Week 33 – Hoi An and Hue, Vietnam

Charming Central Vietnam

Vietnam – Hoi An – Japanese Covered Bridge

We are continuing to fall in love with Vietnam. We spent the first half of the week in the charming town of Hoi An and the second half in the old imperial capital of Hue. The old town of Hoi An is a maze of alleys and lantern strung streets. During the day, it’s beautiful, but it’s true charm is revealed at night when all the lanterns are lit and candle boats float down the river. We had longer than we needed in Hoi An, so we chose to take a cooking class for a day. Our second destination, Hue, is not as cutesy as Hoi An, but has lots of sights and history. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see all we wanted to see in Hue because Pat’s cold came back and required a rest day. We finished the week taking another overnight train north to Ninh Binh.

1. Go

• Bus – 125 km. We took a bus from Hoi An to Hue. It was a strange experience. Instead of seats, there were reclining lounge chairs – similar to those found poolside. There were three columns stacked two high. The aisles were so narrow that we had to shuffle sideways to get to our seats. Pat thought it was fine, but Lindsey was very uncomfortable for the whole ride.
• Train – 454 km. Our overnight train from Hue to Ninh Binh
• Taxi – 6 km. We took two short taxi rides, both in Hue. First from the bus station on arrival, then to the train station for departure.
• Foot – 73,000 steps in 7 days (approx. 36 miles)

2. See

Hoi An can probably be seen in one day, but we could have easily spent weeks. The old town has been beautifully preserved and restored. We purchased a ticket book that allowed us to visit many of the old buildings, museums, and cultural shows. There are lots of tailor shops, coffee shops, and restaurants tucked away in this maze.

Vietnam – Hoi An

Vietnam – Hoi An – Japanese Covered Bridge

Vietnam – Hoi An

Vietnam – Hoi An – Want to buy a fish… on a motorcycle?

Vietnam – Hoi An

Vietnam – Hoi An

Hoi An is charming during the day, but it’s simply magical at night (but be warned of people trying to sell candles and boat rides).

Vietnam – Hoi An at night

Vietnam – Hoi An – Lanterns and boats

Vietnam – Hoi An at night

We spent a drizzly afternoon exploring the Citadel in Hue. Despite the rain, we really enjoyed exploring the purple forbidden city. Only a small fraction of the original buildings remain due to the damage from the war for independence from France. They are working are restoring more buildings.

Vietnam – Hue – Citadel

Vietnam – Hue – Citadel

Vietnam – Hue – Citadel

Vietnam – Hue – Citadel

3. Eat

Vietnam – Hoi An – BBQ

Both Hoi An and Hue have delicious food. We are loving the fresh herbs and deep flavors. One of our favorite dishes in Hoi An was a street vendor selling bbq and noodles. The bbq came with rice paper, veggies, and dipping sauce. We got to assemble the rolls ourselves. The noodles are specific to the Hoi An area and are very thick and square shaped. They are unlike anything we’ve had before. It was all the more interesting since we were sitting on tiny stools at a tiny table in a tiny alley – the perfect size for a four year old in a princess dress pretending to drink tea with her stuffed animal friends, but not for two giant Americans trying to eat with chopsticks and roll meat in slippery rice paper. Needless to say, we were all knees and elbows.

We had some extra time in Hoi An and chose to take a cooking class. We started the day by touring the market, then took coconut boats to the cooking center (our guide made us glasses and rings from bamboo and made us wear them the whole time). We started by making rice paper (very tricky) and sauce. The sauce was used in many of our dishes so it had to be good. We made spring rolls, pancakes, pho bo, banana flower salad, and eggplant with tomato. Everything was tasty and we now have recipes to take home.

Vietnam – Hoi An – Coconut Boat ride complete with hats, glasses, and rings

Vietnam – Hoi An – Pat making rice paper

Vietnam – Hoi An – Cooking class

Vietnam – Hoi An – Fruits of our labor during the cooking class

4. Drink

Coffee, coffee, coffee. We are way over caffeinated in Vietnam. We just can’t get enough of the delicious coffee. It’s good hot, but it’s best on ice. Other than copious amounts of coffee, we’ve been enjoying fresh juices, smoothies, and coconut water. There is a strong cafe culture here. so we are getting used to spending some lazy hours sipping drinks and watching the world pass by.

5. Sleep

In Hoi An, we stayed in Thanh Luan guesthouse run by the sweetest woman. She was like our Vietnamese mother and made us feel like family instead of patrons. She tried to feed us every time we saw her. Breakfast was included and once she found out that we like Vietnamese food, she served us delicious pho and bun (two types noodle soups). But it never stopped there – she also served us a huge platter of fruit, mini waffles, and coffee. Once we were leaving for lunch while she and her staff we eating and she insisted that we try what they were eating. We would go back to Hoi An just to stay with her again.

In Hue, we stayed at The Jade Hotel with some of the best service we’ve experienced. The staff bent over backwards to make sure we were happy. They had a huge, delicious all-you-can-eat breakfast. They even let us check out late in the afternoon since we had an evening train.

Our last night was spent on the train heading north to Ninh Binh. We boarded around 9:30pm, so we read for a short bit and went to bed. It was an easy trip and an excellent way to travel at night.

Vietnam – Hue – Overnight train

6. Move

On our last day in Hoi An, we did a bike ride through the rice paddies and through town for lunch. In all we biked 11 miles. The clouds were out which meant it wasn’t too hot but we did get rained on a little. We had planned to do a few days of biking in Hue, but Pat’s cold kept us from doing too much.

Vietnam – Hoi An

Vietnam – Hoi An

Check out Pat’s CADENCE Week 33 post (coming soon) for details about this week.

7. Etcetera

We finally feel like we have been able to escape the party trail of Southeast Asia. All through Thailand and Cambodia we felt like we couldn’t get away from it. Everywhere we went, we were surrounded by twenty somethings who just wanted to party on the cheap and nearly everywhere we stayed we suffered the thump-thump of music late into the night. No matter what we did, we couldn’t escape it. Thankfully, we have found relief in Vietnam. The party trail is definitely still here, but it’s easily avoided. There are lots of places to stay away from the clubs. Whew! Cheers to a good night sleep.

Check out our Flickr album to see all our photos from this week.