Rain, Pastries and mildew
Trip Start
Jul 10, 2008
1
19
20
Trip End
Jul 10, 2011
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Hoi An,
Vietnam
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
We were dropped at the Nhi Nhi Hotel, a short stroll from town. After Mui Ne we had started trying to book hotels before we arrived in towns via email. This had turned out not to have worked out the way we wanted. We would send an email enquiring about prices, we would get a response saying they had availability for the given nights and the prices, but on about 4 occasions when we had tried to reserve with a follow up email we never got replied from the hotels! This place was decent; it was clean, had a pool and was $20 per night so we decided to stay. On the downside our room did smell of mildew a bit, this place seemed like one damp city though and we had seen pictures of it flooded on a regular basis with people going down the streets in boats so we figured that was par for the course.
Art Shop
Our sheets on the bed though ended up being damp - not a big deal as they changed them. The staff were nice here but a bit too over the top and smiley faced at times. Overall not the best hotel but not bad for the price.With both of us pretty rested we took breakfast and headed out to town. We stopped at a nice pagoda along Hung Dao Street to admire the lilies before arriving at Impression Boutique that was on the intersection with Hai Ba Trung. Erica had being waiting to get here so we could get the made to measure clothing. Shopping is not my favourite pastime, but I was happy we stopped at the shops. I ended up getting some linen shirt that really did end up fitting like a glove for $16 US, Erica got a dressy skirt with embroidery and a shirt also saving a pocketful of change from western prices. We had to have a few trips back to this store for fitting and re-fitting etc, but the ladies were nice and the clothes were great! For suits, I think $150US would get you a nice one. What was pretty cool was they had Next catalogues and you could just browse through until you found the style you wanted and just say 'make me one like that' - then you just had to pick your colour!
In the afternoon we had a wonder around the old town. Wow this is a nice place. No cars allowed, that's a nice bonus, but you still have to watch out for scooters running you down here! The town was used as a shipping trading post and is now a UNESCO world Heritage area. With all the damp and flooding the town gets what gives it a special charm are the building, may of which look like they could use a lick of paint and a spot of re-plastering.
Art Store
This place is on the rich tour groups Vietnam route and the town seems to have a lot of older (than me) French tourists. With this came expensive boutique shops, cafes selling pastries and pricey restaurants. A side affect of this was all the ATMs, well all 4 we tried had been drained of cash - luckily we had enough money to last us until next morning when hopefully they would be full again! One of my favourite scenes was the line of 30 South East Asia people, Japanese if I had to guess, coming though in a line of cycle rickshaws organised by their tour group all with their heads poking out snapping away as they paraded through the streets.We were meeting a friend of Erica's for lunch - Jodie and her partner Alistair. This nearly ended in disaster as my watch had changed time zones to Boston time and it looked like it was an hour earlier that it was! It was actually 13 hours earlier and the evening in Boston, but after the second clock we spotted that looked an hour slow I realised what was going on.
We had lunch in a small place, Hong Phoc, on the waterfront that doubled as a cooking school and had people learning in the back. I had their special that was a Snapper fillet cooked up in a banana leaf with some lemon grass and other spices. We also tried our first Banh Xeo (Hoi An Pancakes). A nice rice batter pancake served with mint, coriander, Vietnamese Basil and a peanut sauce.
The leisurely lunch was followed by some more wanderings; the Hoi An market was particularly fascinating and rather busy.
Artist Shop
That night from our balcony restaurant overlooking the river we could here a lot of noise - Vietnam were in the finals of the AFF Suzuki Cup (a cup with the 8 nations of SE Asia) against Thailand and won for the first time in the competitions history. On our walk home that evening we had to dodge the moped mafia - a group of about 50 proud Vietnamese on mopeds racing round and round the street with a big Vietnamese flag waving up front.The evening brought a special charm to Hoi An - the subdued lighting and the rain made the town look like we had stepped back 50 years in time. Particularly nice were the lantern shops with the Chinese style lanterns out in the shop front and all lit up.
On our second day we booked into the Red Bridge Cooking School, which seems to come with glowing recommendations. It turned out to be a top day. We started off with drinks at their base in old Hoi An before a group of 6 of us wondered down to the market. We got explanations of some of the veggies, including some we'd seen at our local market in Rapid Creek but didn't know what they were. We were told the goose eggs we saw contained embryos! People, including our guide who was probably in her late twenties liked to eat them boiled after they were 17 days old. The older folks she told us would wait 21 days until the egg was no longer and embryo! It all sounded a bit strange to our western ears!
We stopped at the fish section - shark and flying fish were some of the fish on offer. Next we got a knife show from a lady who showed us what was typically used in a Vietnam kitchen.
Biere La Rue Delivery
There was one knife that has all the implements in one, to cut, slice, peel and gouge. There were some tools to make these beautiful flowers out of carrots and cucumbers, there was a crinkle cutter, I forgotten what they used it for but that's how we used to get our chips cut at home when I was young. We were sucked in and bought the set for $6 US - now whether we ever use it at home is a different story!The cooking school was down the river a little way and as we got on the boat, 3 groups (about 18 people) altogether the rain started again. The location of the school was excellent though on the banks of the Thu Bon River. We first did a tour of the herb garden. There were a lot of ones, some I've never heard of, I remember the mints, there was a regular mint, but also an Asian one that tasted more like peppermint.
The first thing offered to us on taking our seats was beer; maybe that's why I liked it so much! We'd started to get varieties on the Saigon Green and the Tiger as we'd come north and we now had La Rue, BGI and 333. Not too much to distinguish these beers really. The chef was a sarcastic bastard, but funny as hell with it. There was a great big mirror above his head so we got to see everything really well. After he had done his stuff we all had our little station along the riverbank where we would try to follow his example. We made the following
Cha Gio tuoi - Fresh Rice Paper Rolls of Shrimp
Banh uot - Rice paper
Banh Xeo - Hoi An Pancakes
Ca Tim Kho To - Vietnamese Eggplant in a Clay Pot.
Trang tri - Food decoration
It all went relatively smoothly; even the rice paper and the pancake flip, that was until we got to the food decoration.
Erica in Cargos
I blame that on blunt knives though! We were aiming for a rose from a tomato and a cucumber flower. Erica did manage a rather impressive rose though; she will definitely be on rose duty if we ever had a Vietnamese dinner party!The starters we cooked were excellent and we all ate them fresh after preparation along with some supplied sweet and sour, peanut and fish sauces. We returned to some tables to eat our clay pot dish that was complimented with a seafood salad presented in a half pineapple and steamed "ocean fish" on a bed of vegetables. Did I mention already a great day for $18 US.
Day 3 on Hoi An and we had plans to go to My Son in the morning, this is another UNESCO world heritage area. I could safely say probably my most disappointing day for a number of reasons and perhaps a little travel fatigue! We were the last 2 people to get on a bus full with 45 people. The roof on the bus leaked. My idea of fun is not traipsing around some old ruins in the wet with a guide and 45 other people. Well all the tour buses leave Hoi An at the same time so when we arrived there were 5 other buses that arrived with the same amount of people at the same time as us and a one way track around the ruins that all the groups took! Yes this was tourist hell for me. The ruins were pretty interesting and the environment around there was quite jungle like which made for an interesting walk. If you ever go to this place though take the Sunrise tour! Escape the crowds.
We had opted to take the boat back into town, a light lunch on the boat followed by a stop and a 'Traditional Shipbuilding village'.
Fallen Column
All the people from My Son got off the boat at the same time and proceeded to wander around the streets and tourist shops of the village! Next we went to see a nice little old man, who had set up for the tourists in the middle of the river cast his traditional fishing nets out over the waters, after which along come the money requests. Ah I better stop before someone calls me a whinging POM. The great thing about the French influence and the tourists were the nice little cafes selling exquisite pastries. We got a street side table at Cargos and had a nice Vietnamese coffee, chocolate croissant and one of those nice raisin buns where all the pastry has got a bit gooey in the middle. This is a great place to do a bit of people watching. After a few hours in Cargos watching the tourist and locals we proceeded across the road to Tam Tams, here you can sit up on the balcony and drink a beer while doing some more people watching. A nice afternoon indeed.
Back in the room and it's funny but up here at this time of year all your things seem to take on a damp feel, I'd emptied my backpack and all my clothes never seemed totally dry.
We decided to try out an Indian Restaurant that night - Erica had never had a Thali before so I helped her pig out on that while I had my fish curry! I remember my first even fish curry on the island of Dui in India and thinking fish and curry what a strange combination, but had loved the tuna curry our hotel proprietor had cooked us then as much as I loved the one I was getting this evening.
Fish Market
Rice and a nice garlic nan made the meal complete. The restaurant was called Omer's and come with high praises from us! We did get talking to a French couple who were working in Danang - the conversation was a bit slow due to our language difficulties but we gleaned that he worked with water and in particular a sewerage project in Danang. There seemed to be a good amount of clean water and sewage waste treatment project going on in Vietnam, obviously a good thing and through our conversation we were reminded that there were still many western countries dumping raw sewage into the sea until recently and there are still some places that still do. He mentioned a couple of big places in France and I remember reading reports about some beaches in the UK being too polluted with waste on certain days to allow swimming to take place!Day 4 in Hoi An and it was New Years Eve. It was a food and relaxation day for us - good job really as it rained pretty heavily the whole day. We moved from café to bar to restaurant throughout the day.
Lunch was at Café 96 on the waterfront. We did try out two other local specialities there. White Rose that was pork inside a rice noodle wrap that was folded to look a bit rose like. Can Lau was a noodle based dish with the juices in the bottom that reportedly have to come from the special well in town to get the authentic version!
We wanted to make a few calls via Skype this day. Funny thing is the first four Internet cafes we went to said it was not possible.
Fishing Lady
We think this was to do with the fact that they also had a regular telephone service they charged big bucks for. Eventually we found a place that allowed it; funny thing was all 30 computers in that place were full. I guess they were bringing in the big bucks! We walked around every restaurant in town that evening deciding where we would spend our New Year. Some of the places had $50 US menus with what looked like about 10 courses. Funny thing was most of the restaurants, even thought they had New Year specials on the menu were empty. We chose a small place by the river because they actually had some people in there and they had hot pot on the menu, another dish we were eager to try. Here we for a set menu for about $5 US. The highlight though for us both was not the hot pot but some crispy fried wonton noodles we got as a starter there. Very nice indeed!
As we sat there the rain kept pouring and by the time we left the restaurant the river had burst it's banks and we had to wade through water to get back to the town. It looked like some restaurants along the waters front were inaccessible!
We went to Cargos for our desert though - I got a rather pigsy portion of a chocolate mousse gateaux while Erica had an extremely tasty strawberry tart!
The town was meant to have some special New Year celebrations with an open stage and lanterns floating down the river. This was the first year they were trying it, but the rains obviously put pay to that! We ended up going for a pint in a bar full with backpackers called Treats. It turns out I was coming down with a cold and after a while of dripping nose fluid into my pint we decided to return home to bed. I was asleep by 11:30, Erica celebrated New Year by herself, she wouldn't be getting much sleep that night after downing a coffee along with her strawberry tart!
