Day 55: HAN-SNG-DPS

DID: Last leg begins today!!!

Up early to hit a pho place Jason’s been reading about. Just as the reviewers described, there was a big queue even at 8am. Restaurant opens at 6 and serves until the run out of food (usually at around 10). More on that in ATE.

Took a slow walk back to the hotel, hitting a bakery, a café, and a currency exchange along the way. Jason tried to change all the miscellaneous currency we had floating around at an ANZ bank but they wouldn’t buy most of it. Never fear in Vietnam, there’s always someone hanging around who can take care of whatever you might need. In this case it was a woman with a calculator and a head full of forex rates – she and Jason agreed rates for all the Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese and Thai currency he had left.  Ended up with just enough money to get to the airport and to pay for visas in Bali (US dollars required).

The hotel staff lined up to say goodbye to Rhys, it was really sweet. He gave them all kisses.

Just enough time in the cab to write all the postcards that had been collecting. Hanoi airport experience uneventful (thankfully).

Flew Singapore Airlines from Hanoi to Singapore and then on to Bali. Airline is quite luxurious compared to all others we’ve been on thus far with the exception of the ANA partner StarFlyer. Lots of movies to choose from and the kids got special meals. Hot towels passed out at the beginning of the flight – Gavin made me laugh because he smelled it and said ‘This smells nice, like wet towel!’ Guess he’s really gotten accustomed to the Asian refreshing-towel-on-arrival-service! Only complaint is that they leave the food trays in front of you for a ridiculously long time. Like pretty much until the pilot announces that the cabin should be prepared for landing. Quite annoying – especially with a toddler who either starts throwing the remaining food items around or wants to sit in your lap but can’t because you can’t put the tray table away. Or just for any normal person who wants to use their tray for any purpose other than holding the remnants of a meal you ate two hours prior.

Bali visa-on-arrival process very well organized. They just want your money rather than to examine your credentials, and they are adept at taking it quickly and moving you along. Our problem was that we’d forgotten to fill out the entry cards on the plane. I remembered this as I was standing at the plane waiting for the stroller (Jason had gone ahead to get in line for the visas). By the time I got to him he had already paid for and obtained the visas and was third in line at the immigration desk. Jason went through first, I moved aside of the queue and finished the paperwork for the rest of us. Took for-EVER - they want passport number, date, expiration, place of issue, place of birth, flight number for your arrival, flight number for your departure, where you are staying, occupation - and some of the info multiple times because you also have to fill out a departure card. Surprised they didn’t also ask for a full medical history, criminal record and a CV. By the time I finished our paperwork Jason had already gotten then baggage and was back waiting for us on the other side of immigration.

Felt like I was in the Gold Coast QLD on the drive between the airport and the hotel. Two enormously tacky/gawdy/god-awful Roman-esque marble gi-normous statues in the middle of roundabouts on the way into town, lots of fast food, all the signs are in English. Hoping that this is not an indication of what the island is like. Resort is a beautiful oasis in the middle of tourist biker bars and souvenir shops.

Can’t believe we’re unpacking the suitcases for the last time before going home – this is it!!

ATE: Breakfast 1  - Pho Gia Truyen at 49 Bat Dan St in the French Quarter. Jason was happy with his although it still did not have all the tripe, tendons and other bits he loves. Maybe that’s just a San Francisco thing? But anyway, the broth was right, meat quality was good, he was happy. Gavin on the other hand was not. I think he must like the Hue style of pho better, he hasn’t really been happy with it since we left there.

Breakfast 2 – sweet buns from PappaRoti. Soft, sweet and buttery (as in a melted butter pocket in the center) – sinful.

Breakfast 3 – iced coffees, fresh squeezed lemonade and apple juice, eggs and a baguette at the Rainbow Restaurant. I’m really going to miss having fresh lemonade at every meal.

Lunch – airplane food. Boys had the kids meal (a chicken burger), Jason had the fish, I had the pork. Blah.

Dinner 1 – more airplane food. Boys had chicken pasta, I had the fish, Jason had the chicken. More blah, didn’t really eat it. The bread was accompanied by Australian butter. Didn’t realize it until my tongue was coated in the familiar, rancid flavor. Downside of being away for two months is that I’m going to be hyper-sensitive to it now and will have to go back off dairy. Good excuse to load up on ice cream while in Bali!

Dinner 2 – Room service at the Hyatt. I had a club sandwich, Jason had nasi goring (fried rice, meat skewers, spicy tomato sauce). Both pretty good, but quality was not as important for this meal – we were starving, it was midnight, Jason’s sugar level was low, etc.

Dessert – Some kind of chocolate-liqueur Happy Anniversary cake that was waiting in the room for us on arrival. Delicious!!

SLEPT: Hyatt Bali in Sanur. Car search and bomb check at the resort entrance, then another bag search/metal detector at the lobby entrance - they are not messing around! But once through, it’s like Hawaii. They gave us leis, escorted us to a seating/lounge area to wait for a member of the front desk staff, and then served us juice and cool wet towels. We’re staying here thanks to my parents (10-year wedding anniversary gift) – they’ve set us up with a week’s accommodation in a Hyatt Club room, no less!! Free breakfast and happy hour drinks – woo-hooooooooooo! Hotel looks like it was designed by the same architect as the Swissotel in Bangkok, it’s 4-story concrete pyramid structure. Room was really decked out when we arrived - flowers, champagne, anniversary cake, tub filled with floating rose petals. Celebrations, commenced!

Day 54: Floating Entertainment

DID: Up at 7am for tai chi on the sundeck but it was cancelled due to inclement weather. Was raining bucket-loads. Was originally thinking we would swim as planned at 7.45 rain or shine but having doubts - this kind of rain could seriously pin you underwater. But by 7.30 the rain had stopped, at 7.45 the sun was poking through and by 8 there was full-on sun. Had lots of fun snorkeling although there were no fish to be seen. Gavin got lots of compliments on his swimming skill. Beach was not privately owned by Indochina Co. but we were the only ones there.

Back on the boat, just enough time to shower/pack before brunch. Took our fruit and iced coffees up to the sundeck to enjoy a few minutes of lounging before we pulled into port at 10.30. My only complaint with the cruise itinerary is that there was not nearly enough time for relaxing on the boat. I had brought all kinds of homework for Gavin, books/movies for Rhys, postcards to write – didn’t even look at any of it. (not even any time for writing the blog post – I’m writing this one from the plane on the way to Bali!)

11am and we were in the car headed back to Hanoi. This time I paid more attention to village life. Learned that you can do anything (ie sing karaoke, get your haircut, play badminton, get your cement mixed) and buy anything (from baguettes to toys to roof tiles to live or dead chickens) on the side of the road. The haircutting was particularly humorous – picture an old-school barber chair (like Sweeney Todd-esque), blue tarp tied overhead for shade, a cracked mirror propped up on a wall in front of the chair, cordless clippers. On the upside, no harassment to buy hair products.

3pm, back at the hotel. Rhys had a nice reunion with the doormen. Was hoping he would sweet talk us into a room upgrade but no such luck.

Streetfood snacks, then a wander generally towards dinner before we came across another schoolyard amusement park (similar to the one in Hue). Hit the merry-go-round, the helicopters, the train, the bumper cars and the bouncy house before Jason’s hunger took control. And thank God it did because not 2 minutes after we got into the cab the skies absolutely ripped open with not just sheets but a whole linen closet of rain. The dash from the cab five feet to restaurant door – drenched, in spite of a greeter with an umbrella escorting us in. Thunder so loud everyone was literally jumping out of their chairs.

Rain calmed down while we ate, then it was off to the water puppet show. Realized once there that we’d left Gavin’s Japanese baseball hat back at the restaurant. Fortunately we had a bit of time before the show was due to start so Jason hopped back in a cab to retrieve it. He had some bad luck with the cabs – both the ones there and back had rigged their meters to overcharge. The original ride to the theater cost just over $1. These guys were trying to charge Jason about $10. Unfortunately Jason didn’t have any small change on him to just pay what he thought he owed, both times he ended up paying about $5 and walking away. But worth it to have Gavin’s hat back!

Water puppets were highly entertaining for everyone. Stage was a pool of water with a castle in the background. Live band playing traditional Vietnamese music off to the side of the stage. Puppets swam across the stage (appeared to be controlled by some sort of pole connected to the underside of the puppet, extending from the underside of the puppet, under the water, and back out somewhere behind the castle backdrop. Not sure how they manipulated it from there – the puppets were making some pretty wild/intricate + coordinated movement. They played out several scenes such as coconut picking, a horse race, a carp transforming into a dragon. Rhys was literally dancing on top of his chair and clapping throughout. Show was about 50 minutes in total – just right!

From there we raced off to a shop we’d seen from the cab on the way to the theater that looked interesting. The rush paid off – found some quality t-shirts with Vietnamese flare, plus a little cardie for me.  Hopefully not too little, couldn’t try it on because of the sweat rolling down my back from the jog there. Ew.

Were enticed by the throngs of people at sidewalk cafes enjoying iced coffees and ice cream so joined in, then walked back to the hotel. Hotel really is in a great spot, any cabs we’ve taken have been more for convenience/time than necessity.

Can’t believe it’s our last night in Vietnam and we’re about to start the very last leg of our journey tomorrow!

ATE: Breakfast 1 on the boat – croissants and danish at dawn before hitting the beach.

Breakfast 2 – Brunch on the boat. Gavin and Jason had pho, Rhys had pancakes, I had an omelet. Fruit plate, fresh squeeze lemonade and orange juice, iced coffees. Defo my fav meal of the cruise.

Lunch – Back in Hanoi. Jason had some kind of fish and tofu soup from a vendor in an alley near the hotel. GnR and I had ham & cheese pastries from Paris Gateaux (www.parisgateaux.com.vn) Lemonades and coffees from a café in front of the Opera House.

Dinner – Best meal in Hanoi, hands down. Restaurant Quan An Ngon. We all shared fried shrimp on sugar cane (then wrapped with cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, carrot in a rice paper pancake), fried crab spring rolls (literally the best spring rolls I’ve ever had – so sweet, not fishy in the slightest, perfectly crisp), stir fried noodles with beef and greens, fried pancakes topped with whole shrimp (Rhys couldn’t get enough of these).

Dessert – fro-yo topped with chocolate sauce from NZ ice cream cafe down the street from t-shirt shop. Sidewalk in front was crammed with people perched on plastic stools. Good stuff.

SLEPT: Back at the Hanoi Hotel de l’Opera. 7^th floor this time (last time on the 5^th). They assured us it’s a non-smoking floor so hopefully no bad smells this time. Room identical to the first.

Day 53: Smooth(ish) Sailing

DID: Driver picked us up at 8.15 and we were off for Halong Bay, a four-hour drive from Hanoi. Alarm bells should have gone off when he seemed caught off guard by GnR, more on that later. Made a complete mess of the back seat with crumbs from pastries and bread, oops. Thankfully Jason loaded Gavin’s iPhone up with all his favorite CDs so passed the time singing 17 different versions of ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’, etc.

Weather was kind of dicey the whole way and was getting worse as we approached the bay. My heart was sinking because this was the first time we’d seen even a hint of grey skies in Vietnam and this was a particularly inopportune time for it! An overnight cruise on a bay + associated activities would just not be the same in the rain. Fortunately the sun began to poke through as we waited to embark, by an hour into the cruise it was blazing.

Drive only covered a distance of about 160km but was really slow because it was mostly 2-lane country road the whole way. I think they should offer Blackhawk helicopter rides as an option, would be much preferable to bumping along at 30mph! But did give a good opportunity to see many rice paddies, palm groves, water lily/pink lotus ponds, water buffalo, and lots (and LOTS) of construction. Homes are kind of interesting – narrow 3-story stucco buildings with a glass pyramid/cupola at the center of the roof, fronts finished with balconies/pastel colors, sides windowless/unfinished – even if the nearest property is several lots away.

Driver brought us to a private dock only for passengers on one of four junk boats run by Indochina Cruises (the Violet, Ginger, Jasmine and Sunset). Ours was the Violet, the smallest (6 rooms) and newest of the fleet. Sunset is for day-trippers only, all the others do 1 and 2 night tours. All of them look pretty much the same, dark wood, 3-4 levels, orange fan sails.

Our booking was missing two small but important details – info on GnR. Was partially my fault because communications from the travel agency never addressed the 2 children.  I did list them in the original booking request and there have been many places over the course of our trip which only needed info on the adults – so I didn’t think anything of it. Ended up having to pay $100 extra (only 1 child travels free according to ship policy) – paid directly to the boat (the travel agency wanted us to pay $150). Wasn’t a pleasant start to the cruise (we would have chosen a different/less expensive boat had we known about this up front. This was definitely crossing the line from splurge into excessive.) Anyway…

Anchors aweigh and we started with lunch. Mine delivered to the room because Rhys was in desperate need of a nap and was in no mood to sit nicely in the dining room! That was totally ok by me though, I sat out on our balcony and enjoyed the view.

Can’t really describe Halong Bay except to say that its hundreds of big lumpy towering rocks, some with vegetation, some not, spread across a bay. We’d read beforehand that the bay was really cluttered/congested with other tour boats but I didn’t think this was the case at all. Saw a few dotted here and there but couldn’t hear anything or feel disturbed by them. Maybe ours takes a different path than most of the operators? Not sure.

After lunch we stopped at a cave for a tour. Cave rented out by Indochina cruises so they have sole access, meaning private tour for us. Nice. Afterwards they took us over to a small fishing village. We were rowed around in a small boat by one of the villagers. Was ok but I’m not one for gawking at the locals (at least not so overtly – people-watching from a sidewalk café is one thing, this is another!) Village life is simple but apparently lucrative. Many of the villagers have two or more homes on the mainland but choose to stay here for its simplicity and sense of community.

Back on the Violet, happy hour drinks then cooking demo (rice paper wrapped shrimp and salad rolls). Kids were fed at 6 and then a very nice/much appreciated gesture from the cruise manager, babysitting service in our room while Jason and I enjoyed our dinner up on the sundeck. Got a great show of lightening off the port side deck, and eventually the moon came out. Unfortunately with the moon came lots of pesky flying ants so we didn’t really feel like lingering over coffee/dessert.

Surprisingly tired at only 9.30pm, put kids to bed and we were out. Early day tomorrow anyway, tai chi at 7.00!

ATE: Breakfast pastries from Paris Deli. Also a baguette this time, very cracker-y.

Welcome drink on board, some tropical juice concoction enjoyed by all.

Lunch on the boat. Pork and mushroom spring rolls, shrimp soup, green mango salad with king prawns, steamed sea bass with sweet and sour sauce, rice and vegetable medley, cheesecake. Some good, some not as good. Spring rolls to mushroom-y for me/too spicy for GnR. Gavin and I both really liked the soup – shocking because it was pretty gloopy. I liked the green mango salad, Jason thought it was meh. Sea bass was overcooked and the sweet and sour sauce not welcome. Liked the veg though. Cheesecake, blah.

Sunset margaritas followed by dinner. Spaghetti bolognese for the boys – they both slurped it up happily. Gavin opted for chopsticks, believe it or not. So funny! We had soup starters (chicken/corn and Thai spicy shrimp soup) then salad (papaya salad, lotus salad) then seafood mains (minced king prawn croquettes for me, Jason had some kind of seafood stew) both with vegetable medley. Fruit plate and chocolate cake for dessert. All was edible in a hotel-wedding food kind of way, nothing offensive but not exciting either.

SLEPT: Quite comfortably in our enormous suite. Wanted to sleep out on our balcony but the flying ants kind of killed that plan.

Day 52: Weasels Make Smurfy Coffee

DID: Dropped laundry off, had directions to cleaners from hotel but got intercepted by a cyclo (the official name for the bucket bikes) driver along the way who redirected us somewhere closer. Wasn’t sure if we’d see our clothes again because the place was locked up when we arrived – involved a series of conversations between the cyclo driver and some people standing around, plus some shouting to get the owner to come downstairs (she lives above the shop). We weren’t going to be able to return until around 9pm, concerned about how we would make our presence known if she wasn’t there when we returned!

Then spent the morning walking around the lake and the "Old French Quarter". Not sure what makes this area older or Frenchier than the rest, other than a prevalence of souvenir shops and tourists. Nice walk nonetheless. Merchants definitely organized in districts here, along our route were the roller blinds, carved wooden frames, paper decorations/dragons, wallpaper and musical instruments. 

Afternoon Jason went to a cooking class on Vietnamese street food. Funnily enough, he learned to make exactly what we’d eaten for lunch (grilled pork over rice noodles and spring rolls). Looking forward to having that at home.

I took the boys by cyclo to the movies, we saw the Smurfs. Cyclo driver was same guy who led us to the laundry – this guy gets around! He just happened to be riding in front of our hotel as we stepped out… Kind of a rip off at $5, but Gavin loved it. Theater experience was interesting – the rows of seats were really close together, very little legroom. Jason would have been really uncomfortable had he been with us. Also no aircon so it was kind of humid and stuffy. And although it was a 3D movie, they didn’t have the glasses to pass out. Most of it was fine without the glasses but anytime there was fast motion on the screen it was blurry. But in the end I’m glad we saw this particular movie there because for the 3 of us it only cost $7.50 for the tickets – and even that was well over the entertainment value of the film!! Rhys thought there were too many people/not enough Smurfs – every time there were too many humans on the screen he would look at me and say ‘want Smurfs!’ Any of Neil Patrick Harris' previous characters would have been better (Barney? Doogie?) – this one was a complete wuss. Not to mention I can’t stand what’s-her-face, the OCD teacher from Glee.

Dinner and then called it an early night. Grumpiness was going around, also prepping for early check-out/pick-up for 4-hour drive to Halong Bay in the morning.

Oh and got our laundry just fine. In fact the woman did a really fantastic job, she even pulled out some items to show how she’d gotten out some very stubborn stains (some of which had been with us since China!) And she was watching her evening tv programs in the shop so we wouldn’t have trouble catching her. Bless!

ATE: Breakfast  - for GnR and me, pastries from Paris Deli, across from the Opera House. Best we’ve had in SE Asia. Not as flaky as I would have expected.

Jason had pho from Pho 24, across from the south edge of the Lake HK. First one in Vietnam that had all the right components, but he wasn’t happy with it.  But after tucking in he learned that they have 75+ locations all over the world (including one in Haymarket, Sydney) so he’s now thinking of it as the McDonald’s of pho.

Lunch – Dac Kim. Street-side cold rice noodles with bbq pork slices and pork meatballs, seafood spring rolls. Jason devoured everything, GnR and I were less enthusiastic. We all really liked the meatballs and the crispiness of the spring rolls, but I’m just personally not a big fan of cold noodles and didn’t care for the fishiness of the rolls.

Snack – Iced coffee at Huong Mai. Down the road from lunch, display window filled with roasted beans caught our eye. Thankfully I didn’t think to ask which roast of beans she’d given us until after we were nearly through with our drinks because it turned out we were drinking weasel poo. Credit to the weasels, they sure know how to pick the good beans because this coffee was right up there in quality. Read the shop’s brochure on the sanitation, roasting process – don’t care, still grossed out. Gavin was devilishly, gleefully fascinated as only a 5-year old boy can be about the consumption of poo. Of course we had to let him try some!

Dinner - Madame Hien (http://verticale-hanoi.com/en/madame-hien/menus). Grumpiness factor had a negative impact on ordering and the whole experience, but everything we had was good. Starter of fresh shrimp rolls, Gavin had pho with a side of rice (his standard order), Rhys Jason and I had a clay pot of pork with sticky rice. Menu kind of pretentious, expensive for Vietnam. Jason said it seemed like a French person came to Hanoi, opened a restaurant and put a few French and Vietnamese things on the menu, rather than it being representative of colonial French-Vietnamese cuisine. Food still good, restaurant packed/very popular, and in a nice area to walk around.

Dessert: Jason and Gavin went back to Paris Deli for dessert and coffee (no weasel poo this time!) while I took Rhys to bed and got the packing started. No one brought me any chocolate from the bakery, booooooo.

SLEPT: Not really to do with sleeping but the hotel staff here are totally smitten with Rhys. The doormen especially. Works in our favor I think – for example when it was taking a long time for a cab to arrive, one of them offered to just drive us to dinner in the hotel limo, free of charge. What a ride!

Day 51: Smokin' Hanoi

DID: Easy morning (sleep, eat, massage, pool) before afternoon flight to Hanoi. Flight from Danang to Hanoi uneventful thankfully (I was a little nervous after our last experience on Vietnam Airlines!)

Hoan Kiem in the city center could be right out of Paris, with the addition of paper lanterns and sampans. Buildings are boxy and in Mediterranean colors of stucco, lots of Juliette balconies, with Asian-angular red tiled roofs.

Initial impression of the shopping is kind of ‘meh’, but reserving final judgment until tomorrow when we’ve had more of a chance to walk around. Example, we found ourselves in the ‘electronics district’ (their version of London’s Tottenham Court Road) but couldn’t find decent headphones or a headphone jack splitter. 

Called it an early night because the boys were both tired and complaining. Of course they got a second wind once we got back to the room! Took several books and songs to get them to finally nod off.

ATE: Breakfast at the hotel. Jason discovered the pho bar this morning (we had been blinded by pancakes the day before and missed seeing it). But apparently it wasn’t very good, Gavin only took 3 bites and dismissed it.

Lunch – various snacks acquired at the Danang Airport. No one was very hungry for some reason. That is until we were mid-flight. We plowed through a can of pringles and a bag of cheddar goldfish in about 30 seconds.

Dinner – Cay Cau Restaurant. Gavin had pho (he said it tasted fishy), Rhys had grilled pork (pretty good), Jason and I had beef skewers (flavor good but meat kind of tough), ‘Cay Cau’ spring rolls (cabbage and shrimp, tasty), stir-fried morning glory (good but I thought it was fishy), and banana flower salad with chicken (Jason thought it was ok, I thought it tasted like bile. Jason said it was very heavy fish sauce that was turning me off. Disgust.) Overall not a great meal, would give this place a pass.

Dessert – Fanny ice cream (www.fanny.com.vn). Huge selection of sundaes, was hard to decide! I wanted to go for the fondue with 13 small scoops of ice cream but no one else was game. Instead had the ice cream spring rolls – ice cream wrapped in crepes, cut like spring rolls, topped with chocolate and whipped cream. Good stuff. Gavin and Rhys had chocolate and chocolate chip ice cream. I put some of the chocolate sauce from my dish, plus some peanuts I had in my purse, on Gavin’s ice cream to try to replicate his favorite from Bazar in Hoi An. He said it was ‘terrible and gross’, but then clarified that bad meant good. (he’s in an opposites phase – he’s been doing this quite a lot lately!)

SLEPT: Hotel de l’Opera, near the Opera House. Brand new hotel (as in opened in the last few weeks), booked for location and because we wanted to experience Hanoi’s idea of boutique/hip hotel. Photos on the website looked like it was definitely toeing the line between chic and gaudy. In person, I’d say it’s the same. Love the hot pink carpets in the lift lobby and hallways, the dark wood flooring in the room, the huge big tall king-sized bed, and the desk chair. The wallpapered panel of smoke behind and over the bed perhaps not the best choice. Hotel fires and cigarette smoke are generally things I like to avoid. As it turns out our room started to smell of cigarettes at about 10pm. Not sure of the origin – maybe they put it in the ventilation system to add to the aura of the room? Internet connection is free, wireless and fast (yay!), pool is still under construction (boo.) Location is perfect.

Day 50: Beach Day

DID: Went to Cua Dai beach (about 4 km from Hoi An center.) White sand, palm trees, straw umbrella, warm sparkling clear water, view of mountains in the distance, cold beers delivered to the lounge chairs. Heaven!

Afternoon at the pool and I had two fittings at the tailor shop. Amazing what they accomplished in less than 24 hours. Mostly happy with my fabric choices but if I had to do it again I probably would have picked differently for one of them.

One more note on Hoi An, the streets are not paved in colors of OPI here either. A few full-service spas but no nail salons to speak of.

Full Moon festivities in the evening. For about two hours the old town was candle-lit and vehicle-free (including motorbikes).  All the shops had mini altars set up in front with offerings of rice and fruit. Lots of incense. Musicians and martial arts performers on street corners and on boats along the river.  River also filled with floating candles. It was very pretty but the crowds were suffocating. Glad that we had been able to walk around Friday night without the hordes.

ATE: Breakfast at the hotel. Nice western buffet with crepes and eggs made to order. Vietnamese offerings left a little bit to be desired.

Lunch – Hoa Hung Restaurant on Cua Dai beach. Jason had a pork/pate bun, Rhys and I had shrimp on fried noodles, Gavin had a plate of fries, we all had pork spring rolls. Everything was pretty flavorless, I would not recommend this place.

Snack – ice cream back at Bazar Cafe at Gavin’s request. He was very happy again with his sundae.

Dinner – Miss Ly Café 22. Had Hoi An’s three most typical dishes – white rose dumplings (pork and shrimp dumplings with a sweet & sour dressing), wontons (covered with shrimp, chicken and cilantro also with sweet & sour dressing) and ca lau (wheat noodles with shredded pork and crispy dough croutons). Gavin had pho and Rhys had fried noodles with beef. All of it was pretty average, did not live up to the rave reviews we read. Maybe under new ownership?

Dessert – ice cream at Nha Xanh. Jason’s passion fruit  and the boys’ cookie dough flavors were delish. My mango was just ok.

SLEPT: Beautifully except for the caffeine from an ill-advised iced coffee with dessert. Was up until 3am catching up on episodes from this season’s Breaking Bad.

Day 49: Vietnam Disney

DID: Got a later start than planned due to snafu with the car taking us to Hoi An. Agency had promised us a 6-seater but sent a regular car. Normally we’re ok crunching up in a sedan with the bags but today’s was a 3-4 hour drive so wanted to be comfortable. Had to wait for a replacement, then had to argue with tour operator who wanted to charge us extra for the bigger car (even though he’d guaranteed it at the price we paid originally). Lesson learned – get them to write ALL pertinent details on the receipt.

Views from the drive over the Hai Van Pass in the Ba Na Mountains were incredible. Turquoise water, white sand, deep green jungle mountains. No birds though, kind of strange. Stopped at an old bunker from the ‘American War’ at the top of the pass for some photos.

Nearest major city/airport is Danang, about 40 minutes from Hoi An. Major construction happening in Danang along the coastline, the big hotel chains are moving in (Hyatt, Le Meridien,  Sheraton, among others). Hoi An is an ‘ancient town’/

trading hub south of Danang. We’re here for the ancient atmosphere, famous tailoring and the Full Moon party on the 13^th.

The old town has been completely made over, lots of streets to wander centered around a large outdoor market. It’s somewhat pedestrian-friendly (no cars, but there are loads of honking motorbikes), and many of the hotels have loaner bicycles for you to use. 

Nice shops, true to its merchant roots. Tailors not to Jason’s taste (fabric choices were better in Bangkok) – but I had amazing success at one and ordered three (3!!!) dresses. Bit risky because the sample sizes were too small to try on, and who knows what the fabrics I chose will be like, but at these prices I couldn’t resist.

All in all, the sort of place that’s walkable, comfortable, convenient, clean, totally geared for tourists - with a hotel in the center it’s easy to see how weeks could slip away.

But not at all what I was expecting. I should preface by saying that when we started talking about taking a trip to Vietnam, I read a book written by a journalist who travelled here in the late ‘90’s. She talked about a country where tourism was practically non-existent, even finding restaurants and hotels was sometimes a struggle (she quite often ate at a single table set up in front of someone’s home, serving whatever the family was eating). Obviously I knew things would have changed over the last 15 years…but I was not expecting an Epcot-center like experience! And to their credit, they have really done a beautiful job with the historic area, it’s all very tasteful/quaint (to use my mom’s favorite word), with very little of the super-tacky souvenir syndrome.  For this family, a 2-night stay is sufficient. Gives us enough time to recharge and buy some nice souvenirs. Any longer and we would be feeling like we were missing the ‘real’ Vietnam.

And the food section of the market has such a putrid stench that even Rhys complained. Puzza!

ATE: Breakfast – the hotel manager had the restaurant package up some pastries and fruit for us to take in the car. (She had been brought in to help interpret once the taxi situation went awry and I think she just wanted to do something nice for us, plus Rhys was putting on the charm…)

Lunch – GnR and I ate bbq by the pool at the hotel in Hoi An. Skewers of chicken/pork/beef with dipping sauces and pork spring rolls. I liked the bbq but neither of the boys did so spring rolls were ordered for them. They ate them but were totally focused on running around after chickens (they roam the hotel grounds) and getting to the pool. Jason had pork/pate baguette sandwiches at the market while he was off investigating the tailor situation.

Snack – Bazar Café (www.bazarcafe.net) in Hoi An center. GnR had ice cream sundaes (vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, peanuts). Gavin LOVED this ice cream, he wants to come back for dessert every day he says. Jason and I had Biere Larue, pretty good. Best Vietnamese beer so far I think, but it could be just that it was really cold. (most of the beer we’ve had has been chilled but not frosty.)

Dinner – Mermaid (Nyu Y) (www.restaurant-hoian.com). Gavin had pho, Rhys had chicken fried rice. Jason and I had a banana flower salad with chicken (we ordered a second dish of this!), crispy pancake with chicken and shrimp, pork spring rolls (slightly spicy, nice for us but Gavin was not pleased!), pork stuffed eggplant (Jason said this was "the best an eggplant can be". Not sure if that was a compliment or not but he did eat it all).

Dessert – Hoi An Patisserie. We managed to convince Gavin to try something new (he REALLY wanted to go back for another Bazar sundae) – wasn’t hard once he saw the chocolate brownies at the Patisserie. I was suckered in by the pineapple upside down cake. Both ended up being just ok (they were really dry). Guess we should have listened to Gavin!

SLEPT: Heritage Life Resort in Hoi An. Another good one! Best feature is that the room has a sofa for Gavin and they set up a crib for Rhys so we don’t have to set up any beds. Hotel overlooks the river and is centered around a huge square-shaped pool. Water is very warm (to the point of not being as refreshing as I might like) – the deepest point is at the center of the square and it’s only about 5 ft. Good for Gavin though, he can touch the bottom nearly everywhere. And internet connection is speedy and strong, woohoo! Room rate includes 30-minute massages for Jason and me, plus $30 at the hotel bar – all indications of a great stay to come!