Day One
After a very sleepless night (see Ninh Binh post), I was woken up once again by the overhead speaker (at about 6am). From that moment on, there were no more moments of sleep. The speaker three feet from my head was barking at us every 20 minutes and the smell of cigarette smoke was wafting in through the vents from people taking a smoke break in the bathrooms.
At around 8am, loud rock music bagan blasting through the speaker. It wasn't until after the annoying song had repeated itself, that Nico and I found (after desperate search) a switch to turn it off, confining the music to the hallway.
After what felt like an eternity, we finally arrived at the Danang train station around noon where we met our driver (arranged by our homestay) to take us to Hội An. We stayed at a place called Sac Lo (meaning Charlie Chaplin), recommended to us by Kristen & Josh, recommended to them by Eric. When we arrived, we were greeted by Kristen, Josh, and Lyna (one of our hosts). We dropped our stuff off, Lyna gave us a map with a few recommendations, and we took a taxi to the old town with Kristen and Josh.
The old town of Hội An is very cute and just the right amount of touristy with flowers spilling over the roofs of colonial buildings and lanterns strung overhead. We walked around for a little bit, looking for Bánh Mì Phuong, a little Vietnamese sandwich stand near the market. We couldn't find it so we instead went to the sit-down restaurant version just a block away. We all ordered the #3 (mixed bánh mì), which was very tasty (minus a few fatty pieces of meat).
After lunch, we headed to a tailor shop called Bao Diep to get measured and fitted for suits. I decided to get a gray ladies suit (jacket and pants). Nico got a navy blue suit (jacket, pants, and shirt). We made an appointment for our first fitting the next day at noon.
We then walked around the old town for a little bit as Nico looked for a tank top to buy (too hot for sleeves). He bought a blue shirt with the brand, Larue, on it, a beer we still had yet to try. Apparently, Nico is a size XXL in Vietnam (as opposed to L in the states).
Soon it became time for Kristen and Josh to leave. We did a little trip planning with them at Sac Lo and waited for the car to pick them up.
For the rest of the evening, Nico and I showered and then headed downstairs at 7 for the nightly group dinner arranged by Sac Lo (which only consisted of us and another guy named Dominic). We went to a place called Bale Well, which had a set menu. They immediately brought out plates full of spring rolls, grilled pork, something like a shrimp omelette, and lots of greens. We were given rice paper and were taught basically how to roll everything up and dip into the sauce to eat. Most of the food was pretty good. A lot of the items had shrimp in them, which I don't really like. The skewered pork was my favorite.
After dinner, Nico, Dominic, and I walked to the Dive Bar. It was a chill bar with good music and pool to play. We had a few beers there before walking back to the hostel.
Day Two
Nico and I headed downstairs in the morning for our complimentary breakfast around 8:30. Nico ordered a banana pancake and a Vietnamese coffee and I ordered a plain pancake with honey and a pot of green tea. It was so tasty.
After breakfast, we rented bikes from the hostel and rode them to the Old Town where we spent the morning sightseeing and taking pictures before our fitting at noon. As I tried on the suit, it stuck to my body, which was constantly coated in a thin layer of sweat. Dong (my tailor) made adjustments and we agreed to come in again at noon the next day for another fitting. Nico also decided to have a banana patterned button-down made.
After the fitting, Nico and I went back to the hostel to change into bathing suits and then we biked to the beach. I followed Google Maps to the location of Hidden Beach where we got off and parked our bikes. As soon as we parked, we were shuttled in the direction of the restaurant that corresponded with our parking space. We were given two shaded chairs and were expected to order food & drink in order to "pay" for everything (the chairs and bike parking). Nico and I ordered chicken fried rice, pho bo, and two Larues. It took a really long time for everything to be ready and I started to get hangry. It didn't help my mood either that they decided to wait to bring the beers out when the rest of the food was done.
Finally the food came, which wasn't great, but filling and Nico and I were able to do a bit of swimming.
After the beach, Nico and I rode back to the homestay where we showered and got ready for dinner. We came downstairs again at 7 to see if anyone else was heading out to eat but the Irish girl, who was the only other guest left, had already bought Indian take-out. Her food smelled amazing so Nico and I decided to go there for dinner.
The Indian restaurant was called Ganesh and was located right by the tailor shop. Nico ordered coconut chicken curry and I had chicken tikka masala. We each got a piece of garlic butter naan, which were huge. We probably could have split one between the two of us. I liked the food a lot, although the best Indian food I'd had was in Germany.
For the rest of the night, Nico and I walked around the Old Town, taking pictures of the lanterns as they were all lit up.
Day Three
In the morning, Nico and I got our same breakfasts as yesterday and relaxed for a bit before going into town for our second fittings. My suit fit much better this time around and didn't need any other adjustments. Nico's suit was just a little tight in the elbows. He also tried on his banana shirt. Since there wasn't much else to adjust, we made plans to come back later in the day at 5pm and then Nico and I went to the Old Town for lunch.
We decided to go to the market and try the cao lau from Stall #49, which was recommended to us by our homestay. Cao lau is a noodle dish only found in Hội An. The noodles are made by one family in the area and sold to all the restaurants to be made into individual dishes. At Stall #49, I ordered cao lau with beef and a pineapple-coconut smoothie. I was really impressed with the flavor of the cao lau. With a little bit of chili sauce, it was perfect.
From lunch, we rode back to Sac Lo to change into our bathing suits and then headed to the beach. This time, we stopped a little sooner than Hidden Beach. A man sold us beers straight from a cooler.
That evening after showering, we went back to pick up our tailored clothing. Nico tried his on one more time and everything fit right.
For dinner, we headed across the bridge to Mr. Son. It was a small street food stall where we were served by Mr. Son himself. I ordered a fried version of cao lau (which wasn't quite as good as the one from the market) and Nico got a wonton with beef and white rose (another Hội An specialty). The wonton was super yummy. I didn't try the white rose because it was filled with shrimp but Nico really liked it.
After dinner, we walked down the street to where all the bars are and we stopped at the Mr. Bean Bar (pictures of Mr. Bean everywhere). We were seated at a table with a couple from Belgium who were very nice and fun to talk to. The bar had a buy-one-get-one-free special going on for cocktails. This also included a free hookah with the first two drinks (if you're into that kinda thing).
Day Four
Nico and I ordered our usual breakfasts - pancakes with a pot of green tea and a Vietnamese coffee. We decided to research a good restaurant by the beach because we wanted to spend most of the day there and have something good to eat. We found a place called Soul Kitchen, which had decent reviews and was said to sometimes have live music.
We set out on our bikes, following Google Maps past Hidden Beach down to a busier beach area where ladies practically grabbed us off our bikes to try to get us to go to their restaurants. We found Soul Kitchen, which had a very nice set-up with bungalows overlooking the beach. Nico and I walked down to the sand and sat on a couple lounge chairs. We swam for a bit then came back to order lunch. We each got a bowl of cao lau and I ordered a piña colada.
Unlike the first beach lunch, the food arrived quickly. Nico was still swimming when the food came. My piña colada wasn't blended, which was odd, but it still tasted good.
After lunch, we switched off between swimming in the ocean and lounging on the beach. In the afternoon, the wind picked up and the waves got bigger. Eventually, the wind was bad enough to make us head home.
Back at Sac Lo, Nico and I showered and then hung out a bit. While we were sitting around in the room, we got a knock on the door and a boy (one of Lyna's relatives) entered. He handed me a phone, which had Lyna on the other line. She invited me and Nico to have dinner with her family that night to celebrate her birthday. I wasn't so sure about the whole idea since no one in her family spoke English and, even more concerning, I wasn't sure what food they were planning to eat. Being a picky eater, I was worried about offending someone by not eating any food.
We decided it would be fun to at least hang out. My plan was to say that we just had our leftover Indian food (half true since Nico just finished it) and that we were pretty full (mostly a lie) but would be happy to hang out (full truth).
We sat on cushions on the floor in a circle around all the plates of food. Bex (who's British) went around telling us who everyone was in relation to Lyna. Her parents were there as well as her brother, sister-in-law, niece, sister, aunt, and grandmother. Bex said that they all (or most of them) lived in one house up in the hills. The whole family was very excited for this occasion. They all had phones out and were taking lots of pictures of the food and each other.
I looked over the spread and noticed a lot of seafood. There were definitely prawns with the eyes and legs still intact and a bowl of clams. Nico tried a salad with shrimp in it and let me know that I wouldn't like it because it was too fishy. I learned that there was a bowl of broth with chicken in it that was meant to be poured over noodles. I decided that was safe enough for me to try and it was indeed very tasty.
I also tried frog legs, mostly because Lyna's sister grabbed my bowl, placed one inside and handed it back to me. It kinda tasted like weird chicken. I didn't hate it but handed it over to Nico, who seemed to enjoy them, and stuck with soup broth for the rest of the meal.
At one point during the meal, Auntie took Lyna's baby neice, Ken, outside for a bit. When she returned, however, she didn't have Ken with her and everyone was in this panicked comotion. They were all speaking Vietnamese so Nico and I had no idea what was going on. A few people went outside for a moment and then came back in and then Bex caught us up to what had just happened. She said that Auntie's brain hadn't developed properly from Agent Orange used during the Vietnam war (they call this the American war) and basically had the brain of a 5 year-old. So when she was asked where Ken was, she told everyone, "I gave her to the lady." Everyone panicked because I guess it's not uncommon for people to just take children in Vietnam. In the end, however, Auntie had just given Ken to Lyna and Bex's neighbor who just wanted to snuggle the baby and everything was fine.
Eventually, it seemed like a polite enough time for Nico and I to excuse ourselves and head to the Old Town. We said "goodbye" to everyone and were on our way walking. Then, about five minutes into our walk, it started to rain. We kept trying to move forward by darting between overhangs but it was eventually pouring and we had to stop in front of a shop and wait for it to die down. We waited for a long time, trying to hail a taxi, but nobody stopped.
Finally, after crossing the street and waiting a bit longer, a taxi stopped and took us to town. The Old Town is closed to cars and motorbikes so when we arrived, we still had to walk through the rain. We were able to buy ponchos, which were helpful, although they teared easily. We walked around a bit and then stopped at a restaurant where I got more food to eat and Nico got a Vietnamese coffee (don't know why since it was pretty late).
We waited for the rain to slow and then took a taxi back to the hostel.
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