QUICK LINKS
What to expect | 12 Things you should know
Where to eat | 5 Unique experiences to try
Did we get scammed? | What we brought home
When we decided to spend a week in Vietnam, I was desperate for a week with no agenda. No phones. No places to be. No tours. Nothing. I wanted the moments to inspire us on how to spend them… Lying by the pool. Riding bicycles aimlessly through rice fields. Reading by the beach?
We chose Hoi An, a pretty lantern town close to the beach. The beach was a must. We booked an inexpensive (compared to Australia), luxurious room through Air B’n’B for our don’t-call, don’t-text, not-reading-emails week. I needed to recoup from the tread-mill of home.
We arrived late at night, surrounded by motorbikes and rain.
Emotion Villa wasn’t quite the same as the photos. It was a bit run down with some exposed workings of the property lying around. However, we got past the disparity and it was more than fine. Room size was a luxury, the screen-free shower and a large soak tub were fabulous. It was very clean and our room was made up every day with a fresh bottle of water supplied.
We did lay by the pool, for an hour just one day in between rain showers. I swam, to get wet. We did ride our bikes to the beach but not through rice fields. We got way-laid on one such trip by a buy-in travel scheme (more about that later).
Hoi An wasn’t what we expected. It turned out to be SO much more.
What to expect
We were warned about pick pockets so were not sure how safe Hoi An was going to be but we felt secure from the moment we got there. We left our bikes along the water and street corners and never had an issue. Even with our phones and wallets in pockets and shoulder bags we were ok.
English speaking. Most locals speak excellent English.
Tourists are like the leather shops – they are everywhere. BUT!!! So are the locals. You still feel lost in another world. Make sure you venture out of Old Town and explore the surrounding streets. You will lose the crowds and gain some treasures. Local farmers who really do use those wonderful triangle hats, buffalo working and rice planters working together in the rice fields and a coffee shop covered in flowers.
The River is lovely. We didn’t see one mosquito nor any litter in the river throughout our stay (January), even at night when we walked and cycled along the river’s edge.
Sun-dried food is a thing. Literally. It’s lovely to see the locals using traditional, sustainable ways of processing food. It’s also very artistic with the textures and colours out on display!
12 Things you should know
1. It’s another shoes-off country. Remember to slip your shoes off at the door of your hotel room, when you arrive at the massage parlor or visit someone’s home. This beautiful way of living is something we brought back with us from our previous trip to Asia.
2. You can’t flush toilet paper down the toilet. It’s easy to forget but you will need to wash with the hose provided, wipe dry with toilet tissue and place the tissue in the bin. Do not use the toilet to dispose of anything other than human waste, including sanitary items.
3. Residents drive with their horns. Here is Aus, if you honk me, you’re mad and I might get mad too. In Vietnam, it’ a polite way of letting you know they are there. Motorbike, bicycle, car, van, truck. It’s all you can hear in the street. It’s for your safety, so don’t get offended.
4. Foot traffic and bicycles only are allowed inside Hoi An Old Town. And if you want to visit some of the world-heritage sites, you will need to pay a small fee.
5. Expect to pay for parking your bicycle at An Bang beach and to use some toilets. We didn’t see one beggar in Hoi An. What we did see was industrious people finding ways to be legitimately paid. Cleaning bathrooms or babysitting your bicycle. You’re not allowed to take your bike within a few streets of the beach. So expect to pay $0.30AUD or so to park it in a make-shift bicycle parking lot, where it will be looked after.
6. Some ‘cafes’ are beverages only. So if you’re looking for food as well, you’re not always going to be able to get both at the same place.
7. If a fruit seller suggests you have a go at carrying their fruit basket or take a photo with them, they will expect you to buy fruit or give them money for the privilege. If you want fruit – buy it directly from the markets which you’ll find on Duong Bach Dan where it meets Duang Hoang Dieu. The prices are less likely to be inflated for tourists than the fruit ladies.
8. Cash. Almost everything is cash based. ATM’s were easy to find but not all of them worked all the time. We used our phone’s GPS to search for ATM’s and if one didn’t work, we found another. We were never unable to get money out eventually. There are withdrawal limits on the ATM’s (around 3,000,000 – 4,000,000 Vietnamese Dong) which can be over come by multiple withdrawals. However, if your bank charges withdrawal fees, especially overseas, you will be charged for each transaction.
9. Tipping at a restaurant should be about the price of a local coffee, but it’s really up to you what you want to give. It’s soooo cheap compared to Aus it was nice to be generous without it costing us a lot.
10. Bargaining is expected at most shops and market places. If you walk away, they may even ask you what you want to pay. We didn’t bargain much. Again, it was so affordable compared to home, our energy was best invested in the livelihood of the people and not so much us saving a few dollars.
11. Take not of the stores you buy large ticket items from. I bought a leather backpack and the zipper broke after two days. Now if there’s one thing that’s never going to run out in Hoi An it’s leather shops! If you buy something and it’s important to you, take a photo of the store and note down the street it’s on. I was lucky to remember buying tickets to the Bamboo Circus across the road, after purchasing our bag. Because of that, we were able to find the store again and have the bag repaired for free. They were very sorry about it and their fix was seamless.
12. Shops in Old Town close at 8pm. If you’re looking to shop after dark, you’ll have to find your way to Hoi An’s night markets – an array of trinkets, food, costume jewellery and handmade lanterns.
Where to eat
Have dinner by the river at Song Thanh Restaurant. We stayed across the road at Emotion Villa (booked via Air B’n’B). The food was so good at Song Thanh and the staff so warm and friendly, we ate here every night during our stay. Try their Com Ga (chicken rice) or Satay and the Saigon Rose raspberry beer by East West.
Visit 92 Station restaurant for a coconut iced-coffee and try their wantons. Go during the day for the best view and book a table on the rooftop. #selfiespot
Have coffee at The Bird House along the Thu Bồn River
Eat Cau Lau noodles at the night food stand along the river it will be one of the best meals you have in Vietnam. You’ll find it opposite the Bird House after 7pm. Look for Quán Cao Lầu Cô Liên. Make sure you add a herbal iced tea to your order. Cau Lau noodles are exclusive to Hoi An, if you’re keen, you can find the Bá Lễ well where the water comes from to make the noodles. You don’t need to book a tour, you just need a map and a pair of feet!
Do yourself a favour and grab a Bahn Mi for lunch. You can queue up at Bahn Mi Phuong, made famous by Anthony Boudain or you can get an even better one at Banh my Ty, Ty’s Bread. A humble corner street stall that served us the best $1.50 AUD feed we will probably ever have! Find Ty on the corner of Cao Hong Lanh and Dao Duy Tu.
5 Unique experiences to try
1. Take a cooking class. We chose Hoi An Tropical Cooking Tour and it as A-Class. The morning started with a trip to the local markets, a ride in a coconut boat and finished with cooking our own lunch. Next time I would like to try the cooking class at Song Thanh Restaurant, the place we ate every night. Their food was so good I have been trying to recreate it at home! Best book in person when you are there. you shouldn’t have a problem getting into a class.
2. Visit My Son. This is a 45 minute drive from Hoi An but it’s well worth it. We booked this on the back of our cooking tour. But you can book it separately.
3. See the Vietnamese Bamboo Circus. It’s modern. Clever. Funny. Artistic. Poetic. Acrobatic. It’s also quite loud. Small intimate theatre well worth the touristic price. You’re not allowed to take photos or videos, so to entice you with how good it was, watch the trailer here.
4. Try Ca Phe Trung (Vietnamese Egg Coffee). Made by beating an egg yolk with sweetened condensed milk until the texture becomes fluffy, creamy and meringue-like. It’s then served on top of hot espresso, or iced coffee. We tried the hot version and ordered an iced coffee, just in case! It was an acquired taste, but worth the adventure. When in Hoi An... 😉
5. Have a Vietnamese massage at Be La Spa. Let them pick you up and enjoy being whisked through the streets to your massage by scooter. NOTE: A Vietnamese massage will fold you like a piece of origami, so let them know if it hurts. (It is wonderful though!) You will also be expected to go topless. If you’re not comfortable with that, make sure you say something when you arrive. The staff are hugely professional.
6. Make your own Vietnamese lantern. This is something we didn’t do but wish we did. The lanterns are beautiful and transform the streets the moment the sun even whispers that it’s leaving for the day. There are several classes held by locals. This one looks great. If you try it, let me know! (And tag #beautifullivingmadeeasy in a picture of your lantern so I can see it!!)
So, Did we get scammed?
So did we get scammed in Vietnam? Leather bags that had no bottom, handmade shoes that fell apart? No, we were not scammed by the Vietnamese people. We were caught out by Westerners!!
Riding our bikes to An Bang beach we were way-laid by a lovely English woman who told us she’d just opened a new accommodation venue and we’d get a hat and 1 week’s free accommodation just for looking at it. We hesitated. She added massages to the list of freebies (TICK!!) and assured us it would only take an hour. So we went. Well, it took over 3 1/2 hours of slick sales banter with staff going through their game of trying to win us over through coffee, common small talk and then mockery when we balked. It was so ingenuine with no cues taken that 1 hour had passed a very long time ago we were starting to feel trapped… that I really spoke up and said we needed to get back to our holiday!
It was an accommodation share gig. In 3 1/2 hours of sales spiel, you’re supposed to understand how financially fabulous it is (without any time to research or think about it…) and right then and there fork over the $25k AUD you didn’t know, when you got on your bicycle this morning, that you were going to need today. Hmm yeah. It was a harmless advenure but it did cost us 3.5 hours of our holiday and we left the ride to An Bang beach for another day.
it wasn’t a total loss. We walked away with 1 week’s worht of free accommodation in 1 of 7 locations around the world.
Scammed? Only that we thought it would be 1 hour of our time and it wasn’t.
Better ways of getting people to invest when they are not on holiday and have time to consider and perhaps invest? Yes, probably.
So if you get offered a holiday ‘scratchy’ by an English speaking traveller in Hoi An, you might just walk away with a week of free accommodation somewhere else in the world. Just make sure you’re willing to trade 3 1/2 hours of this holiday to get it.
What we brought home
Our Travel Tradition has become a treasured part of holidays. After bringing home a few new traditions from Asia last year, we were on the hunt for something different this time. Hoi An has inspired us to eat with chop sticks more, invest in bamboo wares (we recently bought bamboo straws as a move away from plastic) and we’ve added to our menu. New staples – Vietnamese pancakes and Com Ga are super easy. I make the stock for Com Ga into bone broth for extra easy wholefood value and turn the left over into dumpling soup!
Would we do Vietnam again?
Absolutely, in a heartbeat. I’d almost leave Aus to live there.
