Minh) wrote a play about Khai Dinh called ‘The Bamboo Dragon’ that lampooned him as all talk and no trousers.

He wasn’t gay but his boyfriend was. He had several wives and fathered a son but he advised new recruits to his harem that they were joining a convent. He loved all things European, especially French, and his tomb is the craziest mixture of European and Asian architecture – like Versailles on LSD. Khai Dinh levied heavy taxes on his countrymen to pay for this very expensive tomb and that, along with his collaboration with the French, made him deeply unpopular.

The Tomb of Khai Dinh is like a mini Versailles with dragons

The steps up to Khai Dinh's tomb are flanked by two of these needles and adorned with many dragons

The Tomb of Khai Dinh sits on of Chau Chu Mountain, not far from Hue

The stele pavilion is an octagonal building celebrating Khai Dinh's achievements

This spectacular tomb is topped with a gilt statue of Khai Dinh which was cast in Marseille

Khai Dinh's altar is in the tradition of ancestor worship

The black discolouration on the architecture is caused by the Vietnamese weather

Looking down from the tomb, over the main gate to the jungle beyond, the tomb of Khai Dinh is splendid in its isolation

Khai Dinh has a legion of servants who form an honour guard to look after him in the afterlife

My Son

A short drive south of Da Nang is My Son, a site of ancient Hindu temples dating back to the 4th century, a place for religious ceremony and royal burials for the Champa dynasty. The Cham people are thought to have been descendants of seafarers originating in Borneo and they settled and ruled the land that is now southern Vietnam. Many of the southern Vietnamese identify with and cherish their Cham heritage and see themselves both physically and culturally different from their northern countrymen.

The buildings at My Son are being preserved and protected with support from UNESCO having been recognised as a World Heritage Site.

There is much work in progress to stabilise and restore the ancient temples at My Son, which have survived centuries of weather and war and most recently, carpet bombing by the American airforce

A linga altar in front of one of the temple buildings at My Son

The views amidst the temple ruins and the mountains are quite otherworldly

Did the ancient Greeks visit South East Asia? There's a decidedly Greco-Roman influence in some of the architecture at My Son

The temple buildings have thick walls and no windows, making them surprisingly cool. Not as cool as Ti, though, doing her best 'Audrey Hepburn'

Inland and among the trees it was damn hot. 'No it's not,' said Ti, 'you should be here in summer.' Mad dogs maybe but not this Englishman...

A demonstration of traditional weaving at My Son

A real pot pourri of architectural influences in the Post Office at My Son

An elderly Vietnamese lady sporting dyed-black teeth, a fading tradition which I doubt will be missed

A demonstration of traditional Cham Apsara dance in a theatre which forms part of the tourist centre at My Son

Hoi An

This town has a history as a trading port dating back to 200BC. At its height in the 18th century, Hoi An was trading as far afield as Egypt and was considered the centre of the world for Asian traders. Hoi An became a backwater in the 19th century. A combination of political changes and the river it sits on, Thu Bon, silting up, saw its role as a major international trading port sequestered by its neighbour, Da Nang. The town became a snapshot of the past and, ironically, this preserved it.

During the American-Vietnam war, this quiet bywater did not attract the attention of the American airforce and so survived largely unscathed. Now, Hoi An’s old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site recognised as a living preservation of an ancient South-East Asian town. The town thrives as a tourist must-see and movie location scout favourite and with its streets, festooned with lanterns, it’s not hard to see why.

Once a thriving sea port of global significance, Hoi An faded in to insignificance, and was usurped by Da Nang as a major, trading port

Leather goods aplenty! If you are in the market for new shoes, pack light

Hoi An has reinvented itself in modern times as a living exhibit of an historical South East Asian village

Hoi An has, of course, a great many temples, each one a place of peace and quiet

This particular temple also featured a gallery exhibiting local artists' work

Like a visual metaphor for life in Vietnam, Hoi An is a chaotic mixture of tiny alleys, wide streets, tourist tat, fine craftsmanship, dirt and colour

Living in London, it is not difficult to find places where life is cheaper but Vietnam is a completely different league of cheaper. When I go back to Hoi An I'll be flying there with an empty suitcase...

Although Hoi An was recognised as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1999, don't expect anything that looks restored or preserved. The architecture has a decidedly 'surviving' feel about it

It's that banana print again, it was trending all over Vietnam everywhere I went...

Threading your way through the alleyways linking the larger streets is a magical mystery tour that makes you feel like an explorer

There is a multitude of beautiful restaurants for riverside dining

This covered bridge is colloquially called the 'Japanese' bridge as it linked the Japanese and Vietnamese quarters of old Hoi An

The 'Pagoda Bridge' (Japanese Bridge) has a temple with shrines to local deities including a dragon which, it is believed, is pinned through its back by the bridge to keep it still. It's tail, however, is free to move and is the cause of earthquakes in Japan

Are those Chinese characters or Japanese? Forgive my ignorance but could easily be either as Hoi An, like all of Vietnam, is a glorious mixture of the cultures that have coloured its history

The street market alongside the river Thu Bon serves the locals as much as it does the tourists, the seafood here as fresh as you can find without getting your feet wet

Dinner on a terrace overlooking the Thu Bon river

Whenever you enter one of these little alleyways in Vietnam, no matter how mysterious, you can guarantee there'll be scooters at the other end...

They do like their lanterns in Hoi An, at night the whole town is lit up like a Christmas tree

Come nightfall in Hoi An it seems everything lights up including the bridges and the boats

Yup, it's true, look closely and you'll see you can get an Hoi An paper lantern in the ubiquitous banana print to match your shirt / dress / suit / bikini...

Ti and I taking an evening promenade under the Hoi An lanterns

Hanoi

I stayed in Hanoi only briefly, just two nights wrapped around a trip to Halong Bay. I was in the heart of the old town, within walking distance of Hoan Kiem lake and its beautiful, ancient temple and surrounded by the most eclectic mixture of what modern Vietnam is: I found a fitness class one evening performing line dance routines on the bank of the lake illuminated by the ancient, Taoist temple, Ngoc Son.

By night and day, the streets are dirty, cramped and chaotic. In the UK, we like to joke about planning regulations and health and safety but in truth, we know it makes sense. Visit Hanoi and you’ll see what life is like in a town unburdened by such things as traffic controls and building regulations.

I took one of the walking tours which included a visit to the Maison Centrale, a prison built by the French invaders in 1913 to incarcerate the Vietnamese campaigning for independence. Subsequently, the prison was used by the Viet Cong to house American prisoners of war who famously christened it the ‘Hanoi Hilton’.

It is a fascinating and exciting place and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Hanoi but equally, I would not stay there too long.

Hanoi is a hectic, chaotic mixture of architecture and seemingly lacking in building regulations...

Old town Hanoi is a maze of narrow streets in which every inch is choked with street traders and scooters

French colonial style over a tin roof, rusted. Yes, that semiotic is entirely deliberate on my part and it would not work anywhere other than in Hanoi

Hanging out in old town Hanoi on any given evening

The cultural, social, political and economic potpourri is reflected in its mix n match street architecture

Cocktails at the Nha hang Luc Thuy restaurant beside Hoan Kiem Lake in the centre of old town Hanoi. Ti chose a 'B52' without irony...

One of the cells in the 'Maison Central', a prison built by the French invaders in the late 1800s and later used by the Vietnamese to hold American prisoners of war and famously named the 'Hanoi Hilton'

St Joseph's Cathedral is on Nha Tho Street in the Hoàn Kiếm District of Hanoi. A late 19th-century Gothic Revival church that looks like a party-size Notre Damn and is an obvious link to France's imperial intervention

Cafe Dinh is a cafe that serves traditional Vietnamese food and drink. It looks out over the Hoan Kiem Lake in the centre of the old town Hanoi

This pergola is part of the The Ngoc Son Temple, on an island on the Hoan Kiem lake in the heart of old Hanoi

A cat, doing what cats do, in front of the doors of the Ngoc Son temple

A gate of the Confucian Ngoc Son Temple, Hanoi

忠 = 'loyal'. A declaration on a wall in the Ngoc Son temple

Inside the Ngoc Son temple, there are many offerings of simple food and water to far more complex and ornate objects...

The Ngoc Son Temple, located on island in Hoan Kiem lake

A sort of needle-like structure that forms part of the gate for the bridge to Ngoc Son temple

The entrance to the bridge to the Ngoc Son temple, lit up at night

Halong Bay

There are a couple of places I have been on my travels where I have looked out at the landscape and thought; ‘This is not planet Earth – I’ve lived on it all my life and it doesn’t look anything like this.’ Halong Bay is one of those places. The landscape is so different to any other place on the planet that it is extraordinary and don’t take my word for it, Halong Bay is considered to be one of the new, seven wonders of the world.

The place is a tourist hot spot and it gets very crowded. The excursion into the ‘Surprise Cave’ was not unlike being in Holborn tube station in the rush hour and on the return leg of the cruise when, clearly, the boats all drop their borders at much the same time, it did feel a little like a Dunkirk reenactment.

Having said that, our evening on Halong Bay was very quiet and peaceful. A strong breeze during daylight necessitated much hanging on to hats but as the sunset, the wind died and the place was so quiet the English travellers felt obliged to whisper. The last photo in this gallery, of me drinking a G&T before changing for dinner, illustrates perfectly why I want to visit again and stay longer.

Halong Bay is large area of water on Vietnam's north east coast which is dotted with around 1,600 islands which poke out the water taller than they are wide

Hold on to your hat! During the day there was quite a wind blowing between the islands in Halong Bay

The boats on Halong Bay are a curious mixture of Mississippi paddle steamers and Chinese junks

Our Halong Bay tour came with a number of entertainments including a lesson in how to cook spring rolls like a native. Unsurprisingly, Ti aced this...

The port on Bo Hon island is the embarkation point for the tour of the 'Surprise Cave'. It was very busy and also clearly under development for expansion

A local fisher selling their wears (look closely, you'll spot them) from under the dock at Bo Hon island

Some of the smaller cruisers dock directly at the ports of call on the Halong Bay cruise

The habourmaster at Bo Hon barks commands at the tender pilots. With so many visitors for the Surprise Cave coming and going, there is a lot of traffic and he has to run a tight ship

Climbing down in to the 'Surprise Cave' inside Bo Hon island, one of the visits on any Halong Bay cruise

The Sung Sot (Surprise) Cave is quite extraordinary. Once you climb down in to it it seems impossibly large to be fitted in such a tiny island

The tour boats coming out of Halong bay with their tourist cargoes. This last leg was a little manic and felt less like a cruise and more like an evacuation

A large gin and tonic as I sit on the poop deck of the 'Rosa Boutique' and watch the sun set over Halong Bay

Reasons I’ll return to Vietnam

It is a beautiful and intriguing country with friendly people and, for a Londoner, it is insanely cheap with English widely spoken.

With Ti as my tour guide and historian, and my own reading, I knew more than a typical tourist might about Vietnam before I visited. Nonetheless, the country felt utterly unknown to me; it was a fascinating, alien landscape. My visits to Hue, Hoi An and My Son felt like teasers, I could have happily spent much longer exploring.

I found everything so cheap – taxis, food and drink, the hotels – so much so that pretty early into my trip I stopped bothering to calculate the exchange into pound sterling. I had the advantage of Ti but I did spend some time exploring by myself and if anyone charged me ‘tourist rates’, I did not notice and would not have begrudged them anyway.

Vietnam feels like a country finding its feet in a new era of peace and prosperity. After the American-Vietnam war ended, Vietnam was plunged into another ten years of armed conflict with its neighbour; Cambodia. That ended in 1985, so the country is not yet fifty years into the longest peacetime it has seen in centuries.

Tourism is already big business and growing. Everywhere I went, I saw development and investment, from new seafront hotels at Da Nang to the archaeological renovations of the temples at My Son.

Vietnam is still a one-party communist state but the old-school totalitarianism is softening a little, you can WhatsApp and Facebook – though be careful what you post. Nonetheless, if I was an entrepreneurial sort, I’d be in Vietnam starting up a new business venture right now. As a wandering writer, though, I’m happy to visit, scribbling in notebooks and drinking dry martinis that cost less than a London espresso.

A Perfect Stay

I stayed at the Homestay Sea Kite hotel while I was in Da Nang and it was a perfect combination of big, modern hotel facilities but with personal, boutique service. I really felt like I was a friend of the family come to visit. No affiliates referral here, just my heartfelt opinion. Oh, and the hotel is only a three-minute walk from My Khe beach.

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