We arrived at Hoi An just as the sun was rising and managed to find a budget hotel (with a pool!!). We sat down and ate breakfast at a little cafe next door and tried two of the Hoi An specialities. I tried Cao Lau, a soup of thick rice noodles with a generous helping of sliced roast pork and fresh herbs. Melissa had the shrimp wonton soup. An authentic Cao Lau can supposedly only use water from a special well in the city!! Both were incredibly good and Hoi An was certainly living up to its reputation of having very high food standards.
Walking around Hoi An's crumbling old streets was a wonderful experience and reminded me of Melaka in Malaysia, remnants of colonial architecture standing tall and proud, their weather washed pastel walls radiating Mediterranean ambience as the midday sun beat down. We took a break and tried yet another Hoi An delicacy, 'white rose', a plate full of delicately steamed rose shaped shrimp dumplings topped with shavings of crispy (onion)?, and of course an ice cold midday beer to wash it down. :-)
The evening times were spent doing pretty much the same as we did in the day, strolling up and down the beautiful old streets. We ventured over a bridge crossing a river and found a large number of restaurants that looked unnervingly quiet. We were hungry though so we sat down at one of them and then, there was a power cut!! Staff brought candles to the table and we looked over the menu and ordered a selection of fried wontons, the lovely steamed 'white rose' wontons, and some succulent steamed squid with chilli and lemongrass, cooked in banana leaf. The staff were very attentive and kind, he had to go off on his bike to get the squid!! After a quiet, pleasant evening, it was time to go home and we walked back, via some stray cats that Melissa decided to look after (as happens in every town in every country we go to!!).
HUE
The next few days in Hoi An were spent strolling around the streets and relaxing by the pool. Our next stop was Hue, a short bus ride away. Hue was more built up than Hoi An and not as pretty but there were some impressive tombs and remnants of old palaces that took a full days worth of exploring. The local noodle soup, Bun Bo Hue was a spicier, more robust stock with chilli oil and slices of roast beef, unfortunately no photo as our battery ran out! Hue is famed for its imperial cuisine which is noted more for its presentation than its taste. Food would be cooked and made to look beautiful for the old emperor and would be served in many courses. Knowing this prior to our meal at the fancy restaurant, we were looking forward to the spectacle of the meal more than the taste. Thin Gia Vien is one of the more famous restaurants serving this type of cuisine and we were treated to many courses of wonderfully presented food. Take a look at some of the 'not so great' photos, unfortunately our third camera was starting to pack up now, probably all the greasy fingers taking food photos!!
HANOI
The next bus journey was a long one... 12 hours!! The sleeper bus was dirty and overcrowded and people were finding whatever space they could to sleep. We had people on the floor next to our bed, backpacks in the aisle, a French man moaning constantly behind us because the bus 'wasn't what he expected'. We'd learnt to expect the unexpected and just got our heads down and went to sleep, hoping at least that our bus driver wasn't drunk and would get us to Hanoi safely! We got to Hanoi in one piece but both of us were feeling a bit under the weather. Melissa had the beginnings of an eye infection and my tummy was doing somersaults again. We had to get our visa for China processed here so we ended up staying for a week. We got some much needed rest and relaxation and ate countless bowls of beef and chicken pho to make us feel better, some of the best pho in all of Vietnam!!
SAPA
A week later and feeling well rested we headed up to the Chinese border on the train from Hanoi to Lau Cai. It was a peaceful journey in a clean ,comfortable sleeper carriage and we got a decent nights sleep. We got off the train as the sun was rising and found a mini bus to take us to Sapa. We sat on the mini bus and I reached to get some money out of my money belt.... where was it??? OH NO!! "Melissa" I panicked, "I've left my money belt on the train!!" Melissa's response was not what I wanted to hear... "ME TOO!!" she said. Now bearing in mind our money belts had our passports, cash cards and the bulk of our cash in them there was definitely reason to panic. I ran off the mini bus and back towards the station platform, looking like some sort of tall, demented, foreign mad man to the bemused locals looking on. One scruffy man decided to take it upon himself to help me in my mission to get our money belts back. I got to the platform and to my dismay, the train we were on was slowly moving away. I started running after the train, not really knowing what I'd do when I reached it, and then someone stopped me and asked me what was wrong. "MY PASSPORT'S ON THAT TRAIN!!" I panted. "Don't worry" said the station attendant, "the train is coming back". Relief was not the word as the train slowly moved back towards the platform. Me, the station attendant and the scruffy man found our sleeper carriage and waited for the train to stop moving. The scruffy man asked me to wait outside while he went in to get our money belts.... hmmmmmm, I was starting to suspect his motives for helping me. As we opened the door he somehow managed to trap his finger in it and break off his dirty fingernail, yuck! The attendant lifted the pillows where me and Melissa decided to 'safely' put our money belts and they were under them, with everything still intact!! I've always loved the 'lost and found' feeling and this has to be up there with the most ultimate. I returned to the mini bus followed by the scruffy man who was angrily demanding money for his broken fingernail. After giving him a quid for his troubles, I got back on the bus, happily showed Melissa the two money belts and we set off for Sapa. I was a very happy man but we learnt to never leave our important belongings under a pillow again!
Sapa was beautiful and we enjoyed the fresh mountain air for a few days before we headed back down to cross the border into China. We ate lots of fresh vegetables and found a unique stand selling purple potatoes that were actually purple on the inside! Chicken with bamboo shoots was one of our favourite meals but as a whole, the food we had in Sapa was very simple and nothing extraordinary. We had a great time shopping at the local market, buying from the local Hmong tribe people. Daytimes were fresh, temperate and a pleasant change from sweaty Hanoi. At night times we would look out of our window and watch the most spectacular lightning storms over the mountains. We soaked up our last few days of calm and prepared ourselves for.... China!
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