We spent our last few days in Hoi An having clothes made, shopping, trying new restaurants and lounging around the pool. Our favourite restaurant was called Morning Glory and had beautiful authentic Vietnamese food. For dinner we had spring rolls, marinated pork roll ups, beef salad with lime leaf, bbq chicken skewers with rice and salad and baguettes with meatballs and pork. The kids had fruit smoothies, Fiona a cocktail and a couple of local beers for Chris. All up including drinks around 680,000 Vietnamese Dong (vnd) which was about $33 Australian. The owner of the restaurant also operated a patisserie across the road, so after our dinner we staggered downstairs and into the bakery for two cappuccinos and we shared two lemon meringue tarts and a large slice of brownie cheesecake - all for about $8 AUD.
The historic quarter of Hoi An is quite beautiful with some strong french influences in both architecture and food. It is a quieter town than Hanoi and has a strong identity, relying predominantly on tourism. Everywhere you walk you are offered services or products even to the point of being met at the bus drop off point by people on motorbikes encouraging you to follow them to their shop.
We have tried to capture some of the character in these photos.
Like most Vietnamese towns it is very busy and crowded although they try and keep the motorbikes off certain streets some of the times. It can be impossible to walk along the footpath due to parked motorbikes, stalls and extended families preparing and eating food.
We have certainly enjoyed Hoi An and would revisit in the future if the opportunity arose.
We next flew to Nha Trang which is further south and on the coast. It has some of the nicest beaches in Vietnam but is very touristy. We are staying directly across from the beach on the 9th floor with magnificent views out across the bay and over parts of the town.
Nha Trang is a smaller town with a population of approximately 500,000. For context, Hanoi's is 7.5m, Hoi An only 150,000 and Ho Chi Minh (next stop) 10m. Nha Trang is similar to the very early Gold Coast with significant development always occurring. It is still difficult to walk on the footpath, but not only do we have to deal with the issues mentioned before, but also with building materials (bricks, sand, crushed rock), work being completed (steel cutting, welding, mixing mortar) and machinery such as concrete pumps, excavators and trucks. It is usually easier and safer to walk on the road and brave the traffic.
We visited VinPearl Land which is a fun / water park located on an island in the bay and accessed by cable car. Entry is only about $21 per adult and that gives access to all rides. The kids enjoyed rides and all sorts of water slides. We also watched an animal show involving dogs and monkeys. Note that in one of the pictures it's not Lachie riding a bike over a ramp but actually a monkey.
We have eaten in some magnificent restaurants over the weeks at incredible prices. Generally it costs about $25 - $35 for dinner including drinks. We have concentrated mainly on Vietnamese cuisine but have also had Italian a few times as well. Many of the restaurants are operated by ex-pats from all over the world now making Nha Trang their home. Interestingly their is a large Russian contingent in Nha Trang with most signs in Vietnamese, English & Russian.
Near to the hotel is a replica ancient village which displays some amazing craft & artwork. The hand woven silk tapestries are incredible with minute detail that takes the artists several months to complete. They actually look like a photograph or painting until you get up close to see and feel the texture. The village also has traditional musicians playing from a treehouse every evening.
The kids have been fantastic and have tried everything put in front of them. We also found a great ice cream shop that was popular with the locals and cost only $0.75 per scoop. It was a bit of a lottery with the flavours due to the language barrier, but we managed to end up with the right flavours after much pointing and speaking slowly.
On our last morning the kids tried some watersports with the girls going para-sailing behind a speed boat, and Lachie and Chris going jet-skiing. Lachie had a small go by himself for about 5 minutes and he had a grin bigger than Luna Park. A quick swim and back across the road to the hotel to shower and check out. We were then picked up and transferred to the airport for our last internal flight to Ho Chi Minh City.
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