We were dropped off at the bus stop in Hoi An and took a taxi to our great hotel – Phuc Thao Hotel. We had to wait until 1pm to check in so we grabbed a couple of their free city bikes and headed to the historic center of town. Hoi An’s Ancient Town is a Unesco World Heritage site and is beautifully preserved. It dates back to the 15th century. Some of the roads have been closed off so you can only cycle or walk along the historic buildings and temples. We cycled around for a bit and then enjoyed some delicious dishes unique to Hoi An. We had white roses (prawns steamed in rice pastry) and fried dumplings which were delicious! That night we came back to the historic center to enjoy some local bingo which was really interesting. Instead of them shouting out numbers like normal bingo, here you pick a wooden tablet with three pictures on it. A lady then picks a stick out of a tube with a picture on it and sings the name of that picture out in a song. If you get all three pictures sung out you win and to my shock I did! My prize was a traditional lantern!
As we were so excited about the local food on the first day in Hoi An we decided to do a cooking class the next day (VND680,000pp). We were picked up at 8am by Thuan Tinh Island cooking school and were taken to the local market to buy the ingredients which we’d later cook with. We then boarded a boat and rode for 45mins up the river and through a coconut plantation to their cooking school. We first learnt the traditional way of making rice milk before we sat down and learnt how to make four delicious Vietnamese dishes. As with our Thai cooking class, it is amazing how easy these dishes are to make once you’ve been shown how to actually do it! We loved the fresh spring rolls and rice pancakes the most! The class ended at 2pm when we were taken home by taxi. We thoroughly enjoyed it!
The next day we hired a scooter from the hotel and drove the 50km to My Son Sanctuary. The entrance fee is VND100,000pp and then you have to pay VND10,000 for parking. The ruins mostly consist of temples dating back to the 4th century and are located in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains and streams. After the ruins we headed back to Hoi An to the beach where we indulged in two plates of grilled prawns. That night we just got a quick bite to eat before heading to bed.
We caught the 1pm bus the following day to Hue. The bus ride was comfortable and quick and we arrived around 4h30pm. That night we indulged in some yummy Indian curry again! Indian in Vietnam has been really good!
The only day we had in Hue we hired bicycles from our hotel and hit the road to the Imperial City or Citadel (VND150,000pp entrance). Hue used to be the capital of Vietnam and this was the palace of the emperors of Vietnam from the early 1800s. It was very elaborate with expansive grounds, a huge moat and temples within the walls of the city. We walked around the grounds and fed some fish in one of the ponds for VND5,000 before we headed down the road to Thien Mu Temple. This is free of charge to see but be warned that hawkers will shout at you to park in front of their stall for a small fee, which is not necessary if you just park across the street by the river. We walked around for 10mins before we headed back to city for lunch.
Both Hoi An and Hue were very rich in history and we enjoyed seeing the elaborate architecture of the past. We are now excited to be heading to Phong Nha where we will be doing more adventurous cave exploring and zip-lining.
Chris and Ro go... 