Hoi An, Vietnam – March 2017
Following our stay in Phong Nha, we travelled by bus to Hue where we stayed for 3 nights. Hue was a nice city, but (for us) there weren’t any real “must-see” attractions. Instead, we used it as a casual stop to catch up on much needed laundry, computer related items, and a number of other general “everyday” life type things. In between our chores, we made time to walk the city each day. On March 22nd, we hired a private car to drive us the 4 hours from Hue, over the scenic Hi-Van pass, through Da Nang with our drop off point at our homestay in the historic district of Hoi An, Vietnam.
Once a major shipping port dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries, the historic district of Hoi An is a beautiful centuries-old riverside town. The streets through the Ancient part of Hoi An are beautifully decorated with colored lanterns which are lit at night. The town has so much going for it…outstanding food, lots of history, tons of high end tailors, silver smiths, ceramics, photography, and so much more. Plus, an added bonus only 5 km away (a short 20 minute bike ride) are two beautiful long sandy beaches with many places to hang out on lounge chairs and umbrellas. It’s hard to pinpoint any one specific thing that makes Hoi An a great place to visit. It simply has an overall good, fun vibe.
See video and photos below highlighting our 10 days in Hoi An, Vietnam. To see all images of this location click the link at the bottom of this post or go to our gallery.
Rick and Alisa at the top of Hai Van Pass (1627 ft elevation). This was a stopping point while traveling from Hue to Hoi An. The beach in the background is the Hue side. There are more beaches on the Da Nang and Hoi An side. The view was spectacular from up here.
This is a U.S. Bunker at the top of Hai Van Pass (1627 ft elev). This was interesting to walk around and check out. The U.S. used this as a scouting point during the Vietnam War to protect Da Nang (the major shipping port) from an attack.
Closer view of the U.S. Bunker at the top of Hai Van Pass, remnant from the Vietnam War. Notice the bullet holes in the bunker.
Video – Hoi An, Vietnam
Panorama from the river side street in the historic district of Hoi An.
One of the many street vendors and their menu. This place only had 3 items. We ate here one afternoon as the rain rolled in. The lady had a small covered area with plastic kid-sized chairs and tables.
Rick and Alisa waiting for our Cao Lau and Bahn My. Notice the kid-sized chairs and table. The small chairs are typical all over Vietnam and appear to hold up well considering most foreigners don’t exactly fit in them 😉
Cao Lau is a Hoi An specialty. It has a small amount of rich pork broth served with greens, lean pork slices, very crispy crackers and thick chewy noodles. The noodles are supposedly made using only water from the ancient Ba Le Well dating back several centuries and lye ash from a tree grown on the nearby Cham Island. Not sure if this is true or not, but regardless this is a must-try dish in Hoi An. We ate it at several places, and all were different and very good.
Fresh scallops. Hoi An had some amazing food.
Stuffed squid. The seafood was super fresh.
Chicken in Passion Fruit Sauce. We tried this our first night in town…it was so different and good, we had to eat it again.
Cinnamon Pork simmered in a Clay Pot. This intrigued us enough to order…and OMG – the dish was out of this world good.
The Ba Le Well restaurant has a set menu (Grilled Pork Satays, Rice Pancakes, Spring Rolls). You don’t even order, they just bring it all out. The lady could tell we were confused when we hadn’t ordered anything and all this food started to come out. Luckily, we were able to tell her only give us one order (not for two people) as we could see by the look of the other table it was a ton of food. She came over and showed us how you eat it. Basically, you take the rice paper, fill with greens, kim chi, pork, and a spring roll – then roll it all up and dip in the sauce which you spice up to your liking with extra chili sauce. Wow, is all we can say. Nothing like we’ve ever had before. The meal was fun and delicious.
We’re just calling this whole scene crazy Chinese tourists…Rick and I were eating dinner (fish in a clay pot and cao lau) when a couple of Chinese ladies came over, got close to our table and stared at our food. At one point they got so close, we thought they were going to take a bite off our plates. They wanted to know what we were eating, but couldn’t speak any English. They even reached to take the lid off our clay pot to see what was in it. When they saw it was fish, they motioned and shook their heads as if asking if it was good. We gave them the thumbs up. They were so excited, one of the ladies wanted her photo with us. After a few minutes, the ladies started calling the rest of their group over and said the only English word they knew which was “fish” and pointed at our plate. They even walked their group over to our table and took the lid off the clay pot again to show them. We were at one point surrounded by smiling Chinese tourists all oogling our fish dinner. They all then proceeded to head inside the small restaurant and took over the place (see the photo with Rick pointing to them). It’s a good thing we were already done with our food because the staff all disappeared into the kitchen to help keep up with all their orders. This was a new one for us…Very funny.
Hoi An is known for it’s high end tailor-made clothing and there were some absolutely gorgeous dresses and very nice suits in many store fronts. These are NOT them 🙂 We couldn’t help but share the fact we actually saw several people wearing these matching shirts and shorts walking around the streets. The banana print was one of the more popular ones.
Hoi An historic district street view with lanterns by day. The streets were very clean, lined with blooming flowers, and had colored lanterns strung up all over. The town was fun to walk both day and night.
Hoi An street lanterns by night. The town seemed to come alive at nights. It was beautiful walking the streets with the many styles and colors of lanterns lit up.
Elderly local selling already lit floating candles ready for you to buy and set free into the river as a prayer for world peace and human happiness.
Tourists setting their candles free in the river.
One of the many paths leading to the beach. The beach was a short 20 minute bike ride from town. You can pick from a ton of different spots.
Rick giving the thumbs up this was the way to our beach destination for the day.
