Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hoi An First Morning and Breakfast at Emerald Riverside Resort

 

Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hoi An First Night Walking in the Rain

 

Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hoi An Dinner on the First Night

My friend picked the first restaurant for our first dinner in Hoi An. I think she picked it 

because the place was jammed packed with locals instead of foreigners. (Note: foreigners to me usually refers to AngMoh a.k.a. caucasians.) I didn't object cause the price was ok, and they serves some of the cuisine I wanted to try.

The name and the menu of the restaurant. One nice thing about Vietnam is, almost every cafe or restaurant usually provides wifi for you to use. I learned that when I was working there and doesn't have a roaming plan. Of course sometimes I got stuck and couldn't call a Grab back.....

Look at the seafood! I don't even know how much those are!

I wanted to try the clam claypot rice, and one of the noodles too.

Ah here it is. Cao Lau. 

My friend did the ordering. So we got grilled brinjal. I love brinjal so I didn't object to this.

I got my noodles. It was interesting, but not as nice as Mi Quang.

Got some grilled sotong, which was a bit too dry. 

Got some grilled oysters too, which was again, too dry! So yeah, the seafood was a tad disappointing. Actually, I would have preferred to kept our seafood dishes to Danang instead since that's where it's famous for. Hoi An is after all, a kinda village.....

Tried the clam rice, which was just so so. They actually minced up the clam, so you don't see a whole clam inside anywhere.... Doesn't even taste remotely near to the sea, sorry! It was a filly meal, but not really memorable in taste.

The coffee was always great though. And we actually sat next to two trans lady who was also doing streaming while they eat with a bunch of old man, lol. That itself was rather interesting. It was a super local restaurant so everyone was kinda seated shoulder to shoulder with each other. 

Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hoi An Emerald Riverside Resort Hotel

 

We managed to get a Grab from Danang all the way to Hoi An! It was almost a 45minutes ride. I used to be afraid of taking taxi or Grab in South East Asia in case they kidnap me to somewhere else. But recently I've been a lot more chill about it. Maybe for one, we looked local, and for two I always greet them first in Vietnamese so it's like an obligation to treat us more locally ? Lol. I don't know. I just feel much more comfortable now travelling around Vietnam than last time. We reached our hotel around 7pm I think. We were staying for 3 nights at the Emerald Riverside Resort.

I pick it cause it's near the old town, yet some distance away so that we won't be bothered with the crowd and sound. I personally like the hotel cause it reminded me of those hotels in Penang or Malaysia, but I think it was rather dated for my friend's liking. I wanted to book 3 nights in the pool view room, but it wasn't available, so I got 2 nights garden view and 1 night pool view. For some reason, after we checked into our room, they told us we could have the pool view room for the whole 3 nights at no extra charge! YES!

There was no bath in the toilet, just a shower. We put our bags, and went out to look for dinner.

It was just a short walk to reach the old town area. I instantly saw Morning Glory, one of the restaurant that people recommended in the forum. I realised that what foreigners recommend online might not be what I want to actually try. They are usually expensive, sterile, and tone down in taste as compared to the real deal. Looking at this building, I decided not to even mention this restaurant to my friend.

Isn't the green lantern pretty? I love the colour of emerald green. I picked this hotel because I once stayed at a hotel called Emerald in Hanoi too, and had a lovely experience there. So I thought it might be the same here. During checked-out I was told they are not related. Still, I enjoyed my stay here a lot and don't mind coming back again. 

Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hue Train to Danang

 

Typical scene of Vietnam, paddy fields and mountain view. I felt that the sceneries from Hue back to Danang was somehow better. It could be the mood I was in too. I enjoyed Hue and it's relaxing ambiance a lot, so when we took the train back to Danang, I was in a very relaxed state of mind and maybe was able to enjoy the scenery more. 

The view of the bay sparkling by.

We spotted some private beaches where we have no idea how people actually get to since it's down by the hillside were the train ran through.

Saw the same bridges and fishing boats. Maybe it was the direction and the sun position of the trip that made the scenery looked much more spectacular?

After a while, I decided to go check out the community train since I didn't do so on the way to Hue. I might not be on board such a train again and I didn't want to regret not experiencing whatever it was they have there. So I told my friend I'll go take a look. The usual snacks and service staff was there, but I was not expecting a singer singing on the train!

The pretty lady in yellow ao dai was singing local Vietnamese song that sounded similar to showa period songs. Her voice was pretty good with a rough edge to it. Some families with kids were seated around to listen to her and also looked out the train window. I thought this was truly a Vietnamese experience! And was so glad I visited this carriage! I sat for quite a while there enjoying her singing. 

I thought she looked rather demure too. And it must be nice (hopefully not depressing), to be able to sing on a train for people. 

I even took a video of her performing. Truly love it.

All too soon, we were pulling into Danang area. More sea, more mountains......

And soon, the familiar fishing boats appear, so I went back to my seat and got really for our next leg of the journey. We were headed to Hoi An next, and I was hoping we can get a Grab there. Hopefully that wouldn't be an issue! Tune in tomorrow!