Hoi An & the Hai Van Pass

The pretty city of Hoi An greeted me the next morning after a surprisingly above average 12 hour sleeper bus journey. Hoi An is a small river city known for its relaxed vibe and quaint streets. Think the French Riveria only in Vietnam. It's shrouded in colourful lanterns and ornate decor with winding lanes and boutique restaurants and bars. We took a bike and went around the city exploring, then to a beach. On the way we passed some wild water buffalo in the rice fields too - it's the hottest it's been so far here - the temperature is pushing 39 degrees! I like the heat but even I'm staying in shade today.

In the evening I went to see a water puppet theatre show - a famous art form in Vietnam. It was nice to see the tradition but to be honest it wasn't all that special, quite talented and skilful etc and kids would probably like it, but after a while I was ready to go. It was only half an hour though.

Hoi An is for some reason very famous for personalised tailoring - you can get just about anything tailored here, suits, dresses, bags, wallets etc and there are about 100 stores all offering the service. One street is literally just tailors - the choice is pretty overwhelming. I decided to get a suit as personalised stuff is so expensive in the UK. I don't wear one much though, so in hindsight it's probably quite the 'nice to have' extravagance 💸💸💸

I picked a place based on a couple of recommendations from other people. The process and choosing the style, materials etc is quite fun although it does involve going backwards and forwards to the same shop again and again for tweaks. It was like popping to a second home after a while. The suit looked nice, my tailor even wanted a photo, hopefully I don't get fat before I get a few chances to wear it . There was a guy who bought ten suits in one go for work, so he better not get fat either otherwise he'll be pretty gutted. On the last day I went in the store, someone was genuinely having a tailored pineapple suit made - as in the whole suit just had images of pineapples on - like a fancy dress outfit. Seemed pretty unnecessary to have that tailored even if it was cheap-ish. I can't imagine he'll be wearing it more than once or twice, how many fancy dress parties does this guy attend?! - whatever floats your boat I suppose.

Whilst in Hoi An, I also undertook a Vietnamese cooking class; it was great. I learned four simple dishes which theoretically should be easy enough to replicate... I emphasise the word theoretically. The food was delicious; fresh spring roles, Vietnamese pancakes, with a tasty dipping sauce, meat fry and papaya shrimp salad with homemade dressing. Gordon Ramsey eat your heart out!

I also happened to be in Hoi An for the monthly lantern festival and was looking forward to seeing hundreds of lanterns floating on the river and in the sky, setting the town alight with an amber glow. The reality, rather disappointingly was about 20 tiny lanterns in the river and about a hundred people trying to sell one to you to put in said river - lantern 'festival' it was not. The town still looked great but it really wasn't that different than any other night there.

The next day I embarked on The Hai Van Pass, the crossing made famous by Top Gear. Known for it's 180 degree twists and turns and beautiful scenery - it's said to be a fantastic route. We hired a bike and decided to undertake the journey to Hue; the next major city. The day was sunny and we set off on the 140km drive up, stopping at a few choice spots on the way. We looked for some food and could literally only find a fish restaurant where the 'menu' was a bunch of large washing up bowls with live fish in. You just had to point and hope you got what you wanted as nobody spoke a word of English. We managed to establish ordering shrimp and something else unidentifiable - tasted alright though.

The actual Hai Van Pass is only about 25km with its twists and turns, but the journey most of the way is also quite picturesque. The pass was great but seemed so short, it was over just as I was starting to get used to the bends. Arriving in Hue we rode alongside the locals weaving in and out of the traffic almost flowing as one...almost! If you drive how they do here in the West you'd be arrested.

Hue was nice enough, there is a giant historic Citidal in the middle which is quite interesting to see and the city is pleasant to wonder about. A guy kept trying to get me to ride on his weird cyclo thing. Honestly it was quicker to walk.

I've been persuaded from talking to a few people that Phong Nha is a good place to go from Hue, so I've booked on the bus for that next.Read more