I'm so deep into the world of motorsport rallying, and fly abroad plenty, but it rarely turns into an actual sightseeing trip — so this time, as a post-surgery recovery trip, I picked Danang, Vietnam!

For my trips abroad, I mostly rely on airline miles and the free hotel stays that come with my credit card.Flights, of course! Low-cost carriers “Vietjet” and “HK Express”!


Stack up enough Marriott points and you actually get a free night's stay every year as a perk! This time I stayed at the “Danang Marriott Resort & Spa”!
And this time I even got upgraded to a lovely room!

Since this was purely a recovery trip, I wasn't running around sightseeing everywhere, but just taking in this view alone made it a genuinely healing trip.

Shopping — Con Market or Han Market?

It felt wrong to go without any sightseeing at all, so I went for a wander through the “market,” something I always do wherever I travel abroad.
Danang has two markets, “Con Market” and “Han Market,” and searching online for which one to pick just left me more confused about which was which (laughs).
So first, off to “Con Market”

Con Market turned out to be more for locals than tourists, so one loop around and I was out in about five minutes (laughs). Barely enough to even report on (laughs).

It happened to be raining that day, but since I was out anyway, I also walked the roughly ten minutes over to “Han Market.”
In Vietnam, it's ponchos over umbrellas!
They were being sold everywhere along the street, and locals were buying them up too.
About 60 yen in Japanese money! And the polka dots are pretty cute too, right?

After wandering and taking detours along the way, about ten minutes of walking got me to “Han Market”!
Cutting to the conclusion! For shopping, I'd recommend “Han Market.”
I didn't actually buy anything this time, but the sheer number of nearby shops selling so-called “knockoffs” (fake brand goods) was astonishing — just looking around was genuinely entertaining!
I spotted what looked like a new Louis Vuitton release there? — wow, way too cute! But wait, does this actually exist??
So I looked it up! And it turns out, yes, it's real.

The official 2021 spring/summer collection, from 390,000 yen~ yikes!
Apparently, according to the local grapevine in Vietnam, there are brand factories here, and there's a genuine route that ships to the brands officially, alongside a separate route that ends up in local circulation!

Which means… these are basically real?? (laughs) Not just bags — shoes, golf wear too — comparing them against local prices became its own little kind of fun!

Don't trust the online reviews! Danang food you absolutely have to try

A “chè” shop I happened to stumble on while walking down the street. This turned out to be unquestionably delicious!

The shop's name is “Che Xuan Tran” — apparently it's a small chain with a few locations.

I asked the staff for a recommendation, and they said, “the mix is great!”
Kind of like Japanese zenzai? Plus wonderfully wobbly coconut pudding!
Honestly… it was so delicious I forgot to even take a photo and just finished the whole thing!

The shop's atmosphere looked like this! An absolute must-stop dessert discovery if you're ever in Danang!

Eating the real deal! Recommended local Danang food

This time I looked up a few places online before going… but honestly, online reviews are, well, what they are, right? So this time I'm introducing a place a local actually recommended to me!

The shop's name is “Thia Go.” I went around 5 p.m., but by 7 p.m. it was already packed full of tourists and locals alike.
They had English-speaking staff and even a Japanese menu, so I suspect it does get plenty of tourists, but as local food goes, both the price and the taste were a complete pass, all around!!!

I'll just leave a photo of what I actually ate! The name of the dish… I forgot (laughs).

Vietnam, where you can eat vegetables to your heart's content! Good for body and soul!

“As long as I'm alive, wherever I want to go.”

Less a travel report, honestly, and more just Komo's own memory diary!
But since the only thing you get to take with you to the other side is memories,
next up — South Africa? A safari tour, maybe — that's the dream I found myself sketching out.

Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end!