Hoi An Love

I love Hoi An, and I'm sad to be leaving, but I'm also excited to be going to Labuanbajo and Komodo. Every time we visit Hoi An, we have a wonderful time, and this visit was no exception.

Of couse, seeing My graduate from university was fantastic, and hanging out with her family was a lot of fun. We especially enjoy chillin' with My's father, Can. Add the beautiful, (relatively) cool evenings in the old town, and our stays in Hoi An are always relaxing.

This time, we found a fantastic Green Tea Home Stay (thanks Airbnb!) owned by the sweet Yan (pronounced Ian) and managed by the ever-cheerful Chi. 

Hoi An is a place known for its custom tailor shops. The first time we came to Hoi An, we were stalked for five blocks by a woman on a bicycle, who was trying to get us into her tailor shop.  It turned out that Tadashi forgot his shirts at home, so he decided to get a couple made. It was not a good experience. The shop we went to quoted him a price, but that price was for the cheapest frabic. And buttons? That'll be extra too. Needless to say the shirts looked horrible after two washings.  

We've been back to Hoi An many times, but have never gotten anything made. Until this trip. The owner of our home stay, Yan, opened up a taylor shop of her own while we were staying there. Tadashi and I popped into Phu Phu (pronounced like "little bunny foux foux") the first day to check it out and support Yan. The quality looked great, and the price was great too, so we got some things made. It was great to finally find a quality tailor in Hoi An.

Better still, we found some fantastic restaurants too! We have always loved the cau lau at Cargo, which was exactly where we headed right after we checked in at Green Tea. It didn't disappoint, but we were thrilled when we found the restaurant The Market, by the same owner (Ms. Vy). This place, hands down, had the best Vietnamese food we've had. Ever.

Not only are the food and drinks spectacular, the many kitchens surround the eating area, so you can see not only the food being prepared, but you can see the final results too.  More on that in my next blog.

We went to The Market for just about every meal during out stay, so we got to know the staff. We had a lot of fun talking to the super sweet manager, Lu, who always had a smile despite being eight months pregnant in the sweltering heat. 

Suffice it to say that we ate phenomenal food for week on a burrito budget. This is one reason why I'm sad to leave Hoi An... I will miss the food. If you know of a great Vietnamese restaurant in the Bay Area, please let me know. Although I know it likely won't be the same. It's the local, Vietnamese vegetables that tend to make the food soooo much better in Hoi An.

Now we're heading back to Indonesia. Back to our regularly scheduled vacation. We'll spend Independence day in Kuta, Bali, where we hope to find a hot dog with some sauerkraut and maybe some egg evil (aka deviled eggs). 

Bali boats

Bali rice field

Bali tourist supplies

We are waiting for our flight to Bali in the Singapore airport, which is always a pleasure. They have tons of beautiful flowers inside and out.  This is the outside smoking area, accessible from the post-security area.

The best part of the layover? We got a sample of a cosmopolitan made with extra-stong vodka. Now that's what I call a great layover!