Hoi An, UNESCO World Heritage Town (Local Homebrew-Viet A Lager)

Not too bad a journey on the sleeper bus even if a little bumpy, and feeling like a little nightclub on board with flickering strobe lights above us the bus actually arrived early in Hoi An. After viewing a few hostels trying to find a decent one, we checked into Phuong Dong Hotel for $10 a night down from $12.  Waiting for our room to be cleaned wasn’t a problem as we visited our new local across the road called Light Candle with lovely bubbly staff who acted like they had known us for ten years which was a nice welcome to the town. 

A bumpy journey through the night but having a bed on a bus is nice 

Phuong Dong Hotel. Tall & Narrow as always

Our new local The Light Candle, friends for life

We were only 5 minutes walk from the old UNESCO World Heritage Town and we just explored this beautiful place with old French colonial buildings, amazing cafes and bakeries, art galleries and the atmospheric market which is all built on the banks of the river.  This is the place we had been looking for in Vietnam and the place is well up there for beauty with Luang Prabang and Bukit Lawang which is saying something.  The narrow winding alleys and old buildings were just beautiful. 

An Ancient Town on the River

Such a rich history like time travel backwards

The Japanese Bridge

One of hundreds of beautiful art gallery's with work from local artists



Always time for cake and Hoi An is the place. Must be it's Frenchness



Just amazing buildings & streets at every turn

In the evening we crossed over the River Song Hoai to the Cau An Hoi peninsular where we dined at Miss Lien Thao’s. It was a lovely friendly restaurant in a line of many family run restaurants where we experienced our first taste of the local Hoi An cuisine – Cao Lau and White Rose. The food was delicious and we washed it down with a bottle of the local homebrew Viet A which was pretty nice as well. 

Crossing the River for Dinner was a whole new vibe

Miss Lien Thao's for some local cuisine

Digging into the local White Rose steamed dumplings with the Beef Cau Lao waiting, washed down with the homebrew

VIET A, LAGER BEER, VIETNAM, 4.5% ABV, 800 ML BTL

The Coca-Cola beer bottle being opened Hoi An style

Now this is one beer that I can’t really tell you much about. It’s called Viet A Lager Beer; it has an ABV of 4.5% and comes in what you could call an 800ml Coca Cola Bottle made out of plastic with a screw cap. I am unable to decipher the packaging and can find no mention of it on the internet so here goes.

Now doesn't that look like Homebrewed Beer

I am pretty sure that it is one of the Vietnamese Homebrew styled locally brewed beers this being from the vicinity of Hoi An. It is advertised around town as local beer and is usually sold for 5000 Dong per glass. This means you never actually see the bottle. We managed to actually purchase a full bottle which cost us 12000 Dong and was pretty shocked with what I so.

However we had heard about drinking the local cheap beer while in Vietnam but were told that it usually came in draught form out of a Keg. This one didn’t.

It had a dark golden colour and a nice frothy head. The aroma was malty and biscuity with a hint of lemongrass, quite earthy. The taste was much better than I imagined. It was light bodied with high carbonation and the biscuity malty sweetness was balanced nicely with a touch of hops and the herby lemongrass. The scent and flavours worked well together even though they were all very slight. Nothing off putting about the lager but it’s not going to blow open your taste sensation, a pleasant easy drinking lager that tastes unbelievably good when you put the Dong into Sterling. You just can’t complain for 12p per glass.

Looks like a beer, pours like a beer & tasted like a beer. Nice...

Hoi An has a great atmosphere during the day where it feels as though you are going back in time but it really does come alive at night. The river is alight with lanterns and giant statues which illuminate the water front and it is a great place to people watch while enjoying a few more glasses of homebrew for an even more remarkable price of 4000 Dong ten pence per glass. 

The whole river alight with giant statues



Time for more local draught beer & people watching

Fresh Beer Keg

With a couple more days left this was the place we wanted to take part in a cookery class and instead of going with one of the more well know classes where the price tag ranges from $26 - $45 we opted for booking with the lady at the hotel for her brothers restaurant. It cost $15 and we started at 9am the following morning. We arrived at Dong Au restaurant and our teacher for the day was Son, it was just Kate and I in the class which was a bonus, more food for us. Our introduction into Vietnamese cooking started with a trip to the local market where Son gave us an insight into local ingredients and introduced us to a local drink that was delicious and cooling.  Can’t remember the name but it was like a sweet iced bean tea if you can imagine that? It was very tasty and refreshing. 

With Son outside his restaurant Dong Au

Learning about local cooking ingredients at the local market

Sat with the regulars waiting for Bean Iced Tea

Arriving back at the restaurant the cooking lesson was all set out with the ingredients, utensils and small gas stove at the ready.  The lesson lasted about 2 hours and was more of a demonstration but we were able to get involved with each of the dishes and he gave us time to write down all the ingredients and recipes. 

All ready for the cook-off

Concentrating while writing my very own Vietnamese mini cook book

The Demonstration Begins

The food was amazing and probably our best Vietnamese food so far if I do say so myself. These cookery courses seem to be like this, it was the same in India and Thailand such good fresh food.  We cooked fresh spring rolls, Vietnamese pancakes, morning glory and a fresh tuna steak clay pot which was truly divine. We enjoyed the food with another local beer and it was a massive lunch, all done by midday.  Absolutely stuffed that ended up being our final activity of the day, many hours needed to digest. 

Kate the master of fresh spring-rolls

The prawns are specially rolled on the outside

Vietnamese Pancake. So far so good!

Pancake One Done

Morning Glory

Tuna Steak Clay Pot-Delicious

Time to dine & test our new cooking skills



Total success. Great experience and perfect with some 'Local Fresh Beer'



We couldn’t believe that later on we were ready for dinner but we headed to the river for more Cao Lau at a street stall.  There was a great atmosphere by the river in the evening with free local music and dance shows in the square. 

Back to Family Stall Restaurant Street



Our Mini-Waitress was amazing this evening. Her on a break catching up on current affairs...





Vietnamese Cultural Street Entertainment



While in Hoi An we also crossed the bridge and visited Cam Nam Island, it was beautiful and tranquil.

Tranquil Nam Cam Island

My new career is harder than it looks. Even for a giant

We then climbed on a local taxi boat to make the 15 minute crossing to Cam Kim Island. It was definitely worth the trip, a lovely little boat ride and a pretty island that was quiet and very interesting where we were able to see boat building, locals working in the rice paddies and wood carvers.

Heading out on the local taxi boat across to Cam Kim Island

People plus bikes being unloaded

Local Bamboo Wood Carver at Work

The Rice Paddy Fields being farmed

Fishing Boat Building Yard

Can't wait to see how she rides this on dry land

Chugging back into Hoi An. Great to head out to the little islands

Hoi An was great and definitely a highlight in Vietnam so far since we left Saigon.  The beaches are now well and truly behind us as we start heading into North Vietnam.  Our next destination was Hue where we climbed onto another sleeper bus but only for a 4 hour journey. It was an early morning bus so we arrived at our next destination by lunch time after stopping to visit Marble Mountain en route

A quick stop at Marble Mountain On-route to Hue City

Entrance to Marble Mountain. Impressive Rock Face