In life, there are times when you meet the right people. Xuan Tu (pronounced Song Two) is one of them. She is the tour guide for our boys trip to Danang and Hoi An. We were all expecting some old hag to pick us up for our Hoi An trip but we were so wrong! A young, bubbly, knowledgable and funny lady appeared and we started on one of our most enjoyable two day trip for Hoi An and My Son/Danang!
Xuan arranged for us everything. We didn’t have to worry about safety or transportation or going hungry! We started our trip with half an hour drive to Hoi An and we bought our awesome straw hats! Xuan rented bicycles for us and we took the ferry across to Cam Kim island! Xuan introduced to us about the history of the island, the ancient dockyard, the family temple, how to make rice paper and noodles! We even get to meet the the oldest woman living in the island! Xuan gave us an immersive experience to the culture surrounding the Vietnamese people. All these was done by cycling around the island! If you want the first hand experience, let Xuan guide you! For lunch, she brought us to the famous Ban Minh, that was well recommend by Anthony Bourdain (Masterchef). After that,it was Hoi An city tour! We visited the heritage site and we were kept well informed by Xuan and her unending knowledge. She was approachable and she answered every single question from us! We had tea and coffee in one of the shops where they only employed the deaf and mute! We sat there and soak up the atmosphere of the old city. Dinner was at a local hawker directed by Song and it’s really delicious!! After dinner was home sweet home and the end of a fantastic day!
Xuan is really a nice girl and she bonded really well with us. She picked us up at our Villa and we went our way to the My Son sanctuary. That place was sacred and Xuan gave us so much information! She made sure that we drank enough water due to the hot weather and mind our steps as the ruins involved abit of climbing. The sanctuary cost us the whole morning but we had learned a lot of the history of My Son. Next were more local delicacies introduced by Xuan. We will never be able to taste so much traditional dishes if we had done the trip ourselves. Next was Marble Mountain! The view was magnificent and the Marble Buddha was carved out from the mountain! The place was really holy and the cave gave us a sense of serenity. Xuan again gave us a detailed overview of the mountain. She was also joyful and kept everyone spirits up! Next was the Lady Buddha which was 67m tall! It was a sight to behold! Time and again, Xuan surprised us with her knowledge! Afterwards, was seafood dinner! Song brought us to a place where we were able to pick the live seafood that we are going to eat. It was freaking awesome and tasty!
It was sad to leave Danang and Hoi An. Especially the company of Xuan Tu. We learnt a lot from her and also her dreams of furthering her studies overseas and expanding her tourism business. Her attitude is commendable and she has never stop pursuing her goals! I will definitely recommend my friends who is visiting Danang to have her us your tour guide. 5 stars for you Song! We will meet again when you come to Singapore!
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Traveller: Robin C from Tripadvisor