When we were planning our stop in Quy Nhon, we found out that it was a beach town kinda like Nha Trang, but less touristy, and they had great seafood. We didn’t realise this meant that very few Western tourists went there, so we were a bit of a spectacle. Walking down the street, people turned and watched us, and children and teenagers practiced their English by saying “Hello” and giggling. We even had one lady ask to take our photo. We felt very famous.
We stayed at the Odin Hotel, along the northern side of town. A sparkling clean, brand new hotel, but unfortunately the bar and the spa were both closed the whole time we were there. Great view over the bay though!
We wandered around a lot while we were there, as we didn’t find much in the way of “activities”, apart from the little museum (lots on 20th century conflict and the top floor dedicated to Uncle Ho), finding a massage place where we could get a good foot massage (Quasa Relax Spa – recommended!) and R found a local barber.
We walked along the beach, which would be gorgeous in sunny weather, with a few beach cafes and photo spots. We also walked up past the lake to the lagoon, where there are new cafes overlooking the water. While walking we noticed that there were quite a few vending machines for juices and canned drinks, but unlike the overpriced machines we have at home, these ones were actually normal shop prices.
We happened to be there for New Year’s Eve and headed down to the main square area to check out the festivities. There was a music concert happening and a market, with thousands of people milling around. I was keen to find a G&T to celebrate the new year, but it seems that this was a hard ask! We found a cocktail bar (Karma, which looked amazing, but very loud) and they said they were only selling beer, no spirits. We saw another restaurant which said “cocktails” in their name, but they weren’t accepting any walk-ins, so we didn’t even find out if they were selling any. Before giving up, we stopped at a fish restaurant on the shore where we could see bottles at the back… the only thing they had that wasn’t beer was a Vietnamese spirit made from ?apricots? if the label is to be believed. I grimaced through one shot and called it defeat. Apparently the beer was cold and delicious though!
Speaking of fish restaurants, Quy Nhon is known for their strip of maybe fifty fish places along the beach road. They have the typical Vietnamese restaurant furniture of small stools and tiny tables, and there’s a bunch of fresh fish and seafood laid out for you to pick. On the first night, we had a delicious oyster omelette and seafood rice from the one at the bottom of Le Loi (they taught us how to wrap the omelette into rice paper and herbs – so good!)
The second night, we stopped in Food Street for banh xeo before heading to the New Year’s stuff, then popped into another one of the fish places for chilli salt grilled langoustine and snails in buttery sauce. The third night we ate similarly – banh xeo to start, and then stopped at another fish place for prawns, finger snails and oysters. They were all delicious, but something wasn’t quite right on the third night and I ended up with a mild dose of food poisoning – not great when we needed to leave the hotel by 6am to catch the train to Da Nang.
All ended up okay though, thank goodness, and the train journey to Da Nang was uneventful, clattering past rice fields, towns, and beaches. There was a continuous parade of staff selling snacks, drinks, etc on the train but I contented myself with sipping water rather than availing myself of fruit, chips, bahn mi, porridge, fried chicken, spring rolls, ca phe… you name it, it was available!
Two Weeks Away 