Hoi An Food Tour.
Well, today almost turned out to be a bust, as the half day tour to the Marble Mountains I booked got cancelled, rescheduled for tomorrow, and I’m leaving for Da Nang tomorrow. However, the day turned out very well, and as I looked at the schedule for the Marble Mountains tour, I noticed it also picks up passengers in Da Nang, so I asked whether I could take the tour tomorrow, and get dropped off in or near Da Nang instead of returning to Hoi An, and if I could bring my backpack with me. Da Nang is actually only 27 miles from here. The answer was yes, so hopefully all will go well, I’ll take the tour, and wind up in Da Nang, where I was heading tomorrow anyway, and save myself some taxi fare.
So I had a lot of time on my hands, as there’s not too much more locally I’m interested in doing, and as much as I love the area and walking around here, I can’t keep doing the same walks. But before I decided just exactly what I was going to to today, I took yet another look at my itinerary, feeling wistful that I was no longer going to see Ho Chi Minh City (which everyone here calls Saigon) and decided, what the hell, to change my plans once again and fly to Ho Chi Minh and return to Toronto from there, instead of heading back from Hanoi. With awful come-and-go Internet service here, exploring that and actually making changes took forever, like molasses, and extra slow moving molasses at that, and I also had to rebook my flight from Da Nang, now going to Ho Chi Minh instead of Hanoi. This is all a giant circle, because all I would had to have done in the first place was change the date of my domestic flight from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh, and leave everything else intact. I was in too much of a hurry to make those changes a week or so ago (or whenever it was) and felt pressed to get outside and join Laurence in Hanoi, and didn’t think it through clearly enough at the time. Oh well, not such a big deal, although I am out a few hundred bucks. But that’s all taken care of, and I’ve booked rooms in both Da Nang for tomorrow night and Ho Chi Minh for the day after, my last evening on this trip (sad).
Then, I looked at any street walks for this afternoon, and there was that food walk I’d thought about taking, which I booked for 5:30, and which subsequently changed to 6, but that timing seemed fine, and after all it was about tasting local food all over town, and that’s dinner time. I headed into town probably around 2, and just tooled around, finding places to sit and read the news, learn more about the town, etc., and just kill time, but in a nice and relaxing way (in blazing hot weather, although I think it might have been a little cooler today) and in a beautiful environment.
I met the food tour guide, Kun, just before 6, and also the other three members of our group, a couple and their 22-year-old son from Portugal, and a pretty well-traveled family, here in Vietnam for the first time, for about 40 days. Very nice folks, and I enjoyed getting to know them a little as we spent the next couple of hours together. The thing about these small tours I’ve been on each day is that they become quite personal with such a small group, and as the tour moves on people start taking an interest in one another, as well the guide, and the experience goes beyond just the content and itinerary of the tour itself. Needless to say, Kun was great. With the possible exception of my student guide from the Imperial City in Hue, who was just learning to become a guide, all these guides have been exceptional, each in different ways, but importantly they are all very personable and charming,. open and authentic in their presentation, interesting, and easy to like. By the end of the tour, you feel like friends, and are, even if temporarily. Each of the three tours I’ve taken here have ended with hugs. That’s not the norm for most tours I’ve taken in the past, and says something about the “feel” of these tours, and the super nice and lovable guides.
Like the other guides, as we walked Kun shared stuff about her life and her aspirations, growing up in a small village not too far from Hoi An, and living in Hoi An for the past 9 years, since she was 18. She was cute, bouncy, effervescent and full of life, and interesting, and loves to sing, especially western pop, and which she increasingly did during our walk. She also talked about changing values, and an increasing sense among young people of the importance of deciding for yourself how you want to live your life. That was balanced though by respect for elders and reverence for ancestors, love of country and community, and a deep sense of spirituality and harmony, which seems to characterize the Vietnamese ethic. .
We ate in small local places, most of which could seat just a few people, or you sat on small plastic chairs outside, and we ate about seven different dishes, some of which I’d already tried, starting with a Banh Mi Thap Cam baguette sandwich, with a mix of meats, from a small street eatery that Anthony Bourdain rated the best in Vietnam (as it proudly shows on the photo next to the eatery), which was delicious (of course). Then we went to the Quan Thang Ancient House, where I visited and ate the other day and had White Rose dumplings and Hoanh Thanh Chien, fried wontons topped with a salsa-like mixture of shrimp, pork, and vegetables in a sweet and sour sauce, shaped and eaten like a slice of pizza. I was both surprised and flattered that they remembered me from the other day, and for some reason had left a good impression, and they made a point of welcoming me back. They must see dozens, if not hundreds, of people daily. That was especially nice, and I made a point of saying goodbye and thanking them when we left.
In fact, everywhere we ate was a personal experience because Kun knows all these people, and herself is so personable. Like yesterday on my tour with Karla, these local owners are both welcoming and gracious, and really want you to enjoy and appreciate their food. In several cases, like the Thai family, you’re eating, not just in their eatery, but in their homes, and we were greeted by many beaming faces, broad and sincere smiles, and head nods. Lovely (as I keep saying).
We visited Ba Le Well, a small and ancient well, tucked away on Chu Trinh Street, dating back 800-1000 years, from which the water is drawn to make Cao Lau noodles. The rice for the noodles is soaked in a lye solution made from the well water, and mixed with ash from trees grown on the nearby Cham Islands, which gives it that brown coloring. It’s as local and specific as you can get.
Then, at another small family owned eatery near the well, we had Che Me Den, a thick and sweet black sesame soup, also made with the water from Be Le well. And also quite delicious, drunk with a mild ginger tea, for the yin and yang, or balance of the meal. The owner of this home is a 102-year-old women, whose husband died two years ago at age 104. Black sesame soup keeps you young. There were lovely photos of the two of them together. Of course, it made me think of Bev.
Our final meal was another local noodle, mi Quang, which doesn’t belong solely to Hoi An, but is a signature dish of the surrounding Quang Nam Province. Unlike the thick, chewy, and brownish Cao Lau noodles, Mi Quang noodles are wide, flat, and usually white or yellow, tinted with turmeric, and have a much softer and less chewy texture. Like Cao Loa, it’s served with only a small amount of broth at the bottom of the bowl, and topped with shrimp, pork, chicken, boiled quail eggs, and sometimes other meats or seafood, as well as fresh local greens, and toasted sesame rice crackers. Unlike the other food, this was a full serving, and by now I couldn’t take much more food, but ate as much as I could, and really enjoyed it.
But, it really wasn’t the final dish. That was desert served at yet another home of two very lovely people, who were so pleased to have us there (and interested to know how old I was; the wife was 73, and her husband 81), and that was very delicious home grown and made avocado iceream. Who’da thunk it? Very, very tasty.
Time to part ways. Hugs all round and a rousing hand grasping cheer, led by Kun, that was so rousing that two passing women asked to join in. What a nice scene, and what a nice vibe Kun created.
By now, I realized the “right” size tip for these free tours is 300,000 dong, which I’d given Karla yesterday and Kun today, and I gave Kun an additional 100,000 and asked her to pass that along to Shanti, who I now realized I’d under-tipped. She soon sent me a photo of her giving the money to a smiling Shanti, and I received a whatsapp from Shanti. I knew though that Kun would pass the money along.
Tomorrow I get picked up for the Marble Mountain tour around 7:30, and after lunch in that area I’ll make my way to Da Nang, where I’ll have just the rest of the day and evening before flying down to Ho Chi Minh the next morning.
Goodnight.