ELLEExplore
262
ECO PALMS HOUSE
Escape to a rice field in a Black
H’mong village in Sa Pa.
Bungalow (sleeps two) around
£76, B&B (ecopalmshouse.com)INTERCONTINENTAL
DANANG
Architect Bill Bensley’s hillside
beach retreat in Da Nang.
Doubles from £46O, B&B
(danang.intercontinental.com)“ I HOW COULD
I EXPL AIN
TO DAD THAT
I HAD LOST
MUM on OUR
FIRST NIGHT? ”The Reverie SaigonThe Reverie SaigonELLE.COM/UK September 2O19WHEREtoSLEEP
THE REVERIE SAIGON
Pure Italianate luxury in the
Times Square Building, Ho Chi
Minh City. Doubles from £269,
B&B (thereveriesaigon.com)CRUISE
CONTROL
Take a boat to
Ha Long BayMinh City. The network of tunnels were used by
Viet Cong soldiers to hide from American forces
during the Vietnam War. We peered into trenches,
booby traps and bomb shelters, and managed
to crawl along the hard red earth inside a tight,
1OOm-long tunnel, shocked at the thought of how
long the Viet Cong spent doing the same.
My fears about us not enjoying the same things
were unfounded: over the next few days we took a
trip north to the pretty, historic town of Hoi An and
photographed each other on its famous Japanese
Covered Bridge, gorged on white rose (shrimp
dumplings), and tried the sweeter-than-sweet Ca
Phe Sua Da (coffee with condensed milk) at Hoi An
Roastery (hoianroastery.com). From there, we flew to
Da Nang and headed to the secluded bay on Son
Tra Peninsula, aka ‘Mythical Monkey Mountain’.
As we checked into the gorgeous InterContinental Danang Sun
Peninsula Resort, staff warned us to keep the balcony doors closed to
avoid the roaming monkeys. My mother’s face lit up – an indication that
I’d be the one enforcing a strict ‘no, we can’t bring one home’ policy.
The first night in our palatial black-and-white room, we snuggled
into bed together under a plush striped throw and listened to the faint
chatter of the monkeys outside. We discussed the pain of heartbreak
and loss (I’d recently split up with my boyfriend of four years and she
is estranged from my gran, who lives in Spain) until 3am. After years of
sleepovers with friends, I’d never considered how fun it would be to
have one with your mother. And there’s nothing quite as comforting as
holding your mum’s hand as you fall asleep, no matter how old you are.What if we ended up bickering? What if she didn’t
want to do activities I wanted to do, or vice versa?
Or worse, what if she got sick or injured?
To break the ice, I planned a first-night surprise.
‘You’re joking, right?’ my Dad messaged me, after
I told him I’d booked a night-time Vespa tour through
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam’s largest city. It would be the
longest time my parents had spent apart since they
were married 3O years ago. As someone who has run
marathons, Mum’s sporty and fit. A natural risk-taker,
she’s no stranger to injuries. But as our trip loomed,
I began to worry that she’d get hurt zipping around
on the back of a scooter. How was I to know there
were around 7.4 million bikes weaving through the
city? Imagine my horror as I watched Mum disappear
into the traffic in the financial area of Ben Nghé.
For 1O minutes, my eyes darted anxiously over all
the multicoloured helmets, looking for her. How could I explain to
Dad that I’d lost her on our first night?
My driver pulled up at the first stop – a street-food restaurant in
Banh Xeo 46A (an Anthony Bourdain favourite), famous for its Banh
Xeo (crèpes). ‘This is so fun!’ Mum squealed as she ran over, handing
me a can of Bia Saigon beer (a bargain at 17p). Amid the smell of crab
noodle soup and barbecued frogs’ legs, I briefly understood the feeling
of a parent who’s momentarily lost their child in a supermarket. The sense
of responsibility was overwhelming – she hadn’t a care in the world.
At 8am the next day, we met another guide outside Saigon
railway station for the hour’s drive to the Cu Chi tunnels. We were
fascinated by this underground labyrinth 3Okm northwest of Ho Chi