Splendid Hoi An

We thought since we were travelling by night-bus, leaving the busy beach town of Nha Trang, that we would be gently rocked to sleep through the night, waking come morning upon arrival in the ancient river village of Hoi An. Unfortunately the “night bus” just resulted in faster speeds due to less congested roads. Along the way there was even a motorbike and a big rig flipped over on the shoulder, evidence that many of the vehicles we encountered were operated by reckless, sleep deprived or drunk drivers. We finally arrived in Hoi An around 8am and were a little less than bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. We spent the first couple hours catching up on some zzzz, refueling, and watching some HBO.
Thanks to its UNESCO World Heritage Site status, pace of life in Hoi An is slow- which we love. We were pretty hungry after the long bus ride, so we headed to the Old Quarter, the main attraction here, to grab some lunch. Again, due to its historical status, cars are not allowed on the old streets and motorcycles must follow strict speed laws. The lack of vehicles combined with a slow river running through the south end of town results in an Old Quarter oozing with atmosphere. The river is picturesque and soothing. It’s hard to believe that almost yearly the town is faced with seasonal flooding. Hoi An is surrounded by water with a substantial river in the centre of town and lakes all around. These bodies tend to swell during the rainy season (November to January) and we’ve heard that during these times, the streets are navigated only by boat. The shops and homes on either side of the river front are outfitted with small docks so they can still go about their daily lives even during the wettest of times. The income of nearly all the people who call the Old Quarter home is connected to the overwhelming cloth and tailoring industry. Shop after shop, line, street after street, all competing with sample jackets, dresses, and suits at the front of their shop. After eyeing the one of-a-kind goods for days, we decided to have a few items personalized for us. We realized that you really can’t do anything in Vietnam without an underlying shadiness. They definitely tried to swindle us by producing really cheap quality goods quite similar to those which we had picked out but we are nobody’s fool so we called them on there poor business practice and had the items remade to our liking. The two of us will never forget the day we came so close to ringing a “sweet little Vietnamese girl’s” neck or the sound of her whining as she told us we were “TERRRRRible people” who “forget what you order”. All in all we’d like to think we came out on top as we refused to buy the items which were wrong and made off with some great custom items to take home. Lesson learned-take photographs of items which you commit to so you don’t have to argue for an hour with a manipulative saleswoman…

A real highlight in Hoi An is the more high end dining available. There are countless really great places to eat and we tried some amazing foods including the local specialties; White Rose-a delicious fresh wonton filled with shrimp, Banana and Shrimp Spring rolls, and Cao Lau, a mix of vermicelli, pork, sprouts, and croutons in broth. Hoi An is a foodie haven so we signed ourselves up for a 1 day cooking course with the most reputable place in town. We started our morning early meeting at the café for a fresh fruit drink and to meet the others in our class. We lucked out having only 4 others in the group, being 2 laid back couples from Australia, who we got on well with. We started by visiting their huge organic vegetable and herb gardens followed by an informative trip to the local market. Here we even had the chance to try betel nut (bitternut), a fruit/nut chewed by elder women. It’s easy to spot the ladies who “chew for a high” because in addition to their doped up giggling, over time their teeth and mouth dye a dark red/black…ever so appealing. Anyway, we found the effects minimal other than a numbing like an Anbesol product but the taste was god-awful and there was an incredibly stubborn aftertaste.

A few kilometers from town we settled for an afternoon of cooking at the Red Bridge Cooking School. The grounds were stunning as an elite chef from Australia keeps them private for the classes and his personal entertaining. The place is set right on the river. There is a pool, a huge outdoor patio and bar, as well as a state of the art open air cooking/dining facility. The class was taught by a Vietnamese Master Chef (Phi), and he was great. From scratch: we learned to make rice paper and noodles, Pho (beef noodle soup), BBQ-banana leaf-shrimp, fish clay pot, and an elegant chicken and mango salad with grilled sesame rice paper. Everything was absolutely scrumptious and we were so happy with the quality and how thorough the instruction was. We had lots of fun as a group cooking. The booze flowed freely, the food was to die for, and all and all we were so happy with the experience.

As it was time to move along we had set our sights on the capital in the north, Hanoi. The Reunification Express is the legendary railway system spanning 1700km connecting HCMC to Hanoi. There is a train station in Hoi An and we had discussed that the countryside would be best taken in by rail, so we wandered into a travel office to purchase some tickets. Well…seems the popularity with tourists has driven the cost up substantially…(mind you the Vietnamese still pay peanuts for the same trip-a fact that applies to everything “foreigner fees…”). Our options worked out to $40/person for a 14 hour train ride in a car without a window or a 45 MINUTE plane ride for $5 more per person. Seeing as the train seemed a little less magical than we had envisioned, we opted to forgo the classic rail trail and high-tail-it to the capital. HANOI HERE WE COME!