Hoi An - lantern town

Hi All,

Beautiful Hoi An has been our favourite stop so far in Vietnam (not just because it was sunny). The whole riverside town is a world heritage site where many of the preserved buildings have been converted to shops and restaurants. Although it was very touristy, the charm of the historical town was unmissable. Dotted throughout the cobbled streets are 22 ancient sights including grand assembly halls, temples and theatres. We watched a traditional Vietnamese Performance and visited the elaborate Japanese covered bridge, built in the 1950's to connect the Japanese community with the Chinese quarters.

The monthly lantern festival coincided with our visit. For the full moon, the street lights were turned off and hundreds of lantern decorated boats took to the river. People placed candle lanterns into the water for good luck in the month to come, believing that any wish made on the full moon will come true. We watched this spectacular sight with glasses of 14 pence beer at the waters edge.

We were spoilt for choice when it came to street food vendors. Hundreds of stalls sprung up in the night market and others more popular with locals could be found tucked down side alleys. We spend a fantastic evening with Bong, who Danielle met last time she was here. She took us on a street food tour to 5 different places for: banh mi, roast pork, Hoi An pancakes, chicken and rice, prawn wantons and white rose dumplings. While we would have eaten the pork straight off the skewers (actually chopsticks), Bong showed us how the Vietnamese eat them by wrapping the pork in rice paper with fresh mint and a peanut sauce. The banh mi shop was so incredible that we aren’t even ashamed to say we returned to it 6 times for its delicious baguettes filled with homemade liver pate, barbecued pork, chilli and other things tasty!

It was time for our Vietnamese cooking class, suited up with our chefs hats and aprons. We made some Hoi An pancakes - a crispy yellow batter filled with pork, prawns and bean sprouts, then wrapped in rice paper with salad and peanut sauce. Our second course was a tuna salad. Then our favourite was crispy spring rolls that we learnt how to fill, wrap and fry.

Ross was unable to pass by the opportunity to get another suit made when there are over 400 tailors to choose from in Hoi An! This time he opted for a Navy one, lined with a lantern patterned gold Vietnamese silk. In addition, he had three shirts made as well as a selections of ties. How he just needs to get a job where he will actually need them all!

One afternoon we headed to the beach to make the most of the lovely weather - sunny and 28 degrees! Danielle enjoyed reading while Ross strolled along the beach, unable to sit still for more than 10 minutes. The best part was our bike ride home through the rice fields as the sun was setting.

Although the 25th December is only days away, neither of us have felt all that Christmasy so far. Hoi An at night has defiantly changed that. The streets are lined with beautifully coloured lanterns and many shops and restaurants have also put out Christmas lights and decorations. Michael Buble and Mariah Carey can be heard from every coffee shop, making us grin like small children as we pass by. Drawn in by the music, we decided to treat ourselves to what felt like a genuine luxury, an expensive egg coffee - £1.85 each! It was delicious and the cute coffee house with lanterns and wooden tables was a perfect spot for some down time. Danielle took the time to write the blog while Ross sorted through some photos - a never ending job when we are visiting so many incredible sights!

While we have been organised with our families Christmas presents, having brought some before we left and sent home others from India and Nepal, we had not yet brought each other anything. Therefore, we decided to split up and get shopping so we both have something to open on Christmas Day. Both of us returned with an ambiguous looking carrier bag and grins on our faces. We will find out what the £20 budget stretched to in a few days time!

We left Hoi An for the much larger, busy city of Da Nang where we spent a couple of days exploring the markets and stocking up on Christmas treats. As wine isn’t popular here, we went on the hunt. We now have a posher bottle of Chilean red wine and two bottles of Da Lat’s finest, one red and one white (we will see just how ropey it is). Ross found some sweet, sticky toffeed squid that he wanted to try; turns out that although tasty, it is just very chewy so it didn’t make the cut for festive snacks. Instead we brought peanut brittle, coconut cookies, chocolate truffles and Hershey’s kisses (no Cadburys in sight unfortunately). We spent the afternoon enjoying a coffee in festive cafe and visited Da Nang’s Dragon Bridge in the evening. This is basically what 8 year old Ross would have designed a bridge to look like, complete with a road was closure while the 600m long dragon breathed huge balls of fire!

We are heading to a beach hut resort for our Christmas break, arriving on Christmas Eve. We have been promised a traditional roast dinner which we are both really looking forward to. It is going to be very different being away from our families this year but hope that the novelty of spending the day on the beach will make up for what we will miss at home. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! Hope that you all have a fantastic day filled with delicious crunchy roast potatoes.

Love R and D xxx