Makayla and I have spent the last 4 nights in the stunning beach town of Hoi An, Vietnam. It’s really lovely here, with beaches and food and a delightful old town. We haven’t run out of things to do! 

We arrived on Thursday night and were so happy with the hostel we booked. It was $3 more a night each for a private room and we were so happy we opted for that – the room is basically like a hotel room. We took a taxi into the night market to check it out; people we trying to get us to go into their bars but we were too hungry to be in the mood. The taxis are great here because they are all regulated, we only had one experience where we could have been overcharged over the last 4 days and have taxen about 10 taxis! 

The next day we headed to the beach. It wasn’t exactly beach weather but we were excited to be there, so we got bicycles from our hostel (for free! Such a nice perk) and headed to Hidden Beach. It was great – fine sand, big waves and very quiet. No one hassling us like on other beaches I have been to in other parts of the world. We packed up around lunch time before it started to rain then biked to town for lunch and coconut coffee! We had lunch at Minh Hien which was recommended by a friend, where we enjoyed a veggie curry and local specialty, Cao Lao noodles: 

After lunch, we went to a coffee shop called The Espresso Station for some coconut coffee. The shop was so cute and the coffee was delicious: 

Then, we headed to the tailors to figure out our dress situation. It was the most fun hour, we really enjoyed looking through the catalogue, deciding what styles to get then picking a color. We went to Thinh Cuong tailors (by the Sunflower hostel) and were really satisfied. More about this later! 

That night we had a family dinner organized by our hostel. Awesome food and it was nice to meet some of the other people staying with us, as always. 

The next day we headed to the beach again! The sun was out a bit more today and we got some visible sun (me tanned and Makayla burnt). We biked to hidden beach again and spent the morning there, only leaving to have lunch at the best Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwich on baguette) restaurant in Vietnam, Banh My Phuong. I had a pork Banh Mi and split a “barbecue” sandwich with Makayla, though I still don’t know what barbecue is. 

After lunch: more coconut coffee. We went to this cute cafe called Passion Fruit coffee and loved it. Best coconut coffee in Hoi An!

We then went to the tailors to see if our dresses fit. We were so happy with the results, they only had to send one of my dresses back to trim the shoulders and it was done in two hours. Here are some photos! 

In case you were wondering, I got both my dresses (one full silk and the other silk lined) for $55 USD. Apparently you can haggle a bit but we were so pleased with the price we didn’t mind supporting the tailor. A lot of it depends on fabric so if you do go keep that in mind. 

That night we headed to the nightmarket to look around. The Old town is littered with beautiful lanterns, which are hung up everywhere and in every store. 

We also found a restaurant that served us 3000 dong (18 Canadian cent) fresh beer (Bia hoi), so we needed to try it. Verdict: cold and tasty! 

Yesterday we headed to the beach once more. A lovely day, with some sun, and this time we brought snacks so we had more longevity. 

We cycled in for another Banh Mi lunch and coconut coffee. Same Banh Mi place but were disappointed with the coffee, the one we had yesterday was just coconut milk in regular Vietnamese iced coffee (NOT the same thing!!)

We stopped by the central market for some fruit on the way home. Makayla wanted pink dragon fruit and i was just peckish, so I got a fruit platter: white and pink dragon fruit, jackfruit, mango, banana and the tastiest pineapple I have ever eaten.

Last night we went for some more local food then met up with some friends from our Ha Long Bay tour for cheap beers. Poor service and restaurants “running out of beer” (to get us to buy more expensive drinks) turned our night into a pub crawl of sorts as we went from restaurant to restaurant in search of cheap beer, but it was part of the adventure. 

​​

Next stop: Ho Chi Minh city, for 1 final day in Vietnam!