A tailored experience in Hoi An

After our easiest overnight bus yet, (where I got more sleep than the last two combined!) we made it to Hue. Hopping off & being transferred to the Vietnam Backpackers, we had a delicious brekky before hiring the motorbike that would take us to the much anticipated Hoi An. Our bike was fairly new, semi automatic & with a Vietnamese flag decal on the front! We set off, Sean driving with me on the back, excited for the drive ahead. 

The drive was sensational, the scenery was beautiful & the wind in our hair made it all the more better! We made a couple of pit stops, one at beach & one on top of the Hoi Van pass near the bunkers used by the Americans during the war. On the home stretch through the surprisingly huge beach city of Da Nang, we made it to Hoi An. 

We parked our bike & headed to ‘Mermaids’ restaurant for a delicious local lunch, before wandering around & eventually dropping our bike off at the Hoi An edition of the Vietnam backpackers. Picking up our transferred bags, we hopped in a taxi & headed towards An Bang beach. We pulled up at our accomodation, ‘Under The Coconut Tree,’ & shuffled inside. Luckily enough, the receptionist learnt that we were a couple travelling together & offered us a discounted double room as apposed to a dorm bed each. Unsurprisingly, we jumped at the chance & were ecstatic that we did. Our wooden bungalow room was gorgeous & open with a semi outdoor bathroom! 

We dumped our bags & headed out for dinner, Sean found a restaurant with great reviews next door, ‘An Bang Village Restaurant,’ & before long we were sat at one of their tables. A couple of cold beers, a curry for me & a pork clay hot pot for Sean later, we were satisfied & ready for bed after a long day! 

The next morning we crawled out of lovely little bungalow & headed to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. I got the biggest & freshest fruit plate in SEA so far, so I was over the moon! We finished our brekky & hired a couple of bikes to ride into town. 

After riding around under the hot Hoi An sun, pricing a bunch of tailors, I was feeling disheartened as all of the prices I was being quoted - for the myriad of clothes I wanted made - was way over what I had in mind! They kept trying to reassure me that it was about the quality, however the prices were higher than some of the stuff I can get back home!! Sean on the other hand got quoted $140 for a brand new grey two piece tailored suit so he was stoked! My only consolation was all the free cold bottles of water we were getting just for sitting down for an unreasonable quote!! 

Feeling peckish, we returned to ‘Mermaids,’ to try some more fresh local fare & once again weren’t disappointed. We were nearly about to surrender & head back to the beach to cool off when we stumbled upon a tailor one of the girls from Mai Chau raved about, ‘Duna,’ & I went in & immediately got quoted a price on a dark green two piece shirt & collots. The price was much more reasonable than the others, although admittedly still more than I was hoping to pay, but I went ahead as I wasn’t prepared to walk away from Hoi An empty handed! 

We stopped by Sean’s tailor ‘Kimmy,’ to confirm our order, & quickly cycled back to An Bang. We went back to our room & quickly got changed before heading down to the beach & diving on into the water. An Bang wasn’t as great as we would’ve hoped at first sight, however it was choppy & it did rain heavily the night before. We hung out for a little while reading our books & enjoying a cold coconut & beer before heading back to our room for a beautiful tropical shower!

We kicked back & chilled until deciding to head out for dinner, however we were stopped by the bartender on our way out, who informed us of a massive communal BBQ that they were hosting that evening with most of the other guests. Thinking it would be a great way to meet other people, we didn’t hesitate in signing up. Taking a seat on the massive table, we were soon joined by two English girls, a Kiwi bloke & then more & more people flocked & sat down. 

The chat was great & the beers cold, however the BBQ itself was a massive let down. For the price we paid, we got very little, only a couple tiny bits of beef! Fed but not full, we wandered down to the beach for a campfire which wasn’t very well tended to, before bidding everyone goodnight & strolling back into bed!

We set our alarms for 5am to watch the sunrise & exercise, however the beers we consumed the night before had other ideas & we snoozed a couple of hours over. Getting dressed in exercise gear we ran down to the beach & jogged along before diving into the cool, refreshing water. After a splash around we headed back to the bar for breakfast before retreating to the room to pack up our things! 

Dropping our bags behind reception, we couldn’t resist another trip to the beach. It was absolutely stunning. The deep blue sky met the azure ocean, which lapped at the gorgeous white sandy shore. We laid out on the chairs, Sean got a delicious mango lassi & I had a lime & soda. We hung out for a while reading our books & stopping to leap into the calm, clear water before packing up & heading back to under the coconut to catch a cab to our new accommodation.

A very brief ride later, we made it to ‘Little House Homestay,’ & were shown to our room. The place was immaculately clean, white & modern. We dropped our bags & immediately took advantage of the free bike hire & took a couple to town. We rode towards the old city for lunch, & fearing that we had to pay to get in over an ancient Japanese bridge, we walked around until we found a shop that connected through to the street on the old town side! Pretending to be interested in buying something, we strolled on through & onto ‘Nu Eatery,’ for some out of this world tasty steamed pork buns - we couldn’t stop at one order! 

Leaving the old town we browsed a few shops on our way to Sean’s first suit fitting at Kimmy. The suit immediately looked great & with a few alterations, it would be the perfect fit. We stopped off for an iced coffee before heading to Duna for my first fitting. My dark green two piece also looked great & just needed a couple of alterations to the top. 

Returning to our little house picking up a couple of large, cold tiger beers on the way, we played cards on the peaceful & clean balcony before getting ready to head back to An Bang for dinner with Charlotte & Harriet; the Scottish & English girls we made friends with the night before. Riding our bikes as the sun edged closer to the horizon to blanket it in darkness, we returned to under the coconut & met the two gals at the bar. Heading next door to a bar aptly named ‘Mai Tai,’ we ordered two rounds of boozy two for one cocktails & chatted away as we slowly grew tipsy.

Beginning to starve, we strolled up the walkway back to An Bang Beach Village Restaurant & were met by the friendly service from the owner who served us the night before. Ordering a few local dishes to share & a cold beer each we dived into each plate & enjoyed the tasty fare. Finishing up & paying, we walked down to the beach as we heard that the pytoplankton were out in force & were more abundant than usual. Splashing around in the water, it didn’t take long before the luminous little beings revealed themselves & brilliantly lit up the water with every movement we made! Feeling a little luminous ourselves & also quite ready for bed, we bid the girls farewell for now & goodnight, hopping on our bikes & riding back to our homestay.

The next morning we woke up slowly, I particularly felt under the weather, with a pounding headache & stiff neck. Feeling hungry for breakfast, made the short journey downstairs & outside for it. Unfortunately we were served up a disappointing fruit bowl (especially compared to the one from coconut,) & an average omelet along with two watery coffees. Agreeing that the next morning we’d look elsewhere, I researched a few places for a massage & stumbled upon one that was right around the corner! ‘Pandanam’ spa & massage was the place, & it received rave reviews. I treated myself to a signature massage while Sean sheepishly declined one & retreated home to wait for me. 

I returned home feeling a little rejuvenated, however still a bit stiff & headachy. We got changed & headed out on our bikes to find a better coffee as we wouldn’t have been able to function on the half we drunk in the morning! We reached a cute art gallery/boutique shop/café, & wasted no time ordering two iced coffees. They were much tastier, however halfway through mine Sean discovered a thick black hair.. I just couldn’t win today!!! Face timing home to wish Dad a happy Father’s Day & Nanna Janet a big happy birthday, it was nice to hear everyone’s voice! We finished up & got back on our bikes & headed for our second fittings. Once again they were looking great at both our respective tailors so we booked in to pick our finished products up the next day.

We rode to the Vietnam backpackers as we were meeting a group of people heading out to the local orphanage for an incentive called ‘Take Time,’ the brainchild of a young American man who wanted to give back to a country he had travelled & fell in love with as a backpacker. In particular, it focused on abandoned children & ones affected by the nasty chemical agent orange that was dropped all over the country by the American army during the war, causing deformities in future generations. The staff member who lead the group was great with the kids, spending time with all of them, making them laugh & communicating in a special language that wasn’t English nor Khmer, just one they’ve grown to understand! We played with the kids taking special interest in the little ones, & took them outside for a play on the swings.

After a good hour & a half, we headed back to the hostel & straight down to a sports bar to watch the Bulldogs game. Having a beer while watching the game & keeping polite conversation with a weird old ex pat who couldn’t stop name dropping & talking about himself, we left as the doggies prevailed & headed to Mermaids once again for a bite to eat before returning to the backpackers for the pub quiz they had promised earlier. Turns out only four of us were there so it was unfortunately called off, however we made friends with two English girls, Natalie & Alice, & were humoured by a young Aussie staff member, that couldn’t stop talking about drugs & how sick living abroad was.. Cool story bro! We then were joined by who we thought was an Irish couple but would later find out to be more like siblings, Eoín & Aish. Having an intense political chat over cold beers & free orange vodka shots, we decided to call it a night & head home. 

Turns out it wasn’t going to be that easy! We cycled & turned up a street we thought would lead us home, & after turning a couple more times we realised we were hopelessly lost! Even though everything looked different at night & our google maps decided to fail us, we managed to retrace our tracks & navigate our way home! Pulling up, we hurried upstairs & jumped straight into our crisp white sheets ready for some shut eye! 

Passing on the hotel breakfast the next morning, we headed straight for a popular restaurant in town called ‘Cargo Club.’ The iced coffees were good & my French toast was exceptionally great, alongside a delicious caramel sauce! We then ventured into the old town, again bypassing the entrance. We had a browse around the colourful streets lined with street vendors & brightly decorated shops. Feeling hungry, no second guesses are needed for where we went for lunch, not without stopping at a market stall & picking up a cheap new ruck sack first. Lunch was as delicious as usual, &  afterwards we rode towards our tailors to excitedly pick up our brand new fitted clothes! 

Heading back home, we showered & got ready to go out with Charlotte & Harriet one more time before we left tomorrow. We rode our bikes to ‘The Little Menu’ to meet the girls, a modern little restaurant on a busy street. The food & cocktails were delicious, as was the company, however the waiter, who was nice enough at first, was a little weird & his attempt at dry humour was lost on us. Bidding the girls goodnight & our goodbyes, we rode on back home for an early night, one my unwell body was silently crying out for! 

The next day was spent packing & riding around the city to kill time, before we returned back the guesthouse to pick up our (now five) bags & head to the bus company. We were met by familiar faces, Eoín & Aish, & we all boarded the bus bound for the much cooler climate town of Dalat, something we absolutely couldn’t wait for!