Hoi An

Hoi An is unlike the rest of North Vietnam, and like many, we found ourselves staying here longer than planned! While custom tailored clothing is the main draw card here, its so much more relaxed and friendly than anywhere I’ve been so far in Vietnam. There are no real “sights” as such, but it’s very cheap and has loads of great food. Waiting for clothes or not, time just seemed to pass by without even doing much. Maybe its just being grateful post Hanoi, but everyone likes it here.

I stayed at Hoa Bin, which when sharing a twin is $6 each and it has a small swimming pool! The town itself isn’t that big, but its nice to walk around, and there is a big beach a few Ks out.

There’s another Com Chay (Vegetarian) place called Cham Quay Dom. These Com Chay places are in just about every town in Vietnam and offer simple but very cheap Vegan food. Here for example I got 2 plates of rice and vegetables/tofu for about 12,000 Dong. That’s about 70 cents!! Ridiculous. No English here but you just point at what you want. It seemed to be run by 4 different generations of women!

You also HAVE to go to Mr Hung’s. He is a bit of a legend in Hoi An and has a reputation with backpackers dating years back. Near the markets there is a bunch of small restaurants serving Bia Hoi (Cheap Beer) and food. Most of them will try and get your attention as you pass them on the street, except Mr Hung. He can rest easy knowing people will go to him for his rep. His big smile greets you with a menu of dirt cheap beer and food, including veggie options. Sit down and your bound to meet people. You’ll almost feel sorry for the other empty tables, but don’t worry people will have to go to them soon because your table will be full!

Cafe 43 is another gem, if not a little out of the way. Along with good, cheap food and drinks (including cocktail shakes!), the crew at Cafe 43 have 1 key, but very simple thing that set them above the rest, Friendly Service. Just like Mr Hung. If only the rest of Vietnam spent more time being friendly, happy and smiling, and less time trying to cheat tourists, they would actually make MORE money by reputation, word of mouth and return business! But we accepted quite early on in Vietnam that any real logic and business sense simply doesn’t exist.

Did I mention there’s good food in Hoi An?

I spent about a week here with Ian, Trine and some other guys we met. The beach had a few jellyfish but not heaps so we could avoid them. See my awesome sand turtle!? Oh, the picture of the cash is to show that in Vietnam, everyone is a millionaire! I don’t remember the story behind the Japanese bridge…but there is one..Anyways just check out the photos

 

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