Eating in Hué and Hoi An

After my interesting train journey with the locals, I arrived late in Hué and went straight for food at a famous pho Hué stall. Pho is traditional Vietnamese noodle soup, which is supposed to be the best in Hué, and it was the best soup I had so far!
The following day I booked a half day motorbike tour of the town, the centre of which is an ancient citadel. It was a very hot day, but the town was very pretty on the perfume river and with the impressive citadel.
The citadel


Awesome child posing in the citadel


People could pay to dress up!


The perfume river


A beautiful pagoda outside the citadel, with some tv filming going on…

The morning was tiring and I wished I had arranged to stay in Hué one more night as it was a lovely town, but I left that afternoon on a bus I had booked to Hoi An.

Hoi An is the food capital of Vietnam, and almost all my favourite dishes (apart from bun cha) originated from here. I checked into Sunflower hotel, which everyone raved about, but turned out to be full of 18 year olds just partying every night…

My first evening in Hoi An I explored the old town, which was so beautiful with hundreds of paper lanterns outside the shops and restaurants, and floating candles on the river.

Hoi An is also famous for tailor made clothing, and so the following day I went between several of the tailors for quotes and ideas. I ended up getting measured for 2 dresses, 4 bras, 1 bikini, 3 t-shirts, 2 pairs of shorts and a pair of sandals. They took a few days to make, but I am very happy with them, especially the bras which were only $29 each!

That night I went to a well rated restaurant and had a set taster menu, which was Cau Lau (pork and wheat noodle soup), fried vegetable topped wontons, spring rolls, chicken and prawn stir fry, and white rose (soft prawn filled dumplings). It was amazing! And I splashed out, the whole meal cost about £6!! 😛

Afterwards, I went to a local bar with a pool table and made some friends over a few frames!

The next day I met George at my hostel and we spent the day sight seeing in the town and eating more Cau Lau!
Cau Lau

A very old bridge!

In the evening I went to an horrific bar called ‘why not bar’, the drinks were all you can drink for a one off fee of about £3, so you can imagine how bad they were… I left early!

The following day I decided to check into a new hostel on the beach called ‘under the coconut tree’. It was a stunning hostel, right on the beach, will all fittings and beds made from bamboo, probably my favourite hostel in terms of environment so far! I met Cameron here too (who I met in Phong Nha), and we chilled on the beach eating my new favourite fruit; mangosteen.

My last day in Hoi An, all my clothes were finally ready, and Cameron took me on his bike to collect them, but only after we stopped at a little road side cafe for some Bahn Beo; what I think was a rice noodle cake, topped with peanut sauce and crispy onions, and then you add your own fish sauce and chilli jam…. they were amazing and we had about 8 each!!

I left that afternoon on a night bus to Dalat, part of the southern Vietnamese highlands. I loved Hoi An, it was a beautiful town with all the lanterns etc, but it has become very touristy because of it. The beach I stayed on was a little further away from the town, and I had heard that the main beach at Hoi An was crowded and full of street sellers. Still, I need to remember that I am also a tourist, and touristy places aren’t all that bad, they’re usually touristy for a reason and good for the economy, but I hope tourists don’t ruin this beautiful town…

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