Day 27: What a place, what a night!

Well the overnight train was a roaring success. We all had incredible sleeps and woke up to some amazing views of the ocean as the train snaked along the coastline some 500 feet up in the air. We had chicken pho for breakfast on the train - yum!

Our driver picked us up in Danang (which is the third largest city in Vietnam, looking quite modern) and took us down the road to the smaller town of Hoi An. If you look at the long, narrow map of Vietnam, we went from the top all the way to the middle of the country, and boy is it different.

Hoi An is a town within a town. It is very picturesque and very touristy, but in a good way. There is the so called "old town" which is situated along a river and which really sprang to life at the end of our night tonight. The old town is surrounded on one side by a sleepier tourist section (where our amazing hotel is) and Hoi An proper.

We got to the hotel at just after 2pm - it's what they call a "Homestay" - basically what we would call a Bed and Breakfast. The family that runs it (and lives downstairs somewhere) are so very friendly and helpful (and freakishly small! :-)). We discovered our A/C wasn't working so they have given us 3 rooms tonight - 2 rooms with 2 beds each for sleeping and our family room where all our stuff is set up so hopefully they'll have the A/C fixed tomorrow..... Or hopefully not??!

Tonight, as Robin says, was one of our favorie nights of the trip. For one, Hoi An is pretty special, but what made it was yet another food tour we had booked - this time a night tour from 5-9pm. The short version is: we came, we ate, we ate some more, we played some games, we ate some more, we shopped and we went home. Here's the longer version....

We met Tommy of Hoian Food Tours at 5pm at his office. Stop number one was a short walk over to sample "white roses" - a dumpling that's well known as a Hoi An delicacy. When Abby (and Beth for that matter) got a look at the rundown for the night, they looked a little on edge....and I wasn't sure after the first stop how they'd take the night. Robin.... Was gung ho (her new favourite expression is "when in Rome!".

Hoi An has had a lot of external influences on their culture and food, which I found fascinating. Their location on the coast made them an ideal place for a trading port (which ended when the estuary became too silty and shallow, and nearby Danang, then later Singapore took over as big shipping destinations), so they have some Chinese and even Indian influences in their food and culture. The White Rose was basically the Chinese trying to make dumplings out of local ingredients - so they had to use rice pastry for the wrap (which is now a trade secret owned by one family!) and local ingredients for the dipping sauce. We tried shrimp and pork dumplings - yum! The shrimp dumplings were river shrimp so not fishy at all - still, a bit of a strike out for Abby and Beth (editor's note: apparently Beth loved the White Rose!).

Our next stop was finally eating at one of the little sidewalk setup restaurants with the 12" high chairs. It's classic, in one little corner of the street there were 5 little "restaurants" - 4 empty and 1 packed. I guess I never considered these places as "restaurants" that would have local reputations for food quality, price and service, but then - why wouldn't they? On the menu was Banh khot or "savoury coconut pancakes". They were pastries (made with rice flour, turmeric and coconut milk) with a quail egg, deep fried then eaten with vegetables and a light Vietnamese sauce poured over top. We were all going to order it with no quail egg, but then I looked at little Robbie and thought.... When in Rome! It was delicious and something we would never have tried without our growing-on-us-quickly guide Tommy!

Next up, Cao Lau - tied with the best meal of the night. Cao Lau is a dish that uses broader, chewier rice noodles served with thinly sliced braised pork and sprouts and salad and topped lightly with a broth. The Cao Lau we had was by Ms. Ha in the "food court" of the central market - clearly a local favourite because again, her place was packed and everywhere else was empty. Wow, so good and now Abby and Beth were along for the ride in this full blown foodie experience.

Next up, a great walk through the very active (which was surprising because it was getting on in the evening) food market (Beth was liking all the walking.... Oh, she forgot her step counter, never mind). Soon, we stopped at a place called Ba Phuong Bread which was featured in an Anthony Bourduain show. When Tommy started describing what we were going to eat - Banh Mi - a baguette filled with 2 secret sauces, grilled pork patties, grilled pork, pork liver pate, vegetables and more - Robin and I hummed and hawed but eventually said let's do it! Abby and Beth were going to opt for safer touristy chicken on baguette, but then Abby tells Beth that they should really try it (wow... Way to go girl!) and they went for it too. It was amazing. Amazing!

The coolest thing on these food tours is that you're eating the best food, in small local places, and the prices are ridiculous. Our food was all included of course, but the Cao Lau? 20,000 Dong or $1.00US. The Banh Mi? 25,000 Dong. Very cool

We were getting full, but we had to suck it up - literally. Our next stop was for Vietnamese coffee. Beth has not been a fan of the "real" coffee here as they don't have milk, and I was surprised to hear they are the 2nd biggest grower of coffee beans in the world. So we had a "sweet coffee" - light coffee over shaved ice with tons if condensed milk. I hate coffee..... It was awesome! Condensed milk was introduced into Vietnam by American soldiers and the locals liked it because it was sweet, stayed preserved in cans and was good at room temperature. The girls had condensed milk with lime juice over shaved ice - also awesome.

Filling up now...

Next - we stopped in at a local family's home where an elderly couple served us deep fried, small, spring rolls and then showed us how to make fresh sliced pork rolls (and how to pack them into our stomachs!). It was a really cool twist in the tour, and we got to see how the locals lived. They lived in a modest, single floor house with huge open doorways and a vaulted 14 foot roof/ceiling that was open to the alleyway they shared with 4 or 5 other neighbours. All of the neighbours were home and all had their doors flung open, each doing their own thing - watching a soccer game, watching a soap opera and chilling out. It is a very simple, social, relaxed way to live.

We were not done yet! We made our way to the old part of town where it was now fully packed with tourists (90% local tourists). There were lanterns, food stalls, hawkers, pop-up shops, lights, cyclos and, did I say people? It was also an awesome scene. Abby mentioned it felt like it was like the river night scene of Kyoto. Robin said it would be a nice place to get engaged... Gasp!

So a couple of the tourist things they do here on some special nights are a kind of piñata game, and a bingo game. The short description of how the games played out is: the girls should stick to shooting hoops and Dad wins again! Below are some crude videos.

Last up before saying goodbye to our fantastic guide Tommy? Dessert. Street side deep fried banana pancakes and coconut filled donuts - OMG as the kids would say. Tommy was great - we tipped him well and said goodbye. The night was not over as there was a night market between our location and our hotel but shopping for me was the lowlight of the night ;-). Ahhh... Good night.

 

 

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