A hidden gem

Someone may look at the photo and get confused "is that Bali?", and someone may realize the place and have a comparison that "it's Bali of Vietnam".

Nahh. It's just Ly Son - our very own island with it's own beauty and attractions.

Ly Son island is located in Quang Ngai province - central region of Vietnam. In recent years, it has become a phenomenal destination for domestic tourism with its pristine and pure beauty.

Just need Vitamin Sea

I and my friends chose Ly Son to be the destination of our first bonding trip and it was really amazing. Escape from the polluted cities, the overwhelming works, we dreamed of the blue skies, calm wind and sunshine. Then Ly Son became a perfect distant place that give us a break to rest, to take a deep breath of fresh air and enjoy the vitamin Sea.

Taking ship about 45 mins from the mainland and spending 2 days 1 night in the island are totally worth it. Ly Son amazes us with its breathtaking scenes, azure-blue coast, miles stretch of white sand, ... Maybe it is just my feeling after such a long time not travelling enough, feel so hyped, and everything becomes so gorgeous.

We rent bikes and ride all around. Exploring every nook and cranny of the adorable island in the noonday sunshine of the last summer day. Going through the field of green onion, seeing the white sand twinkling as silver in the sunlight, feeling the oceanic breeze blowing through our hair.

We ride, then stop wherever we want, take some photos, play some dumb games, make some jokes,... Even though some of us are sick, in bad shape, our trip is still full of joy and craziness in our own way.

Ly Son specialty

I love the food here, it is tasty and the price is reasonable. It seems like this place is not a tourism attraction at all. Local food in Ly Son is just as tasty as what you know about all Vietnamese foods. Amazing noodles, fresh seafood, rich and savory rolls, tropical drinks,... You should try it all because it isn't expensive.

One of the special things of Ly Son cuisine is you can find dried raw garlic in most of dishes. Garlic grown in this island is somehow more special than any where else. It's smaller, less spicy, but more garlicky. It seems to be the best specialty of the island. There are always some gloves of garlic put aside every dishes for diner to try out. I don't like to eat raw garlic. But it's so weird for me to realize that the taste of Ly Son raw garlic does fit with everything here. lol

Besides the garlic, green onion is also a specialty of Ly Son. This place is known as an ideal place for growing these two farm products. The field here is used to grow 3 seasons of green onion and 2 seasons of garlic per year. For the first-rate garlic, the price will be around $50/kg. The most expensive one here, I guess. :))

Fish noodles - Bún Chả cá

The hospitable islander

The tourism service here isn't professional. But we kind of enjoy it that way. You know, the problem of most of tourism place is somehow it loses its own beauty for being so developed and professional. Sometimes we just want to be in the pristine place to have the feeling that makes us feel like we are genuinely experiencing the local lives. And we love Ly Son so much for its unprofessional tourism service.

As most of impression about Vietnamese people in the central region, the island's inhabitants are so warm, sincere and hospitable. Normally when you visit some tourism places, you will feel like people there always want to rip you off as much as they can, and nothing is free. But in Ly Son you can feel a bit different that the islanders are really nice and honest.

The photo was taken right before raining

I still remember that when we wake up at the break of dawn just to see the sunrise in the spot where is 1,5km away from our motel. Firstly we go there by walk but then feel so exhausted to walk all the way back to motel, and it's going to rain also, then we call the host of motel for help and he comes immediately to pick us up by bike, one by one. It's really nice of him to do so.

Ly Son is just that, just a place brings peace to your soul to just temporarily forget the busy life in hustle and bustle city, to fully enjoy the nature, to fall in line with plain islanders, to have joyful memories that you will never forget.