So Hanoi is all about the food. Street food in particular. You may have figured this out already, but I’m kinda obsessed w Vietnamese street food so I was really looking forward to trying it out. Our LP travel guide, in addition to normal resto recommendations, also included a listing of 10 great street food stops in the city, each one focusing on one specialty (do one thing & do it the best). For anyone who has traveled before relying on guidebooks, you know that can be a great source, oftentimes better than hotel concierge recommendations as those oftentimes involve kickbacks or more tourist-friendly sites that sacrifice local food flair, for local dining options. We had enjoyed great success relying on it to-date, so we thought we’d give it a whirl & do our own personal street food tour of the Hanoi Old Quarter as we wander through its winding streets over the next 4 days.
The first stop did not disappoint as I claimed it to be the single best dish I’ve had on the trip (how quickly I forgot cao lao, what can I say… flavor of the month). So good, we had to have it as our last meal in Hanoi as well. The other stops did not disappoint. Love love love the food. There’s little to no ambience but who gives a shit. Best part… Entire meals including a beer were less than USD$3.00 & it was the best food of the trip, hands down.
They have a menu on the wall but as soon as you walk in, they ask “how many bowls?”
Bun bo nam bo (dry noodles w beef) is served mixed w bean sprouts, garlic, lemongrass & green mango then you cam separately add chili spice, soy & vinegar; this is pre-mixing
Post-mixing w chilis; it’s life changing
Xoi Yen’s specialty is sticky rice topped w various goodies including Asian sausage, slow-cooked pork & a fried evg w delicious sauce & chili sauce added to taste, of course
Bun cha is a combo of grilled pork patties in a delicious broth, vermicelli noodles, fresh greens & herbs, & chilis for spice, all served separately & you mix your own
All mixed together. Delicious!
Comes w crab spring rolls
Per direction, drop spring roll into broth & eat as it’s the perfect spicy dipping sauce
Umm… I can make fresh rice paper too!
Banh cuon are super light steamed rice crepes filled w chicken, shrimp & mushrooms
High on my list of to-dos in Vietnam was getting into the mountains in the north. We chose Mai Chao as it’s a bit more accessible than other options. We were able to witness ethnic villages still fully functioning today as they had years ago as every family is allotted a certain number of acres to farm rice, primarily for personal consumption as everyone lives off the land in these parts. We did both bike & trekking tours of the surrounding villages & mountains led by Hoi, our adorable young host who is from the area so we were able to interact w the locals.
The afternoon spent biking was fairly easy while the trekking involved hiking on tiny dirt trails up & down mountains, the same trails used by locals to travel bw villages. We were busy concentrating on our sneakered foot placement while climbing over big boulders & staying on tiny path (bc it falls off on one side) when these 3 older tiny women, some barefoot some in flip flops, come briskly walking towards us balancing w 2 hands, atop a cushion constructed from jungle greens on their heads, a massive amount of wood or bamboo cuttings. Hysterical.
We stopped at a local stilt house & the little old woman invited us in. She couldn’t speak a lick of English but was very welcoming as she gave us homemade tea in plastic cups that looked as if they hadn’t been washed in months. She commented, via our guide, that we were very beautiful bc we have white skin. That’s the thing over here. Everyone wants to have white skin (while I keep getting tanner)… It’s a sign of affluence so people strive for it, bundling up in long sleeves, pants & sunhat while outside in the hot sun & buying “skin whitening” suntan lotion, moisturizer & deodorant. It’s very interesting. She was cooking lunch in her kitchen & for a bit, I was afraid we were going to eat there as she seemed to be grilling a rat impaled on a stick so I was preparing myself. We didn’t & instead left after the tea & a photo. The guide explained later the rat is a welcoming gesture for guests and a signal that good food will be served. Yeah, real welcoming. The guide did say the Vietnamese eat everything & let nothing go to waste.
We had yet another transportation snafu on the trekking tour as our driver picked us up to head to lunch after a hike down mountain only to find that a 25 ton truck broke its axle trying to turn around on the only single lane road that leads in/out of this tiny village as he was clearly lost. It was blocking the entire road & our driver couldn’t get around. All of the townspeople were coming to see what happened. Women carrying babies would look & just start laughing. The men seemed to be having more stern conversations w the driver. Hoi later explained they were cursing & calling him a “stupid driver” & “bad driver”. Given no other options, Hoi led us walking another 10km to lunch (after 10km+ that morning) while the townspeople sorted out the obstacle. We made it halfway there before a friend of Hoi’s rode by on his motorbike & agreed to take us, one at a time, to lunch. Amy went first so Hoi & I kept walking. After a bit, we were pleasantly surprised to find our driver honking wildly behind us so he scooped us & took us the remainder of the way. I was afraid our driver would be stuck there overnight & be unable to drive us back to Hanoi, that’s how bad the situation seemed, but in 1.5 hours, those resourceful people cut down trees & built a bridge of bamboo & wood over a nearby stream, sturdy enough for cars, while that truck sat still under the watchful eye of its “stupid driver”. We had lunch at a local family’s home who host home stays. Amazing food cooked & served right in their home while they went about living their daily lives. I joked to Amy they sure went out of their way to create an authentic experience for us as they even washed a baby in a basin for us.
We opted for the shorter 3km hike in the afternoon past the glorious tiered rice paddies over the 10km full hike due to the delay & complications over lunch as our feet were tired & we had 5pm massage appointments. The rice paddies were just stunning & made the whole trip worthwhile.
We stayed at this lovely eco lodge in little thatched huts. Just a gorgeous property.
View from our porch
With our guide
Local putting us to shame
Stilt house
Stupid driver
Adorable local kids chasing after us on our walk out of town
Lunch at the home stay
Tiered rice paddies
Water source at the top
Of course we ate like champs (yes it’s beef on fire)
Duck w Vietnamese 5 spice
Grilled eggplant
Seafood & glass noodle salad
Pork grilled Mai Chao way w 5 spices & lemongrass served w pepper, chili & lime sauce
Our first day in Hanoi got off to a bit of a rocky start. We read in our books to be mindful of taxi scams from the airport as taxi drivers will oftentimes tell passengers their intended hotel is closed or burned down to shuttle them to a buddy’s hotel & split any profits. To avoid that drama, we booked a private car w our hotel, reserved on hotels.com for $30 a night (prepaid). Smart right? Lonely Planet needs to update their warning to also include another scam.
Upon arrival at the hotel, we were informed by the manager our room was unavailable bc there was an issue w the bathroom & they are otherwise sold out so they would like to take us to another hotel a block away where we will get an equivalent or better room for same charge or they would pay the difference. My BS antenna went up. After several questions & confirmations including the name of the new hotel so I could quickly check TripAdvisor rating & address, we left following the bell boy who spoke no English. He took us to a hotel a block away. Problem was, it was a different hotel than the one the manager told us. I called BS, the front desk speed dialed our old hotel, reprimanded the bell boy & then we were off to the actual hotel, arriving a block later. Hotel 3 looks fine, maybe even nicer than the first. The front desk staff agree to show us to proposed room & prior to heading upstairs, I made it clear to the bell boy that he needed to wait for us until we accept the room (even though we’d walked maybe 4 blocks, the Hanoi winding Old Quarter streets makes it quite difficult). Room 1 was fine but for only one King bed & a window facing a brick wall so we declined it bc we specifically booked a room w 2 double beds & a window w a city view. Room 2 met those requests & even had a tiny balcony & so we accepted the room. Here it comes… “I’m sorry madam but to book this room, you’ll need to pay a $15 per night upcharge.” Boom. It may seem like peanuts to most people, & that’s exactly why I bet this bait-&-switch scam works bc travelers want rid of the hassle & just want a room. Not a chance was this flying with me out of sheer principal. I insisted our original hotel pay the difference & we headed downstairs to call them. Unsurprisingly, these guys had the hotel on speed dial too & spoke directly w the manager & sales manager & refused to give me the phone when I demanded to talk to both. So off we went back to our original hotel, w the bell boy & front desk dude from hotel 3 carrying our backpacks. I talked to the sales manager, expressed my frustration & she threw the hotel manager under the bus. The hotel manager apologized profusely & surprise, surprise, the original room we booked was indeed available. What a run-around but a totally awesome Hanoi experience!!! Not a chance were we getting taken. But it left a real sour taste in our mouth for the hotel, where we had only booked 2 nights to ensure we liked it & the area. We grabbed some street food, drank some bia hoi & went to a travel agency to help us book a couple side trips. Turns out, due to availability & timing, it made more sense to abandon prepaid night 2 at the scam hotel & head to the mountains, later returning to Hanoi. The next morning, upon checkout, we refused to pay the $18 taxi charge from airport bc of the hotel scam, they accepted so we were out a whole $12 & had a phenomenal story.
Enjoying bia hoi on the street after successfully thwarting the scam
Bia hoi in barrela & our cute bar owner who kindly chased away annoying street vendors once we had already nicely declined their wares 3x
I headed alone to Son My, approximately 3 hours south of Hoi An right along the coast, while Amy stayed to enjoy a free day in Hoi An.
Purpose 1: to visit the memorial site commemorating the 1968 My Lai massacre
Purpose 2: to visit Me Khe beach, Vietnam beach #5 & final, which is located just a 10 minute drive from the memorial
It was supposed to be a 3-hr drive each direction but bc my hired driver was a maniac, he cut the whole trip down to 4 hours. No complaints here as it shortened my long day & I survived. My visit to the My Lai memorial roughly coincided with the 48th anniversary of the horrific massacre of 504 local unarmed Vietnamese by the US Army. The war crime was one of the pivotal moments of the war that shaped the US & worldwide perceptions of our involvement. It was a very somber, disgusting, embarrassing visit. There weren’t many other visitors but those present certainly seemed to be Vietnamese locals & I admit I got a few weird looks & questions if I was American. The highlight of that visit was after I had finished w the sickening museum tour & exited outdoors to see the memorial & the remnants of the torched village, I was approached by two darling university students who stake out the place just in hopes an English speaker shows & they can practice. I agreed to chat so we talked for maybe 20 minutes & they rapidly fired questions including heavy topics like how & when I learned about the massacre & why I was visiting to lighter subjects explaining certain slang terms. I found interesting that not only do they take a ton of courses to learn English, but they also take several intonation courses to “change the way their voice sounds”. Kinda crazy & a moment of reflection where I felt especially lucky to be a natural born speaker of what is now becoming the common language of the world.
As I didn’t want to travel that distance to only be depressed by My Lai, I made sure to stop at this local beach, Me Khe, a mere 10 minute drive from the site of those atrocities. My LP book had a quick blurb on it explaining it was massive, stunning & super isolated & that was all that was needed for me to negotiate a stop at the beach on the return trip. It was easily the most beautiful beach I’ve seen in Vietnam. Isolated & the whitest sand but there’s certainly proof of activity as a portion of the beach was dotted w fishing boats, abandoned by their fishermen as it was now early afternoon, as well as goalie nets on either end of an imagined football field. It was pretty sweet. There wasn’t much else around there but that is the place I’d come back to & rent a room & just do nothing for a couple months.
The memorial is based on a famous photograph of an old woman grasping a dead child & standing in defiance of our troops (bc the Army brilliantly did this in front of official Army photographers who documented everything; the photo evidence, along w eyewitness testimony (including American soldiers) torpedoed the US cover-up attempts)
This lovely place was an irrigation ditch into which the troops herded 175 villagers , shot them & then set them on fire to not only ensure their death but also destroy the evidence
Foundation of a torched hut that survived the bombs the US dropped on the place after evacuating in jopes to destroy any remaining evidemce
One cool part of the museum was a corner dedicated to the story of a helicopter pilot who saw what was happening on the ground, landed & confronted the head ground commander, insisting he order the villagers placed in the irrigation ditch to be released. Upon takeoff, he instead watched as the troops opened fire on the villagers. He then saw another group of 10+ villagers running to escape from other soldiers. He landed his helicopter between the villagers & the soldiers & ordered his gunman to direct fire on the Americans if they fire at the villagers. No gunfire was exchanged & he was able to herd those villagers into his helicopter & lifted them to safety. Unbelievable. What a hero.
My girls
The beach (& goalie nets)
The panorama
The fishing boats
One small portion of the beach was lined w empty restos & my only company that day were these 2 cows outside them
Because we had such a blast at our Thai cooking class & bc Vietnamese food is my fave cuisine back home, we decided to do a Vietnamese cooking class in Hoi An. It was a different but equally lovely experience. I do think Vietnamese food is generally much more difficult to cook than Thai food bc not only are you making the dish, you’re also making a different sauce to be served w every dish. Perhaps the coolest thing we learned was how to make fresh rice paper… It’s akin to Italians making fresh pasta as the difference vs store bought is night & day. But it’s a long process. Given 2 of the best local Vietnamese restos are within a mile of my place in Chicago, I’m unsure of the practicality to trying to make these dishes on my own but I do think the rice paper would be a great party trick.
We made the following along w accompanying sauces:
– Pancake, wrapped in rice paper
– Papaya/mango salad w shrimp & squid
– Spring roll including fresh rice paper
– Quang chicken
The Red Bridge cooking school was co-located w one of the best restos in the city out of town & accessible by both road & boat. We took a boat after our guide toured us through the local market.
Cooking stations
Pancake w rice flour, veggies & greens, prawns as demonstrated by our chef/teacher Mimi
Rolling pankcake in rice paper w greens, basil, mint, bean sprouts, etc.
Mimi’s beautiful creation
Here’s mine… not too shabby
Prepwork for green papaya & mango salads (one of my obsessions)
Seafood & flavorings for salad
Green papaya & mango salad
Spring roll ingredients
Fresh rice paper… starts w soaking rice for 7-12 hours
It involves this contraption of a cotton tee held atop a boiling pot of water by elastic w a very important slight gap in the side (releases steam & allows you to wet the flat wooden utensil to slide under the paper once its’s steamed there for 65 seconds… that’s the most difficult part)
After removing rice paper, simply roll ingredients
Sauce ingredients
Mimi’s perfection
My attempt… and YES, I really made the rice paper!!!
Prepwork for local chicken dish
Chicken w flavorings & tomatoes ready for the stove
I know it’s not PC & it’s terrible for you but I constantly slather on SPF 50 sunscreen (I’m spending a small fortune replenishing the supply) so I’m not sure what else I can do bc I’m certainly not staying out of the sun when I’m visiting Vietnam & Thailand beach towns. But doesn’t this tan look damn good? Haha.
In Hoi An, we got our first taste of bia hoi, or fresh draft lager beer, which is brewed daily w no preservatives so bars need to sell through it that day. This means you can find it for awfully cheap vs bottled beer & it tastes just fabulous (even Amy the wino loved it). We just so happened to book a hotel right near 3 of the cheapest joints in town regularly selling bia hoi for 5k dong (approx 75 cents) but went on a search one day for 3k beer (it just seemed like a worthwhile mission). The best we did was 4k dong beers which translates to 60 cents. Fuckin A.
I wanted to visit the beach made famous by all those old Vietnam movies of when the American soldiers, on leave, would surf China Beach. The old China Beach was a 30+km white sand beach stretching south from Da Nang to Hoi An & now it’s known by various other names as it was informally divided by little beach towns dotting the coast. We read (& then confirmed w a drive-by) the old China Beach near Da Nang is all built up & lined w expensive massive resorts while the beaches closet to Hoi An are less developed. One section in particular, called An Bang, has no hotels & only local restaurants lining the beach, is a particularly beautiful stretch, & is an up & coming spot.
We did read on Trip Advisor that people at An Bang aggressively pursue bikers to pay to park in their lot just before the beach. We also read that local beach restos will guard them for free if you sit on their beach chairs & order food & drinks for the day. So we picked out a beach resto & headed off on the 6km bike ride past rice paddies. We quickly learned, upon arrival, the Trip Advisor reviews understated the aggressiveness as there were people yelling at us, one man started in a dead sprint chasing after me (as if he had a chance), & the last line of defense was an older woman frantically blowing a whistle & waving her arms as if she were directing traffic & we were on the other side of the law. I swerved & successfully cycled past those lunatics & made it to the promised land, at which point they gave up their pursuit, ceding victory to me. Amy was not so lucky as she hesitated & slowed down allowing the whistle woman to physically restrain her bike & gesturing helplessly to me in defeat while I asked locals where our Banyan Bar was located. Thankfully Amy watches a lot of American football at home & in her strong-willed pursuit of freedom from the bike parking nazis, she juked & weaved & freed herself from the whistler’s grasp. We were free to walk our bikes down to Banyan at the end of the beach & park ourselves in beach chairs for the rest of the day.
The beach was lovely and was somewhat crowded so we were happy to get an early start. The water was a bit more refreshing (read cold) than the beaches down south but it felt great. We enjoyed mojitos & fresh prawns on the beach. The prawns were cooked with head on in-shell & marinated in a delicious chili spice sauce. Peeling them seemed to defeat the purpose as you lose the yummy marinade so I just ate the head & all while Amy tried to dig in & messily separate the shell, eventually giving up but refusing to eat the head (delicious IMHO). We spent a lazy day here & then happily rode our bikes back to Hoi An. This beach ranks no 2 behind Doc Let but perhaps first as far as those I’d revisit & spend more time.
We were quite excited to visit Hoi An, a “charming little town on a river & canal system, known for its food & allure”, I think largely due to a downtown area lit up w lanterns at night. Day one we spent wandering the town and eating, per usual. As the day wore on, I grew a bit weary as the volume of tourists in the old town only increased. I recalled something Clare, a Brit living in Saigon for 2 years teaching English whom we met at Doc Let, said about the city… “It’s 100% devoted to tourism but somehow it’s the most amazing place that you’ll just love.” I was not loving it that night as tourists w their selfie sticks were in my way, vendors harassing me to send a lighted candle down the canal so a wish would come true would not relent, & the locals handing out happy hour flyers to all the ladies enticing them to enter their bars were like mosquitos to my sweet blood. I went to bed thinking I was in a nightmare bc we had already paid 4 nights hotel. I thought I was going to love it & I was initially disappointed; but I refused to give up that easy. Thankfully, I grew to like & appreciate the city over the next few days & found during the day, it’s much calmer & less overrun w tourists, so we tended to be out & about during the day & simply parked ourselves at night for dinner & drinks to minimize annoyances.
The food. The food is ridiculous & made any annoyances w the city so worth it. Starting w lunch on day 1. Blew my mind. Dumplings, spicy grilled scallops, Hoi An special banh mi (pork & sausage) & grilled prawns in tamarind sauce. Up to this point, I’d probably lost 5 lbs on the trip due to the activity, despite all the eating, but based on this lunch, Hoi An, as the “food capital of Vietnam”, came fully into focus so I thought I’d pack those 5 pounds right back on. Happily.
The local specialty is cao lao – noodles w pork & greens & amazing sauce plus the chili spice you add. I loved it so f’g much that I ate it 3 times in 24 hours (Amy only 2x), including from an amazing street food vendor.
It’s not only about food, it’s also about expert immediate tailoring. Apparently the thing to do is to show a picture of a dress/suit/etc, pick out the fabric & these seamstresses churn out a perfect replica in 48 hours inclusive of a couple fittings. Jobless, w more suits & dresses than I can count, but who doesn’t need one more? I found a great dress in this Saigon shop, when the shopgirl wouldn’t negotiate on price (WTF… Amy laughs at my negotiation obsession… I have to do it & I always feel like I get a deal but I’m sure I’m still getting ripped off; I just love the dance so much so Amy lets me take charge there; I wish we did this is the US), so I sneaked 3 perfect pics of it to have it recreated in Hoi An. But the process seemed so overwhelming as I bet the city has over 300 tailor shops & it turned me off so much night one, that my heart just wasn’t in it so I didn’t get it made.
Instead, we hung out w our hotel neighbors. By day, it’s an empty restaurant/bike & motorbike rental/laundry storefront run by the cutest old Vietnamese couple. They did our laundry for us one day for 60 cents per kg. They hounded us to come for coffee/lunch/drinks thereafter so we finally relented & found that at night, their charming little place turns into the hottest bar in town, managed by their grandson. They gave us a dope table overlooking the street & river & the cute old man let me use the private bathroom upstairs vs wait in line w rest of bar patrons. I felt like we made it.
The city
Pork & pork sausage bahn mi
Scallops
Prawns in tamarind sauce
Cao lao (no 1)
Grilled pork w chili & greens & chili & more chili, served wrapped roll style in a fresh rice paper. I love street food if you can’t tell. Amy is a good sport.
who made it
where i ate it (on the street in tiny chairs)
Cao lao (no 2)
Who made it
Amy w all the chili & sauce adds
Ridiculous papaya salad
Cao lao (no 3)
Open kitchen & these chicks rocked. This resto was the first one opened in Hoi An years ago by a woman whose parents shut down their street food stand. This is now 1 of 4 restos in Hoi An Vy own plus a cooking class (she might as well own the city). That very night we ate there, we happened to stumble upon the first ever Hoi An international food cestical w 12 famous chefs in town. Vy was the only chick on the stage. It was pretty dope.
Sorry mom. This is the best (grilled) eggplant I’ve ever had.
So that means I’m staying for a bit more. How long? I’m not sure. I had the airline price out a return for May 20 & the cost was peanuts so I’ll decide later. Exciting times.
amusemusings 