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Day 19: Hoi An then a step to the right
A quiet start to the day, some lounging and relaxing as all our clothes fittings were scheduled for the afternoon. Again it was a stroll into the old town for lunch, where we found a place that had french fries so L could have a carb fix that wasn’t rice, as gluten free bread is nowhere to be found here. I went for the white rose, one of those local specialty dishes that is a must try yadda yadda, but I’m somewhat underwhelmed by. Basically it’s about a cubic centimetre of prawn filling in the centre of a rice flour wonton wrapper that is scrunched decoratively, sprinkled with fried garlic…
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Day 18: Hoi An you can believe it
Today was the first full day in Hoi An, and we certainly did consumerism proud. If you take away the whole UNESCO world heritage listing of the old town the business of Hoi An is business, specifically making stuff: clothes, jewellery, glasses, more clothes, and other shiny things. The hotel breakfast is okay, nothing too flash but enough to take the edge off. From here it’s about 500m to where all the main stuff is, but there are a few shops on the way to get essentials (water, rice cookers, beer, massage) if needed. We took a slightly different way into town today, and found a neighbourhood of cafes, all…
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Day 17: Hanoi and Hoi An, a tale of two anagram cities
We kicked off our last day in Hanoi with the standard hotel breakfast, before plunging forth into mid-morning traffic in search of S****ucks, so L could add the special Vietnam mug to our collection (I was also tempted to get the Hanoi mug, as it’s bright orange on the inside, and we don’t have any that colour, but I’m not sure I’d want a coffee in a mug that colour, either). Mug purchased, we meandered back through a few stores to see what we could find (obligatory Vietnam pun: in Hanoi it’s okay to Hang Bac, hyuk hyuk hyuk). We’d kind of discussed the whole Hanoi egg coffee thing, and…
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Day 16: Hanoi today, Hoi An tomorrow
Our last full day in Hanoi. I read an article recently that of all tourists to Vietnam, only 10-20% return for another visit. And we’ve seen the signs of this in the reactions of locals — many are surprised to hear that we’ve been here before. I know the world is a big place, with so many wonderful sights still to be seen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if L and I come back again: the food is great, the people are friendly, the prices are generally reasonable, there’s still things to see here in Vietnam, and the weather is usually pretty good. This afternoon it rained. Not a huge…
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Day 15: Hanoi is quiet on new year’s day
Well, a little bit quieter anyway. Last night we looked over our balcony and the street was shoulder to shoulder, even the mopeds (which probably weren’t supposed to be on the “walking” street) were forced to a crawl. Today, we could see the street below. There were the usual street vendors, pho and bun cha for those starting the new year early. Our initial plans were to hit the fabric market, but inquiries with the hotel indicated not all stores would be open, so we’re putting this off until tomorrow. Instead, we took a stroll along part of the mosaic wall. Approximately 4km, covered in mosaics, and forming a barrier…
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Day 14: Hanoi, a noisy day
By the time I finish this post it’ll have gone midnight at home, banishing 2017 and starting 2018. Hanoi, an hour behind, will still be partying, the streets below will still be packed with revellers, and fireworks yet to start. The bit I’m still not sure about is that Vietnam has it’s own lunar new year, this year it’s 16 February, yet they are certainly turning it all on tonight. There are huge stages set up, lots of events, streets around the main lake are closed to traffic (other than little electric cars driven by kids, and I thought dodging scooters was bad enough). I just hope that when Tet…
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Day 13: Kanchanburi-Bangkok-Hanoi
Today was a long day. As Mick Thomas wrote, “There’s no point writing postcards on your bad days”, so I’ll try to keep it short. L and I got almost no sleep last night. The combination of hard bed and threat of sleeping through alarms and missing the 7.20am train kept us restless. We made it to the train with plenty of time, thanks to a moped taxi with bolted on side seating, but when we boarded we ended up in the car with all the locals. Not a problem in the company, but this car just has two long bench seats with absolutely no padding, as in even less…
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Been halong time…
Yup. Due to Life, the universe, and everything, I haven’t used my passport in over 2 years. I’ve lost my gold frequent flyer status, and have 6 months to rescue my silver. Some days it feels the furthest I’ve been lately is Mandurah, and regardless of what my ipod plays it doesn’t look like the cover of Born Sandy Devotional anymore. But this is about to change. In just over a month, this blog will be alive with images of Indochina; posts about pachyderms, musings on nuoc mam cham, ramblings about rambutans, dribbling about durian, scribblings on sticky rice, warblings about wats, and ponderings on pho. Stay tuned.
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The last day in Saigon
Today was our last full day in HCMC, my last proper day of holidays (at least for now). L feeling a whole lot better, not 100% though, so after a pretty good hotel breakfast (pho, and lots of other little bites — and unlike the last hotel, no baconfail) we headed out for a wander and last shop. L got a Vietnam starbucks mug to add to her stash. Wandered into a swanky mall, lots of european designer brands and prices similar to Perth before heading off for another massage. We went with the 90 minute body massage, and it was quite relaxing if with a bit of stretching thrown…
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Ho Chi Minh City
Full day in HCMC/Saigon (actually no one calls it Ho Chi Minh City, it gets used for official things, but everyone still calls it Saigon). I’ve lost count of what day we’re up to on this trip, but it was Thursday (I think). Had breakfast with the few remaining members of our tour, same wretched hotel breakfast made palatable by the pho. L still not feeling great, very full of flu, so went back to bed soon after. She left me in charge of procuring some souvenir bowls at the market, so a-wandering I went, crossing the roads without fear, entering the large market of haggling doom with a brave…
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Day 12 – Mekong Delta to HCMC, last day of tour
Woke up in the heat of the Mekong Delta for the last day of the Intrepid Food Adventures tour of Vietnam (though I’m probably going to do a summary tour post in a day or so once I’ve had some reflection time). Had a fabulous final breakfast of omlette and fresh baguettes, home made jam, coffee, and fruit (I think). A couple of the family’s children were running around, so there were some pics and lots of cute smiles all round. It has been a highlight of the trip, simple pleasures, eating food of the region, nothing flash, fancy or slightly fake. One of those days to realise that there…
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Day 11 – HCMC to Mekong Delta
Hotel breakfast as covered previously, pho the only saving grace but even then probably the winner of the worst meal of the trip – Hoi An hotel takeaway at least had the excuse of it having to be packable. Then it’s on the bus to the Mekong delta, minus a quick delay while the police shook down the bus driver for going outside the white lines on the freeway. The freeway is the only place in the country they enforce road rules apparently, and then it’s about a 6 million VND fine and 30 days suspended license, or something like that. Tour group all pitched in to help cover the…
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Day 10 – Hoi An to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)
I’ve been avoiding talking about the American/Vietnam war mostly, as I’m here for food not politics. Heading south, it’s harder to avoid, there are still scars and remnants and today’s tour was war heavy. Probably a good think L wasn’t 100% so took a rest day in the rather poor quality hotel room. Up early in Hoi An to bus to Danang for the flight to HCMC. Hotel kindly packed us breakfast for eating at the airport. The breakfast was nothing flash, the only edible part were the over hard boiled eggs, the rest was old bread, weird green fruit that no two tasted the same (looked like a small…
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Hoi An part 2
Food: There was much good food in Hoi An, but I’m going to give the award to the 30000 VND ($1.50) pho and tea two doors down from the hotel/resort we were staying at. Lovely fresh flavours, lots of fabulous chilli paste, and very unpretentious – the owners’ small child was running around (at least we thought it was the owners’, it could have been anyone’s) and was happy to be picked up and smiled at. It wasn’t an official recommended place, just somewhere we wandered into walking back one night. Also not official but very popular with our group was the local fresh beer hall, 3000 VND (15 cents)…
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Days 7,8,9 – Hoi An 1
Condensing all the days in Hoi An into one post, as a way of catching up and also for continuity reasons. Hue to Hoi An by bus, a fairly long but pretty drive, three mountain passes and at the top of the tallest one remnants of French bunkers and an even older gate. Lunch stop was at a bakery along the beachfront in Da Nang, had a steamed bun and a vol au vent type thing, nothing special but apparently the baguettes were fabulous. Also had a quick break to take some photos of the little boats the fishermen use to get to the bigger boats, groovy little half balls.…
