It rained heavily as our Air Asia flight safely landed at Da Nang International airport. It was actually my first time setting foot in this country. To my surprise, the airport was a new modern-looked airport, complete with modern facilities, way beyond my expectation of an old Vietnamese military airport. My goodness, I’ve underestimated this place!. It reminds me of the similar feelings that I had when I arrived at Bangalore International Airport last year where I underrated the place too. Things went smoothly with the customs & immigrations and after 15 minutes, I got myself a Da Nang stamp on my passport.

Aerial view

just before touch down

heavy rain

the terminal

exterior look

With only 4 days to spare, tentatively we planned to explore Hoi An town, My Son Sanctuary, Da Nang city and also take a ride through Hai Van Pass during our stay. Therefore we opted to head straight towards Hoi An upon arrival at the airport.

So refering to the map below, it’s basically A > B > C > D > E > A

our trip map

The pre-booked transport, a 16-seater van comfy enough to accommodate the 6 of us plus luggage, cost us USD22 for the 45 minutes journey. It was the cheapest deal that we could find for a transport that could fit us all. The driver waited for us at the arrival hall while holding a card bearing Shahrul’s name. He looks happy to see us – I could tell from the big smile until we barely see his eyes. However, he doesn’t speak any english with the exception of a few words like “Hoi An” “Yes” and “Ok”. I didn’t even get his name.

 the driver

the ride

As soon as the van cruises out of the airport, the rain began to subside. I found that the road conditions here are at par with Malaysia and there are not many vehicles on the road, another aspect that I misjudged about this place. I was in fact expecting a much more crowded Vietnamese city just like  Ho Chi Minh & Hanoi that I saw on tv.

Thanks to our non-english speaking driver, we end up talking and making assumptions about the surroundings as the van passes through from the city through the beachside road and into the Vietnam countryside.

obviously not so many traffic huh?

looks like an old army camp

the houses

still working during the rain?

the paddy fields

By the time the clock ticks pass 4.30pm local time, we arrived at Sunshine hotel, our lodging place. Lucky us the rain stops completely at that time. The receptionist helped us to communicate with the driver as we wanted to pay him using Vietnamese Dong instead of USD and also arrange with him to pick us up tomorrow to get us to My Son Sanctuary.

Sunshine Hotel

After settling with the driver, we then checked-in smoothly into this nice hotel with my Agoda vouchers and rest ourselves in the comfy room. Perhaps I’ll do a review on the hotel later.