Vietnam: Seeing the real Hoi An


For our second day in Hoi An we booked a full day tour of the countryside. I had a hookup for a private tour guide called Ha through a friend who had been previously. We explained to him that we wanted to see the real countryside lifestyle of the local people on a bicycle tour. Ha suggested we also incorporate a food tour into the itinerary too which sounded great to us!

We kicked off at about 7.30am from our hotel, riding into town to catch the ferry to nearby Cam Kim island. Despite the increase in size and popularity of Hoi An, this island still has many rural villages practising agriculture and traditional handicrafts – a good place to start our tour!

First up we saw a traditional woodworkers. They produced intricate furniture to order for clients all over the country and even worldwide. It was great to see that a small company was doing well in that respect, although looking at the quality of work they deserved it.

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Hand-carved wood panels from Hoi An

We then went to a family’s house nearby where the grandmother was making rice pancakes and noodles. We had a go at making them, Ali messed hers up at the crucial ‘picking-up’ stage. It was cool to see how simple it actually was, and fascinating to see that they fuel the fire to cook these from the leftover dried husks of the rice – nothing goes to waste (except Ali’s pancake).

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We then got to try a traditional farmers lunch: a smooth pancake and a crispy pancake pressed together and served with soy sauce for dipping. Simple but so tasty.

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We cycled on through peaceful rice paddies and small villages, saw local farmers at work and stopped at the house of a bamboo weaver. There was a half finished bamboo sleeping mat on the floor inside. Once again we were treated to a demonstration before getting a go ourselves. The lady threaded in the coloured bamboo straw and we had to pull back this big wooden comb to fix them in place, we then tilted the comb to open the threads in the opposite direction and repeated (I’m sure someone with actual weaving knowledge could give a much better explanation than that!)

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Unfortunately the trickiest part was balancing on the thin wooden plank in the middle of the suspended mat. On my first attempt to get on I slipped backwards and my big Western arse snapped a load of the supporting threads! I was pretty mortified but was assured it was ok and that it could be fixed. Sure enough they tied them all back together and I was much more careful next time round!

After more rice paddy cycling we completed our circuit of the island and headed back over to Hoi An for some Vietnamese lunch at the market.

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First on the menu were ‘bahn xi’ – rice flour pancakes filled with beansprouts, shrimp & pork. You roll them up in rice paper with some greens and dip in a peanut sauce – delicious. We also had some ‘nem lui’ which were barbecued pork eaten in the same way – also excellent.

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We were getting pretty full when Ha announced that the next stop was for lunch number 2! This time we were to try what he called ‘the best sandwich in the world.’ I explained how I eat a lot of sandwiches and so he’d best be careful about that claim, but he was pretty sure of himself. We made our way to a famous, family-run bahn mi shop and ordered the special. The bahn mi is Vietnam’s national sandwich, usually consisting of a baguette with meat pate, fresh greens including coriander and mint, some meat (usually beef or pork) and sauce (fish/chilli/both). Here’s what we got in Hoi An…

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There was about 4 different meats, egg, fresh tomato and some top secret sauces. The combo definitely made one of the best sandwiches in the world – we even went back the next day for another! And it cost about £0.80/$1.20 as well, crazy!

With extra full bellies we got back on the saddles to head out to the countryside and the coconut water forest.

As the name suggests, the water forest is flooded groves of a particular type of coconut tree. The leaves of the trees are used to make thatched rooves which are exported all over Vietnam. The locals get about in small circular bamboo boats called ‘coconut boats’ (as they look like half a coconut shell).

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We got in a boat and went for a ride with a local and Ha. We had a go of rowing and it was tough going. Then the local took the single oar and proceeded to guide us round one handed with amazing skill making it look easy!

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We pulled up at an adventure centre where we got to try bamboo rod fishing. Ali caught a fish but I was empty handed. I even got to have a go of the giant fish nets they use in the area and still couldn’t pull anything from the water. It was definitely Ali’s day and I think it has sparked an urge to fish again (although she refused to touch the fish and insisted on releasing it back) so watch this space…

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We left and got back to our bicycles and continued on through the country, passing rice paddies and shrimp farms to get to one last adventure: driving a Vietnamese BMW. The BMW in question however is not a car, but a buffalo! We got to a farm where we got a ride on the back of a buffalo, but after being saddle sore from a whole day of cycling it was a bit punishing on the backside! It was still great fun though and great to see such an amazing, powerful animal up close.

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With our countryside adventures complete we rode back into town to complete our foodie tour of Hoi An. Next on the menu was something completely new: Bahn Beo. These are small steamed rice cakes, in this case topped with a shrimp sauce and crispy noodles. They come in tiny dishes and you just add a little fish sauce, slice them up with chopsticks and slurp them down. They didn’t look too appetising but they were soooo good. We tried bahn beo later on in Vietnam but nothing came close to the Hoi An ones.

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There was one final dish to come, probably the most surprising of all. We stopped at the side of the road where a man and his wife were sat by a tin pot. They were dishing out a sweet, black, sesame soup which was very popular with the locals. The grandfather of the family is the only person in town who can make this, having learned the recipe from a chinese man many years ago. To be honest it looked pretty awful, like a little bowl of tar! However the taste was amazing – really sweet with a powerful sesame flavour. We devoured our two bowls with lightning speed!

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That was the end of our big, busy day then. After cycling back to our hotel we said our goodbyes to Ha and were done. It was a brilliant tour and Ha was an incredible guide. I’m so glad we did it and if any of you guys fancy a tour round Hoi An, give me a shout and I’ll hook you up with Ha. You won’t regret it.

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