A new day dawns on Cua Dai Beach

As Cua Dai Beach near the ancient town of Hoi An is pretty quiet in the early morning, it is preferred by tourists who want to experience the fresh breeze of the ocean and take a stroll on smooth white-sand stretches when a new day begins.

Tourists can come to the pristine Cua Dai Beach on foot or by cycling through four kilometers from the heart of Hoi An to the beach located on the outskirts of the city nestled by Hoai River and surrounded with rustic nature.

A leisurely walk and a swim in the calm turquoise waters are what locals often like to do. Travelers can follow suit or do their own thing to welcome a new day, as the tree-lined wide beach and small waves make it suitable for recreational activities.

Local men play football and then jump into the sea for a refreshing bath, while elderly people exercise in front of the sea or soak themselves in the water as they believe salt water is good for their health at the beginning of a day.

Some tourists take a relaxed walk along Cua Dai Beach for their morning exercise and at the same time observe the life of local people by the sea at daybreak, which includes watching fishing boats coming onshore and fishermen selecting fish, seafood and other rewards after a night of hard work at sea.   

Near the shore, fishermen row some thuyen thung (a basket-like bamboo boat) on gentle waves to catch fish and seafood before the sun rises high in the blue sky. The picture of thuyen thung swaying on the sea and the pinky sky and clouds at dawn makes for a beautiful sight as the new day begins by the coast.

At the beach at Victoria Hoi An Resort and Spa, staff members lead buffalo out to help with the clean-up at the beginning of a day and to plough the sand to make it soft for guests to walk on. This plowing also reminds tourists of a similar scene that they may see in the rice paddy fields of rural areas of Vietnam. 

There are tourists, particularly children who take great pleasure in building sandcastles, and doing this in the early morning on Cua Dai Beach is the best time as the sandcastles can stand out on the beach that is leveled when the tide recedes.

Some newly-married choose Cua Dai Beach for their wedding pictures in the early morning because the mountains, islets, old and modern boats add to a perfect background for shots of the happy couple.

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The perfect trip: Vietnam

From the island-studded seas of the north to the meandering waterways of the south, Vietnam is a country defined by the diversity of its land and the resilience and generosity of its people.

Halong Bay: Best for coast

Once upon a time, a friendly dragon lived in the heavens above Halong Bay. With invaders from the seas threatening Vietnam, the gods asked the dragon to create a natural barrier to protect its people. The dragon kindly obliged, performing a spectacular crash landing along the coast – digging up chunks of rock with its flailing tail and spitting out pearls – before grinding to a halt.

This scene of devastation is now known as Halong Bay – Halong literally translates as ‘where the dragon descends into the sea’. Less exciting explanations of this landscape involve eons of erosion by winds and waves – but nobody disputes the splendour of the end result. Rising from the shallows of the Gulf of Tonkin are thousands of limestone islands – towering monoliths lined up like dominoes, some teetering at worrying angles.

‘In Vietnamese culture, dragons are the protectors of people,’ explains Vo Tan, a guide who has been bringing people to Halong Bay for two decades. ‘I once saw a picture of Halong Bay taken from above, and it even looked a bit like a dragon.’

Sailing into Halong Bay, it’s easy to understand the hallucinatory effect these strange shapes can have. The islands’ names testify to the overactive imaginations of sailors who’ve spent too long at sea – Fighting Cock Island, Finger Island, Virgin Grotto (which is said to contain a rock the shape of a beautiful woman). Having largely resisted human settlement, the islands have become home to other creatures. From above, sea eagles swoop down to pluck fish from the waters, carrying their prey – still flapping – high into the air, and squawking congratulations to each other from their nests. Down below, countless jellyfish drift about the hollows that run beneath the cliffs.

A local legend tells of another, altogether more sinister creature lurking in the waters of Halong Bay. A gigantic sea snake and close cousin of the Loch Ness Monster, the Tarasque was seen on three occasions by 19th-century French sailors, with sightings sporadically reported in Vietnam’s tabloids since. I ask Tan who would win in a battle between the Tarasque and Halong Bay’s famous dragon.

‘Of course the dragon would win,’ he grins. ‘In Vietnamese stories, the good guys are never allowed to lose.’

See more: Halong travel

Where to stay and eat

Most visitors to Halong Bay arrive as part of an organised tour sailing from Halong City. Bien Ngoc Cruises offers a spectrum of day trips and overnight tours, with many itineraries including Titop – an island with outstanding views of the bay (two days from £60 per person).

Hanoi: Best for city life

It’s rush hour in Hanoi, and the streets of the city’s Old Quarter throng with hundreds of scooters. The pavement and the central reservation are fair game in the chaos; zebra crossings exist more as a personal challenge than a guarantee of safe passage. These are streets where Evel Knievel might have written the highway code; where a grandma on a scooter will think nothing of driving headlong into a tidal wave of oncoming traffic.

See more: Hanoi tours

Hanoi is a city that refuses to grow old gracefully – a millennium-old capital of crumbling pagodas and labyrinthine streets, now undergoing a werewolf-like transformation into a 21st-century Asian metropolis. In the Old Quarter, ancient temples now neighbour karaoke joints, and dynasties of artisans ply their trade next to shops selling cuddly toys the size of grizzly bears. Hanoi is a city that muddles up its past with its present – where a statue of Lenin raises a clenched fist to teenagers who skateboard past him every afternoon.

Few have studied the changing face of the city as closely as Do Hien, an artist who has spent a lifetime painting Hanoi’s streets. He welcomes me to his studio, and idly leafs through sketches of city life – couples waltzing beside the willows of Hoan Kiem Lake, and alleyways where hawkers prepare steaming bowls of pho.

(Source: BBC)