Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [234]
The first town of any size north of the Seventeenth Parallel is DONG HOI which was flattened in the American War’s bombing raids. The town has risen from its ashes to become a prosperous provincial capital of over sixty thousand people, built on a grand scale with well-ordered streets, a massive theatre hall and an attractive riverfront boulevard – though bereft of any particular sights. Those tourists who do stop in Dong Hoi are usually heading for the Phong Nha Cave, a genuinely impressive cave system recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Tourism is becoming big business in Dong Hoi as Phong Nha attracts ever more visitors and developers eye up the region’s beaches; there’s even a tiny airport with services to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The town’s southern extremity is marked by the broad expanse of the Nhat Le River and a monument, said to be a gateway of the eighteenth-century citadel, a couple of hundred metres further on. Continuing north you reach the landmark post office radio mast on a crossroads which constitutes the town centre: south of this junction Highway 1 is named Quang Trung, north of it is Ly Thuong Kiet; Tran Hung Dao leads west, while east takes you 50m to riverfront Quach Xuan Ky, where a bridge crosses over the Nhat Le estuary. Heading east from the monument, Me Suot leads down to a lively, riverside market and an area of covered stalls where in summer vendors sell ice-cold glasses of sweet-bean chè.
The central provinces - Part 2 | Dong Hoi to Ninh Binh | Dong Hoi and Phong Nha Cave |
Practicalities
There’s no long-distance bus station in Dong Hoi – just stand on the highway and flag a bus down. The train station is 3km out of town west along Tran Hung Dao. The provincial tourist office, Quang Binh Tourism at 102 Ly Thuong Kiet (052/382 8228, qbtouristcompany@dng.vnn.vn), provides car rental and English-speaking guides, though you can easily organize transport to Phong Nha through your hotel. Vietcombank at 54 Nguyen Huu Canh handles foreign exchange and has a 24-hour ATM; to find it take Le Loi leading west from the monument and turn right onto Nguyen Huu Can after about 100m. There is also a 24-hour ATM at the Sun Spa Resort(See "Cau Treo and Nam Can border crossings into Laos").
One of the best accommodation options in town is the well-designed, spotless and friendly Hoang Linh on Mac Dinh Chi (052/382 1608, 052/382 9960; US$11–30) – ask for a corner room where the two large windows look out on the water. To get there from the south turn left off Highway 1 down the first street after crossing over the bridge on the south side of town, then turn left again to the riverfront. Tucked down a backstreet immediately northwest of the monument, Tan Binh, 4 Le Van Huu (052/382 2181, 052/382 3132; US$11–20) is clean, friendly and equipped with cable TV, as is the slightly cheaper Kim Lien next door (052/382 2154; US$10 and under–20). For those who want a beach setting, the luxurious five-star Sun Spa Resort, My Canh Beach (052/384 2999, www.sunsparesortvietnam.com; US$76–150) – just 500m from the town – is easily the best place to stay in the area; it offers everything you would expect for the price, with over three hundred staff, and a restaurant serving international cuisine at reasonable prices. For cheaper views of the beach, however, Ke Bang, 28 Ho Xuan Huong (052/384 1063, 052/382 4673; US$11–20) is a simple but pleasant place in a relaxing location beside the mouth of the estuary about 500m north of town – ask for a sea-view room.
Dong Hoi’s most popular restaurant – where all the tour buses stop – is the Anh Dao next door to Hoang Linh hotel, run by a Hué emigré and serving reasonably priced Vietnamese and international foods. Hué specialities, such as banh beo and banh khoai, are also available at a strip of small restaurants on Co Tam, one block north of the market; Huyen Nga at no. 5b is especially popular with locals. As usual, the market itself is home to a number of cheap and cheerful foodstalls. And look out for signs announcing the local speciality