When travelling in Vietnam you get used to stumbling in at 4.15am after overindulging on cheap local beer and the endless free shots. However, on this occasion, we were stumbling out of the hostel in search of sunrise views!We were off on the Vietnam Backpackers Sunrise stand up paddle board (SUP) tour. We met in the reception at 4.15am and were soon taken to Kahunas Beach Bar in a private taxi to meet our tour guide.Book the Vietnam Backpacker’s Sunrise SUP Tour here!The Relaxing Kahunas Beach Bar is perfect for our SUP lessons.Kahuna’s is a beach bar run by Vietnam Backpackers and has a great spot on An Bang Beach. In true VBH style, it offers a comprehensive selection of drinks deals and by 1.00pm you can be sure to walk into the midst of a lively pool party. Shortly after arriving at Kahuna’s we were met by our tour guide who showed us to our paddle boards.With our paddle boards on An Bang Beach, ready for the tour!There was a selection of boards on offer with more buoyant ones or those that were less confident. We carried the boards down to the beach in the dark and after a quick demonstration from our guide we headed into the sea and jumped onto our boards.Our paddleboards.Despite a couple of dodgy attempts to climb onto the board, we were soon all on our feet and heading out in the direction of Cham Island chasing those sunrise views. We paddled out around 2.5km and then sat down on our boards to enjoy the incredible sunrise and pose for those all-important photos!Quite the place to watch a sunrise!The tour guide brings a waterproof camera with him, allowing you to leave any valuables safely on the shore. He is also an expert in getting those angles so have no fear about getting that perfect Instagram shot.It’s not always easy to stay standing on a stand up paddleboard!We watched the sunrise over Cham Island and then paddled across the beach to grab a fresh Vietnamese iced coffee at a beach bar. We chilled at the beach bar for an hour or so and then jumped back on our boards, this time feeling much more confident. With fewer nerves and a little caffeine kick, we were soon trying (and failing..!) to execute yoga moves on our boards.Beautiful An Bang Beach in the early morning.Throughout the tour, the guide ensured that we felt safe yet gave us the independence to pick our own route and sit back and enjoy the tranquillity of our surroundings. The paddle back was relaxed and gave us the opportunity to take in the views along the beach and get to know our fellow paddle boarders. That’s The Cham Islands in the Distance.We headed back to the shore and returned to Kahuna’s Beach Bar. Here we were served fresh fruit juice and provided with a breakfast sandwich. We had worked up quite an appetite and the serving size certainly didn’t disappoint!Before we had even had a chance to finish our breakfast we received the photos from our tour via a DropBox link. We were able to view and download all of the photos over our breakfast. It was great to receive the photos so quickly and our tour guide had done a great job of catching every angle and nailing that cover photo shot for us all. The several failed yoga poses also gave us an additional laugh over breakfast!Maybe we’ll just sit down for a while.Overall this was a great tour and certainly a highlight from our stay in Hoi An. The sunset views will live on in our memory and the relaxed atmosphere created the perfect environment for socialising and sharing stories with fellow backpackers. We cannot recommend this tour enough, even with the 4.15am wake-up call, you would be mad to miss it!Book the Sunrise SUP tour here.
Rosie Davies
Rosie, currently a school teacher in Leeds, recently returned to the UK after a one-month epic trip in Vietnam where she documented her experiences as an ambassador for South East Asia Backpacker Magazine.
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