Nha Trang, Hoi An and Hue (Vietnam): rain, shopping and excellent food

29 November - 5 December 2010

I arrived in Nha Trang after 6 hours bus from Dalat. Nha Trang is a coastal city on the South central Coast of Vietnam. The city is well known for its beaches and scuba diving. And indeed the beaches are beautiful.

My hotel room was at the top of a building with a view on the beaches. Everything was perfect except ... the weather. It rained the whole day so there was not much to do. I still managed to visit the Champa ruins and a pagoda with a giant buddha.

Then I spent the whole afternoon on a terrace of a cafe reading a book. It is sometimes nice to take a rest and enjoy the view of the beaches even when it is raining...

In the same evening, I took a night bus to Hoi An. The bus arrived at 8AM. After the tough night on the bus, I found a nice hotel with a big bathroom and a bathtub. Then I had my usual Pho (beef noodle soup) for breakfast and went to the Old Town of Hoi An, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1999. The Old Town is a pedestrian zone, which was very nice as there were only a few motorbikes and bicycles around. I walked around the Old Town the whole day, visiting some old houses, temples and the famous Japanese bridge.

Hoi An is especially famous for the tailors, who produce made-to-measure clothes for a very cheap price. Everything can be made, it was unbelievable. Clothes (dresses, shirts, suits, ...) of course but also all kind of shoes, bags etc. Paradise for all girls!

I hesitated to make some clothes as I couldn't carry more stuff in my backpack but it was too tempting. So I decided to make a dress and a pair of leather sandals. Besides that I also bought a bag and a short. Hoi An is definitely a great place for shopping.

The second day, I took a cooking class. It is time to learn how to cook according to my mum. So after a short visit to the market where our cooking teacher gave us some information about the vietnamese ingredients, we took a boat to a small island to have the class. There, I learned how to prepare fresh spring rolls including the rice papers, Banh Xeo, typical vietnamese yellow pancakes and a hot clay with eggplants, tomatoes and lemon grass. I even learned how to carve a flower with a tomato and a cucumber. Well, the carving wasn't a big success... but the dishes were delicious! According to me of course... I was very proud of myself. Now I'm definitely ready to get married.

After this great experience, it was time for me to move to my next destination, Hue.

Hue is well known for its architecture and monuments. It was more a cultural city. As I was short in time, I hired a private motorbike to visit all the main monuments. I started with the Citadel, seat of the Nguyen Emperors.

Inside the citadel was a forbidden city where only the emperors, concubines, and those close enough to them were granted access; the punishment for trespassing was death.

I expected a Forbidden City as the one in Beijing but I was quite disappointed as it was small and only little of the forbidden city remains.
After the Citadel, I visited the tombs of two emperors, Minh Mang and Tu Duc and the Thien Mu Pagoda, the largest pagoda in Hue and the official symbol of the city.

The second day, I went to see the Demilitarized zone, the dividing line between North and South Vietnam at the war time. We also visited the Vinh Moc Tunnels, where 300 people lived during war time.

Hue was very interesting in terms of Vietnam cultural monuments but 2 days was enough to see most of it and food wasn't that special. And Hanoi was waiting for me.

Next stops: Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa (Vietnam)