Vietnam Days 24-27: Hoi An Old Town

I'm going to come right out and say it: we LOVED Hoi An! It is such an atmospheric town! It's hard to even pick a favourite thing...the lanterns, the winding river filled with colourful rowboats, the lively markets, the incredible fruit selection, the restaurants... it's all good! 

Coconut coffee

We really enjoyed wandering and people-watching. We ate breakfast our first morning here across the street from a whole coconut operation. Right before our eyes, coconuts were transformed from whole fruit, to de-husked fruit; then, the water was poured out and the flesh carved out. Next, there was someone grinding dried flesh into coconut flakes, while someone else sold drinks of coconut cream; it was truly coconut in every possible form all in one stop! It was fascinating to watch. 

We did our best haggling for fruit in the market and brought home an entire watermelon, mangosteen, custard apples, rose apples, rambutan, bananas, yellow mango, and longan. We wandered stalls and luxuriated in doing some souvenir shopping since we only have to carry our bags home at this point. 

The absolute best was watching the river come alive at night with the glow of lanterns. People start to gather around 5 pm, getting into rowboats (or motorboats at the far end), each lit with its own coloured lantern or two. People release paper lanterns from the boats themselves to add additional colour to the river. Its reflection sparkled with colour and light!

We enjoyed several five star dinners along the riverfront with incredible food like slow roasted duck curry, pumpkin curry served in a mini pumpkin, braised pork rib, mango and papaya salad, and more! Craig and Erin had a date night, thanks to Alex and Beth, at The Spice Route. Erin's herbaceous cocktail with local Hoi An gin and herbs was delectable. 

Eggplant in clay pot
Pork skewers with make-your-own rice wraps

Dumplings

Morning Glory Signature feast!

Date night!

We will now inundate you with photos of our favourite place. What a perfect way to end the trip: not wanting to go home!

Vietnam Day 23: Hue Travel Day

Leaving Phong Nha

Off we go again! On Day 23, we travelled from Phong Nha Be Kang to Hoi An via Hue. Beth needed a clinic stop for some eye issues (all is good now), so we took a private van so we could customize our trip. While Beth and Alex stopped at the clinic, Erin, Craig, and the kids ate lunch with a view of the Imperial City and its surrounding moat. Lunch highlights included a diverse freshly squeezed juice menu, such as honey orange, lemongrass lemonade, salted lemonade, watermelon, and more! We wanted to sit on their second floor so we could enjoy the view. They told us there was air conditioning, and then took us to a private room in their century old home big enough for just one table! 

Rice vermicelli bowl!

We had a VERY hot walk around the Imperial City grounds until we got the good news that Beth's eye was ok. We met back together and continued on our way. 

We arrived in Hoi An at dinnertime, and checked in to our only Air BnB of the trip. We were staying in a gorgeous townhouse on Nam Cam island in the old city with river views out our back windows! We couldn't wait for the 4 days ahead!

Vietnam Day 22: Paradise Cave

Phong Nha Be Kang National Park is famous for its caves. There are so many to visit depending on your budget, length of stay, and fitness level, including the world's largest cave. With only one day to explore, we decided to go to Paradise Cave. 

From the hike to the Cave

We knew that Paradise Cave was huge, but we could not keep saying, "Wow... it just keeps going..." over and over. It was cathedral-like... times 10. It was also very easy to navigate inside because of its boardwalk system. 

Down we go...

Craig, for scale

It's so hard to capture its grandeur in photos. It is 31km long in total, with it reaching 72m tall in some places. Only the first kilometer is open to tourists, but even that felt mammoth. 

Afterwards, we had lunch at a wonderful spot with delicious smoothie bowls. Note the purple dragonfruit! So fun!

We had a relaxing afternoon with a couple of highlights: playing in the pool and...

... going to a head spa. 

According to our host, Vietnamese women don't wash their hair at home; they go get a hair treatment every few days. It was a super relaxing experience for all 5 of us ladies, especially the halo facet! It took about half an hour total and included a scalp and neck massage, wash, condition, and blow dry. Our hair felt so silky afterwards!

The best part!

It was fun to try something new and be pampered a bit. 

Let's finish off again with another cool bug photo!

Vietnam Days 20 & 21: Phong Nha Be Kang

Day 20 was a travel day for us. We went from Ninh Binh to Phong Nha Ke Bang. We still weren't feeling awesome so the 5.5 hour journey was a bit painful but we got there. We were greeted by a really lovely host, Linh, and got ourselves settled. Erin took advantage of his wife's spa across the street and the 20% discount he was offering on services. She enjoyed an hour long, full-body massage including hot stones and a warming eye mask for only $14 CAD! It helped to recover her body and spirit after the physically and emotionally draining days before. 

Day 21 was a recovery day. Erin and Adventure Girl spent some time in the pool. We joined up with the whole team for a beautiful sunset dinner on the Con River. 

 

One of the best meals of the trip!

Erin thoroughly enjoyed her Phong Nha speciality... you roll your own fresh spring rolls right at the table, complete with rice noodles, veggies, herbs, and this incredible dill-covered fish straight from the griddle! 

Too many sunset pictures? Never!

Vietnam Days 18 & 19: Homesick & Travelsick

Day 18 was the most stressful of the trip. Both Erin and Adventure Girl got food poisoning and kiddo spent all of Days 18 and 19 down for the count. We were really concerned that she wasn't able to keep any water down and there was a moment when we thought we were going to need to brave a Vietnamese hospital. Thankfully, she got through it and started to rebound on Day 20.

When the situation had improved, Craig headed out solo to the Tam Coc boat dock to do the river ride there. Tam Coc is slightly less scenic than Trang An but it has a beautiful section that winds through the rice fields. One highlight is getting to see the oarspeople row with their feet! Another is the short, steep hike up to a viewpoint of the river. 

Here are a few pics of his trip: