March 13-16
The trip from Hue to Hoi An was only about four hours. We left in the morning and drove for a few hours before climbing a mountain pass that brought us up above the shores of Danang. It was quite a steep climb and there were all sorts of trucks and motorbikes and other obstacles so I tried to focus my attention elsewhere while we climbed the narrow road. When we reached the summit we stopped to stretch our legs, take some photos and use the restroom before continuing on down through Danang and on to Hoi An.
The shores of Danang on the way to Hoi An
I think I can safely say that the city of Hoi An was a favorite spot of the whole group. It was much more peaceful than any of the cities we had been in thus far. There were still lots of motorbikes, but the old part of the city was designated a pedestrian zone for large chunks of the day and night. The hotel we were staying at was also really nice. It had a great breakfast buffet up on the 9th floor of the hotel in the open air. It also had a nice bar and a pool table next to a pretty blue swimming pool. The rooms were spacious and clean as they have been at most of our hotels. All things considered, it seemed like a great place.
The pool at the Hotel
We dove right in to Hoi An, starting with lunch at a place called the Mermaid. Hoi An is known for their food and it did not dissapoint! At the Mermaid, Shaun and I tried a Hoi An specialty called White Rose, which is basically a grouping of small pork dumplings fanned out like a rose on a plate and served with a sweet dipping sauce. Next up was a green papaya and shrimp salad. It was sweet and sour and just delicious! For his main, Shaun had beef in Lot Leaf, which is a smokey grilled beef dish that is finished in steamed Lot Leafs. Everything was fabulous!
The delicious green mango and shrimp salad
Beef in Lot Leaf
From lunch, we headed into the Old Town for sightseeing. First stop was the Chinese Assembly Hall, which has been a place of worship for the local Chinese community since 1773. They go there to pray and burn giant spirals of incense in hopes that their prayers will come true. I really loved this place for the beautiful flowers, sculpted dragons and the frangipani and bonsai trees that lined the courtyards. After the Assembly Hall, we moved on to one of the oldest houses in the Old Town, a place where 7 generations of one family have lived and still live. Hoi An floods every year during the rainy season and they had a place on the first floor where they marked off the high water level in particularly bad years. They actually have a large hole in the second floor where they pull all the furniture up so it doesn't get ruined. There was one water mark almost at the ceiling from the horrible flooding in 2010. Bon was actually guiding a trip here that year and they ended up stranded on the third floor of the hotel for a few days until the water subsided. I'm glad we aren't here in rainy season!
The dragon at the Chinese Assembly Hall
The Chinese Assembly Hall
Crazy Incense Spirals!
The last stop on our tour that day was the Japanese Covered Bridge. It was built in 1593 and had a dog carving at one entrance and monkeys at the other, supposedly symbolic of the year the bridge was started and the year it was finished. It was quite pretty but jam packed with tourists so we moved on fairly quickly.
The Japanese Covered Bridge
Despite the yucky water, the riverfront was beautiful
The rest of the day was free time, so we spent some time exploring and then headed back to the room to rest up for dinner. Dinner was fabulous. The restaurant we ate at was called Morning Glory and it is famous not only for the restaurant, but also for their cooking school. The food was sooooo good. I got pork with noodles and Shaun got a shrimp curry and both were out of this world. The bill, as usual, was only a few dollars each.
The shrimp curry at Morning Glory
And the pork with noodles. The food in Hoi An was sooo good!!
After dinner we walked down the street to a bar with crazy paintings on the walls (Robert DeNiro from Taxi Driver?) and a giant bed at the back. We all climbed up on the big bed and ordered some drinks. It was a cool place but everyone was fading from our long day of travel and sightseeing so we headed home pretty early.
Aidan, Katrina, Meredith and Nikita
Carl, Kerrie, Pam and Lorenzo
When we awoke the next morning we found the one big flaw with the hotel. Our first floor room basically had removable windows because of the floods. They locked, so there wasn't a safety issue, but there was a serious noise problem. The whole neighborhood seemed to be hanging out in the alleyway, banging pots and pans and yelling to each other. We've grown accustomed to lower standards over here so we didn't even bother trying to change rooms, but on the last morning we wished we had. That was the morning we awoke to a man retching in the street for what seemed like half an hour. It was quite disgusting and we assumed he was right outside our window because it was so loud. When we saw all of our fellow first floor dwellers though, they all said they thought same thing. The alleyway apparently just has excellent acooustics. But enough about "the retcher", even that couldn't ruin a wonderful place like Hoi An!
Here's a pretty picture of Hoi An at night so you don't have to think about the Retcher anymore!
Our second day was mostly a "free day" so Shaun and I spent the morning catching up on neglected activities. For me it was the blog, for Shaun it was running. I pretty much realized once we started this tour that if I wanted to maintain the blog, I would have to commit the time at the expense of other things. One of the things that has gone by the wayside for me has been working out, but there will be plenty of time for that when we get back to the States! Shaun, on the other hand, has done a pretty good job of finding an hour here or there to go to for a run or do some sort of work out. Once we got down to this area of Vietnam the heat became pretty overwhelming, so I was even more impressed with his diligence.
After a few hours of writing I was ready to get out of the hotel and so was Shaun so we booked a massage at a place called the Palmarosa Spa. It cost $19 for a 65 minute massage and it was so worth it! The pampering begins as soon as you arrive. They start by giving you a cup of ginger and honey tea and then they bring a big bowl of warm water loaded with ginger, limes, mint and sprouts for your feet. (I called it Foot Soup!) It sounds a little strange but it felt really nice on our tired feet. The massage itself was also fabulous. I got the gentler swedish massage and Shaun got the Asian massage which is deep tissue. They really do a great job and it is normal to have them climb onto the table to really work on your back and shoulders, which fet great. And yes, I know what some of you may be thinking about massage over here, but we were in the same room so I can guarantee you that this was a "normal" massage.
Late that afternoon, the whole group met up again for an "optional activity". It would turn out to be one of my favorite activities of the whole trip. Hoi An is famous for offering cooking classes so Bon had given us three choices. Two were really well known cooking schools (the Red Bridge and Morning Glory) but those were more about watching an instructor and less about participating. The one we chose was called Gioan Family Cookery Class and it was everything we wanted. The woman who runs the cookery school is only in her late twenties, but she has been doing this for years and it shows. The class started with a trip to her neighborhood market to buy fresh ingredients. Next we walked back to her cooking school nearby, which was right in the middle of a neighborhood, but very well equipped for the classes.
Vi Na talking to us about how to choose perfect lemon grass. The market trip was really informative!
Once you get down to the cooking, everyone participated. We peeled and chopped and sauteed and deep fried while we learned all about Asian cooking techniques. Along the way, the men were given nicknames like Hot Boy (Lorenzo), Strong Boy (Shaun) and Soy Boy (poor Aidan). The nicknames ended up sticking, especially Hot Boy! Finally, we all sat down and enjoyed the fruits of our labor and I must say, we did an excellent job! The whole experience was a laugh riot from start to finish and now I have enough recipes to throw a Vietnamese dinner party when we get home!
Strong Boy at the head of the class!
Nikita and Pam making the dipping sauce for our spring rolls as Hot Boy and Soy Boy look on!
The spring rolls were some of the best ones we had, if I do say so myself!
Clay pot eggplant and Fish cooked in Banana Leaf. We are excellent cooks!!
Later that night some of the group participated in a few rounds of Vietnamese Street Bingo. It's like a crazy mix of Karaoke, Bingo and Wheel of Fortune
The next day was another free day, but everyone in the group chose to do the optional activity instead, a two hour bike ride around the countryside of Hoi An. That's one of the things I love about this group. Everyone is up for doing just about anything Bon suggests! It was hot as hades that day and the roads were bumpy and a little hairy when the motorbikes came at you, but that didn't stop anyone from going. We rode along through the Vietnam countryside, thirteen bicycles in a row, through rice paddies and along rivers, through city streets and along dirt roads. We stopped to take pictures at shrimp farms, fishing spots and peanut farms. We even stopped at a poor elderly woman's home in the middle of a village so Bon could check on her health and food supply. Her family was killed in the war and she was badly hurt so she can't support herself. Bon met her a few years ago and now tries to stop by every time he comes to town to make sure she has enough rice to eat.
Scenes from our amazing bike ride. Water Buffalo in the rice paddies
Nikita in her Conical Hat with Shirley and Shaun in the background!
Shaun, Aidan, Pam and Nikita trying to get some relief from the blazing sun
Bon was trying to show us how they climb coconut trees. That is about as far as he made it!
From there we boarded a boat which took us up the river to a little house where a family cooked us lunch. For a few dollars each, they served us a beautiful meal. We were all very hungry and probably a lot more mindful of how lucky we were to be eating this wonderful food. It was one of my favorite days of the trip.
Hot but happy on our boat trip!
That evening, Bon took us to a place called Bale Well for dinner. This place is a "one trick pony" but what a trick! All they serve is a type of huge make-it-yourself spring rolls, but the whole thing was like an amalgam of my favorite dishes here. It starts with Ban Xeo, a rice pancake, to which you add grilled pork satay, a small fried spring roll and of course, tons of fresh herbs and sliced cucumbers. They serve it all up with fried rice on the side and lots of cold beer. The woman who runs the place was a trip. She was very outgoing and funny, and she seemed to be sweet on Aidan in particular. She started out by showing him how to make his roll, but then she basically force fed him until he finally begged for mercy. We all had quite a few laughs at poor Aidan's expense. It was quite a fun way to end our visit to Hoi An!
Dinner at Bale Well
The next day was an all day travel day. We took the train from Hoi An to Nha Trang which took about 10 hours. It was the longest daytime travel day we had during the trip, but we managed to have a really good time. As before, Shaun and I shared a cabin with Nikita and Meredith and then once the train got going, Aidan joined us as well. Once again, we busted out a deck of cards, ordered some beers and got down to playing a game of "Presidents and...." Well, lets just say we started playing cards. After countless rounds of cards and quite a bit of silliness we reached our destination, tired and hungry and ready to start our adventure in Nha Trang.
A lone fisherman on the river
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