We nap, fitfully, but at least we get a little sleep in before the alarm rudely awakes us at 5pm. Up, showered, packed and out the door – our flight is at 10:35 and we want to leave with plenty of time to spare. Luckily we are always antsy, because the Uber has issues finding the hotel – there is something wrong with the app – because the last couple of times we have used it, the location never shows up correctly. Fortunately, the concierge/valet guys outside the hotel come to the rescue, calling our driver and telling him where to come for the pick up. Touts aside? Everyone else here is so helpful and friendly and lovely – you can see why people come here to retire.
The Uber finally arrives and instead of putting our luggage in the trunk, he hauls it up on the rooftop. Really? Oh jeez! The hotel guy and I just look at each other. Oh well, what are you going to do? We hope in the car and keep our fingers crossed the bags stay on the roof rack. Which, fortunately they do, even though I hear them shifting a couple of times which gives me a little case of agita! But, in the end, we and the bags make it to the airport in one piece. We check in – with hours to spare – and head directly to the lounge for snacks and drinks. And “monkey” beer! Called Bira – it’s Indian with the cutest monkey on the label. It’s adorable, and Ed says the beer isn’t all that bad either.
A couple of hours later and we are on our flight, being fed and served and then trying to sleep at least a couple of hours before we hit the Hanoi airport for our 3 hour layover. Another lounge, coffee, snacks, then a quick flight to Danang where we have to re-fill out forms for our visa (which had already been filled out and processed by Luke, our wonderful manager in Hanoi – but you know – you don’t argue with the passport control guys!). Once the paperwork is handled, the fees paid, we are quickly through passport control, luggage claim and out into the waiting area looking for our ride. The La Siesta van driver is right there with our name held high, and we proceed without delay to the van for the 30 minute ride to Hoi An.
The driver doesn’t speak much English, but that’s ok, we’re happy to hang out in the back and watch Danang go by, the scenery changing to more rural farm lands, and then to Farang central as we get closer to Hoi An. Once at the hotel, we are greeted, given our welcome drinks and walked through all the tours we have booked and the credits we have to spend at the hotel (ok, it’s a “resort,” but we so totally hate to refer to it as such…it is so not us…usually! But we love this hotel group, and when we were in Hanoi last year, we mentioned we were thinking of coming here to the desk manager, who then gave us his card and told us to contact him with our information, and he would organize the whole thing. And he did! So, how could you turn an offer like that down?). It’s almost like step-down care! After all the attention and organization we’ve had from Bhanu, this feels like a nice bridge to being completely on our own (not that we’ve ever had a problem with that, but after so many weeks of being pampered, well, it’s nice to have a modicum of structure!
After our orientation, we get a tour of the facilities and then shown to our room, which is huge and equipped with everything you could ever need, included a lovely balcony overlooking the pool. Perfect. Once the luggage comes, we settle in, organize ourselves, get our laundry situated (we get 10 pieces free/day) and decide to head out into town in search of an ATM. One of the wonderful things about the La Siesta is that it is located at the edge of the town – literally. We are a good 10 minute walk to the beginning of the tourist district which makes the location a great retreat. We navigate the narrow sidewalks, crowded by shops encroaching onto the pavement and motorcycle parking to find an ATM nestled in a crook on the side of the road. Cashed up – we then decide to find a place for a drink on the way back to the hotel. We find the perfect spot a few doors up – where the sign says they have fresh beer (bia hoi), but they really don’t (no one has that any longer – it is a thing of the past, sadly). The girl is so sweet though, and they have other beer and wine, so what the heck, we’ll take a break.
Beverages finished, we start the trek back to La Siesta, only to be stopped a few blocks later by a French lady who says she is developing tourist activity here in Hoi An. Her opening salvo, “We speak English. We don’t bite.” Uh huh. She and her partner, a guy from the Netherlands, lasso us talking about developing tourism, yada yada yada. We talk to them about living in Hoi An and visiting different places in SE Asia, and its all pretty innocent, until they give us these scratch off fliers. Ed wins a hat, and I win one of 3 grand prizes (oh! really!): an iPhone, $250 cash or a 7 night stay at the resort they are hawking. We tell them we are not their demographic. They don’t listen. We tell them we are not going to buy a time-share, they say they aren’t a time-share operation. Doesn't matter what we say, they have an answer. But they also want us to come with them right this minute to their visitor center to certify our prizes. Uh, no. We are onto that game, and no. Not coming. Plus, honestly, we do have a tour this evening and we are pushing our timeline in terms of the meeting time. Eventually, after much haggling, they decide to give us our “winning” cards, with the promise that we will contact them and come to the visitor center. They admonish us not to scratch off the code until we are there with them, or they will not get their commission. Yeah. Right. We didn’t live in Hilton Head for nothing!
Finally, we disengage from the sales pressure and make our way back to the hotel to chill a bit before our street food tour. Of course, in the meantime, we thoroughly research this organization with whom the “not time-share” people work, and find they are basically selling resort time (time-share but with a different name). There tons and tons of negative reviews – about how you pay for time but then can’t ever reserve what you want, or it costs extra, etc. We knew it wasn’t for us anyway, so now we are even more vindicated. I bet Ed that if we scratched off our “code” it would only give us 7 days at the resort – because, really, what else would they possibly give you? Not the money or a phone – way too expensive – and sure enough, guess what we won? 7 days at their resort. God! I think I’d rather deal with the touts in India. At least they are working for themselves and not some huge corporation. Argh.
On our way back to the hotel, we stop at the little convenience store next door for beer and wine provisions. There is a great selection of wine, at reasonable prices, so I know I can keep stocked up easily. As we are paying, the girl gives us a bag of chips to take along with us. How sweet! Beer, wine and snacks for later.
So, after a rushed shower and change of clothing, we are off to our street food tour. We meet our guide, Tom, in the lobby and reconnoiter about our evening. No dietary restrictions, no special requests or needs. Ok, that’s out of the way. Now, do we walk or drive into town? Drive! We’ve already done the walk – why repeat it? We pile into a car and head into town, arriving at our first stop, the White Rose, a famous dumpling restaurant in Hoi An. There is a story here, one I definitely don’t remember, but something about a French man who came here and loved the city so much (and the dumplings) that he help restore and preserve it to its former glory. I don’t know, but there is a picture on the wall commemorating him – and one day Google will help me figure out the whole story – but it’s not going to be today!
So – anyway, we are at the White Rose and we are treated to a tour of the kitchen to see how the girls (and they are all girls) shape the dumplings, stuff them, and then how they are cooked in the back in huge pots. Returning to our table, we are served a huge platter of these delectable pork stuffed dumplings with fried shallots on top (oh, we are so doing that when we get home). Yummy! I’m stuffed already, and we’re just beginning.
And beginning, we are. We follow Tom out of the restaurant as he struts his way down the street (he is so cute, and so full of himself) to our next stop – some alleyway for Cao Lau – the traditional Hoi An dish. But since we’ve had Cao Lau before, Tom has decided to order us something different, some combination of bean sprouts, noodles and rice. No clue what it is, but it’s really good – and we stuff our faces while chatting about Tom’s life, his wife, what he wants to do, just shooting the breeze.
Next up is a Pho place, with an excellent portion of noodles, pork and savory broth. Its in a little alleyway where all the chefs are eating. Hey – if they chefs are here, we’re all in! I was stuffed before – forget it now! Ed is in heaven though, because this is right up his alley – Pho is his go to dish – he can eat it every day, all day long! Next, we meander down streets, looking into to different places – I’m thoroughly lost, my sense of direction gone hay wire since we first left the White Rose. I sort of know where the “old city” of Hoi An is, but where we are now? Not a clue (later, I’ll figure out we’re just a block or two above the old town, but for now, the mystery adds to the fun of the evening!).
After Pho, we wander down the streets looking here and there. Tom wants to take us to the famous Banh Mi place where Anthony Bourdain (please don’t let me cry) ate. But alas, they have “run out of bread.” Yep, big pre-printed sign out front says no more bread, no more banh mi. Bummer! Tom tells us to remember where this is, so we can come back later, and I duly note it by taking pictures of the signs so we can remember where we are.
So, with this disappointment, we have to find another venue to eat – because of course we need more food – ha! Not! But Tom finds another little alleyway, replete with trash under our feet and a dirty table (Oh, Bhanu would be having hissy-fits over this one!) for us to try one more Vietnamese specialty – some soup type dish with spicy chili or some such condiment floating in the broth. I’m never quite sure exactly what it is, but it tastes great, and we’ve got bread to dip in the broth. That makes life livable, so all is good! We started out at 4:30, it’s now 6:45 and we are done. You just can’t eat that amount of food in 2 hours and not be laid out for the rest of the night. Not for us Farangs, that is, maybe the Vietnamese can do it – but we’re toast! Tom, bless his heart, asks if we want ice cream. Heck no! We want to crash on our balcony overlooking the pool with a beer and a wine and then fall into a slumber stupor. It’s been a long, long day. Sorry to disappoint you Tom!
But, Tom takes it all in stride, finding us a taxi to take us back to La Siesta, then adroitly dropping us off in the lobby while collecting his tour commission from the front desk. Altogether, a lovely way to spend a first evening in Hoi An, when we are still a little whipped from the tour and the overnight flights.
We repair to our balcony, where happily, the noisy Chinese have finished their pool hijinks for the evening and we spend a lovely few minutes in the warm fresh air, before crashing in our fantastically soft and comfortable bed. We will be all rested and ready for our tour tomorrow of My Son!
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