In May Bron’s twin sister Michelle messaged to say, what do you think if I come visit you in Vietnam in August solo for two weeks? We said yaaasssss!!! That’s a brilliant idea. Plans were made, three months flew by and before we knew it, she was here.
We decided to spend half the time in Ho Chi Minh City with a week in the middle travelling somewhere in Vietnam. The first days in HCMC were spent at the swimming pool, at our favourite lunch spots in our area, and getting our nails done, giving Michelle time to adjust to the time zone. On the weekend we ventured into District 1 to the War Remnants Museum, mostly a photo expo of the US Vietnam War. It is deeply moving and disturbing at times, but well worth a visit. Other District 1 highlights were Nguyen Hue walking street at sunset, secret garden restaurant, Banana Mama rooftop bar, Saigon SkyDeck observation deck at Bitexco building with views over the whole city, Ben Thanh Market, and the old Saigon Central Post Office. There was also Friday night sushi bar hopping in the Little Japan area in District 1 followed by good times at Accoustic Bar in our area. Sunday wrapped up in bliss with a full body massage at one of our favourite spas.
Sushi night in D1
Old Saigon Post Office
There are so many interesting and beautiful places to see in Vietnam it was a struggle to choose where to go with only a week in hand. In the end, we chose Hoi An and Hue via the Hai Van Pass as a good combo and taste of Vietnam and packs a punch in a short space of time.
To reach Hoi An, you have to fly into Da Nang City. From Da Nang to Hoi An, we took a slight detour and visited Tam Thanh Mural Village a bit south of Hoi An ‘on the way’ from the airport. South Korean artists inspired and helped a traditional fishing village transform into a mural village. Almost every house has an entire wall or more devoted to a beautiful mural painting. It was mid day and blazing hot with no one else on the street, but beautiful and worth the trip all the same.
Tam Thanh Mural Village
In Hoi An, we stayed at Happy Village An Bang Beach, a very friendly and comfortable homestay a stone’s throw from the beach. The early mornings and late evenings were for long walks on the white sand beach. The hot days were for swimming, reading, and staying out of the sun. We discovered Thom’s Sourdough Bakery, a perfect spot to while away a hot afternoon with good company, a good book, and a tasty treat. Michelle was amazing and got up early to run each day, I admire your commitment! Thanks for not waking me lol.
Pho, Michelle's new BFF
After two slower days we moved closer to Hoi An ancient city to explore the old town. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Hoi An was once a bustling trading port before the river silted up. The French and Chinese influence is evident in the architecture throughout the town. Unfortunately one of the main attractions, the Japanese Covered Bridge, was covered in scaffolding for restoration works. Deeply disappointing but also probably good and necessary.
The morning was spent at Roving Chillhouse, a cafe in the middle of the rice fields. Chill is the word of the day and watching the golden rice fields gently blowing in the breeze was incredibly chilled and relaxing. In the afternoon we changed gear and enjoyed a lantern making class! We weren’t sure what to expect but it was not difficult and uber fun. We would definitely do this again! You can choose to make the frame from scratch or start with a pre-made frame, we chose a pre-made frame. Next choose your fabric and start glueing! We decided to make lanterns for the kids and chose yellow with swallows for Daniella and green with cranes for Joshua. Finish by trimming the excess fabric from the frame and choose a tassel. Add a light bulb and ta-da! It took us longer than expected but were happy with the result of our first attempt at making a Hoi An lantern.
Roving Chillhouse and Lantern Making
Justin arrived on the Thursday night to join us for the weekend. On the Friday we had another full day in Hoi An. It was a much slower start around the pool and a slow brunch. After that we escaped the mid day sun at Rehahn’s Precious Heritage Museum. Rehahn is a French photographer who has made Hoi An his residence. He has made it his mission to visit all 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam. He succeeded and turned this decade long project into a free museum in Hoi An complete with life size photographs and many traditional costumes of the tribes. His photography is amazing and this museum is definitely worth a visit. The rest of the day was spent enjoying famous Vietnamese Banh Mi, the ancient town at its best in the golden light of late afternoon, a special dinner at the well known Morning Glory restaurant, and drinks at a local bar after.
Coconut and egg coffee at Cafe Phin
We have wanted to do the Hai Van Pass between Hoi An and Hue for a long time and Michelle’s trip was the perfect opportunity. We looked for something a little different and booked a Jeep tour: a drive along the winding mountain pass in an original US Jeep. The day started with a pick up in a normal car with a stop at the Marble Mountains in Da Nang: a group of 5 limestone peaks named after the 5 elements with a network of caves and tunnels, pagodas and shrines. Think: stairs and views!
From the Marble Mountains, we continued through Da Nang and made a start on the Hai Van Pass. Steep, winding, beautiful, and scary. The road is narrow with so many trucks and blind spots, there were some interesting and very close moments. Many people were doing the pass on motorbikes, we had considered this as an option but really glad we decided not to do it on bikes. About halfway, we stopped at a local roadside cafe with a view of the mountains and changed over to the Jeep. The rest of the pass was downhill and much slower in the Jeep. After the pass, our lovely guide took the back country roads as much as possible. Along the way we stopped at a lagoon, the beach, a waterfall, and many buffalo happily grazing and some resting in a river while we each took turns to choose our favourite tunes. Shotgun by George Ezra was definitely a favourite. It was a fun but long day and we finally arrived in Hue as the sun was going down. A swim, dinner and early night were in order.
♪ I'll be riding shotgun, underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone ♪
On the Sunday our plans changed slightly due to a driver miscommunication but we got the day back on track and first up was Hue Imperial City. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Imperial City was the capital city and home of the Nguyen Dynasty, emperors of Vietnam for 143 years from 1802 to 1945. The complex is made up of palaces, pagodas, tombs, gardens, and shrines. Many of the significant buildings were lost in the Indo China and US Vietnam War, but restoration works are under way for at least some of the buildings.
School kids practicing their English while Justin queues and buys entrance tickets
From the Imperial City we made a quick stop at the Royal Antiquities Museum before lunch at Hanh Pancake for Hue style pancakes. The rest of the afternoon was spent hopping to the tombs of Khai Dinh and Ming Mang, Nguyen Dynasty Emperors. Justin was flying back to HCMC in the evening, while Shell and Bron enjoyed another dinner at the wonderful Madam Thu restaurant.
I 🧡 Hue
The Monday was our last day in Hue. Hue is well known for it’s foodie scene so we decided to do a cooking class at Madam Thu’s restaurant. The day started with a cyclo or rickshaw ride to the local market where our guide taught us how to bargain in Vietnamese hahaha. From the market, we headed back to the restaurant, fresh produce in hand, for our cooking class. It was just the two of us so it was very personal. We learnt how to make pork lemongrass skewers, Hue crispy pancakes, fresh spring rolls, and eggplant in tomato sauce. At the end we enjoyed lunch together with our two guides.
Lunch is served!
Lunch with our two guides
The hotel kindly let us swim and shower even though we’d already checked out and the afternoon was spent keeping cool in a cafe with a good read. All too soon it was time to head back to HCMC.
There were only three days left before Michelle flew back to London. The first was spent in a marathon laundry session and recovering from the week trip. The second, we had a special lunch with Justin and then got our creative on at Toong Teng Studio making mosaic tile alphabet letters of the kids names. It was really fun but also a little intense trying to finish four letters each in the allocated three hours. Cracking the tiles was a bit of a challenge but we eventually got the hang of it. It was fun and the final product turned out well.
Mosaic tile workshop at Toong Teng Studio
Her last day arrived and was a flurry of packing and getting organised with a last special twinny lunch and Garden Kisses cinnamon bun date before heading to the airport. And then she was off, taking a piece of my heart with her.
Thank you for visiting us!! It was super special and fun and we hope you rested a little bit inbetween all the activities. We can’t wait for your next visit, next year, hint Hint. Hope to see you here, there or somewhere inbetween again soon.
There was no time to rest as the next day J&B were jetting off to Japan! See you next time for more on our Japan adventures xx
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