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Today I woke early to the sound of the breakfast buffet being set up, I didn't realise till later but our window opened up on to a small area over the pool and adjacent to the breakfast room so all noise echoed up to our room... This wasn't helped by the typically loud Vietnamese families outside our room who seem to rise with their children at the crack of dawn, ensuring everyone else rises to due to their screeching.
Not long after I woke Steven opened his eyes and we decided to head for some breakfast before chilling out in the coolness of our room till checkout at twelve. The breakfast was fairly impressive with noodles, vegetables, the most amazing potatoes with cheese and bacon... As well as fruit, bread, French toast and cereals. There was also a girl making pancakes and omelettes but they were of 'The Borrowers' size so we didn't bother. The juice was amazing and freshly pressed and included apple, passion fruit (amazing) or water melon... Overall a good spread and great as it was included in the room rate.
After breakfast we headed back upstairs and showered and packed, I then dozed for a while as I was shattered, I hadn't slept well the past couple of nights and felt the way I did when I did shift work... Something I'm not looking forward to returning too. I weighed myself yesterday and despite eating a lot more recently I have still managed to lose some weight (although I haven't noticed any further loss) and I put it down purely on the fact I am no longer doing shift work. Before nursing I always weighed in at about 65kg give or take... Then after commencing my course and starting work post degree my weight would sit around 73kg. It doesn't make a big difference to my appearance or anything as I'm fairly tall but its amazing that no matter how much I dieted or ran around in A&E I stayed the same. Obviously my diet is different here too but then again more often then not I eat a lot more here because everything is so new and delicious. I suppose the truth will be told when we arrive in Australia and back to a western diet.
Anyway I'm side tracking... After my doze, which was rudely disturbed by Mr Abel who was reading up on nursing in Oz (all he ever does.. no pressure Laura) and had woken me excited about learning that in jobs such as A&E and ITU nurses get paid penalties for being more specialised (something I have always said the NHS should do) and their unsociable rates of pay are unreal. Anyway he was very excited and reminded me further that its going to be me who earns our millions lol.
After we checked out we decided to relax by the pool for a while and catch up with some reading, well I was while Steven caught up with further nursing info for Oz... I'm getting the hint, really! I was kind of hoping to have a break and work a dull nine to fiver for a while but doesn't appear I have a choice in the matter. Steven was already peckish post breakfast so ordered a lunch of egg plant with tomato sauce and rice before devouring the whole thing. We then sat a while longer before the need to stretch our legs became to much and we headed out for a walk, well almost... First we had to find Stevens flip flops again they seem to grow legs and wander off now and then. Cut a long story short we eventually found them in lost and found after he had left them in our room on checking out... Doh.
We headed out into the heat of the day on a mission to find cake for now and baguettes for later. Hoi An is supposedly famous for a 'Bánh Mì', which is Vietnamese for bread. Basically the French introduced the legacy of bread or more specifically baguettes during their colonial rule. On leaving the Vietnamese refined it to their own tastes creating Bánh mì, which is a more airy version of the French baguette, created by local Hoi An bakeries, who also pull the ends of the dough prior to baking giving the baguettes small pointy ends and a crispy crust. Now days the Bánh mì is more a term used to describe a certain type of sandwich, which often contains pork liver pâté, roasted pork, Vietnamese sausage, salad, pork floss, herbs and chilli paste as well as home made mayo. We thought such a sandwich would be perfect for the night bus ahead when the munchies set in.
We firstly went to our favourite little bakery (never shop hungry) where we enjoyed a slice of their fabulous banana and chocolate tart over a cup of tea before heading off on our mission... And mission it was. We had read in a local Hoi An guide that the Bánh mì queen is a lady known as Madam Khanh, who sits at her stall on Cao Van street underneath an avocado tree. Apparently she makes both the mayo and rich pork terrine from scratch, she loads it on the sandwich along with char siu pork, salad leaves, cucumber, tomato and her secret dressings. She found her fame on a show made famous by Anthony Bourdain on which he described it as the best bánh mì sandwich in the world.
We thought given her fame she would no doubt fluctuate her prices so we would just check her out on the way back to the hotel as she is located on a quiet side street nearby. We walked to the market in the hope of finding some baguettes or fruit as we have marmite in our bag but couldn't find any anywhere. In the end I asked a local stall holder who kindly directed us to a place nearby where they sell baguettes and Bánh mì. We walked down and soon saw the place with a crowd around it, it was obviously very popular (situated in a very good location near a busy bridge) and the husband and wife team where like pros whizzing up a sandwich in about twenty seconds. There was a western family sitting outside enjoying one while a crowd of locals were pushing to get served, we watched the scene for a minute before identifying that the locals were paying eight thousand dong for a sandwich. We knew we would be charged a premium so I told Steven no more than ten... She asked him what he wanted and on asking how much she said twenty thousand dong. To this Steven replied that in Danang he paid ten and I chipped in and said we just saw the locals paying eight thousand so we know the 'real' price. Before she even bothered to answer a western couple rocked up and she gave her attention to them. They massively annoyed us by barging in and simply ordering their snack with no regards to price or anything. I know some people like to remain ignorant and just pay whatever but are they so dumb and without principles that they don't care that foreigners are constantly doubled tiered here on prices. I know we have ranted a lot about this during our time here but its something we both feel very strongly about and it has really influenced our thoughts and feelings overall on this country. We realised at this point (another few westerners turned up) that we were on a pointless pursuit and left feeling very pissed.
We walked up the road and met a few more people all offering the damn sandwich at twenty thousand before we gave up and walked off. We thought we would check out Madam Khanh and see what the fuss was about before declaring failure and heading back. We walked down the main road before seeing the quiet side street 'Cao Van Street' and turning in. Immediately in front of us was a stall under a tree with a young girl serving, I thought she seemed young to hold such an accolade but she had an older women with up her so we thought we would see what she offered, as we approached a young western couple were just leaving forty thousand dong worse off. On enquiring about the Bánh mì she hesitated and said twenty thousand dong, to which I politely replied that we have been here a while and know that the sandwich should only cost eight thousand dong. To this she hesitated again and went quiet before saying something to her mother in Vietnamese, I said I would pay ten thousand but no more as I know what they should be and she simply said 'no, not for ten thousand' assuming I'd haggle but I said fair enough and walked off... Shame as we were going to buy four. Two to try now and two for the bus later but her loss.
We walked on and were surprised to find a ramshackle place on the left hand side with an elderly lady standing at a cart outside her home. On her cart read 'Madam Khanh, the Bánh mì queen' on it. We were surprised by the obvious lack of pretence surrounding this quaint little shop and stopped to ask the price. Her English was pretty poor but she held up both hands, which made me think she said a hundred thousand... When in fact she followed this gesture with the word ten. We couldn't believe it... Here was supposedly the best sandwich maker in town and she was actually giving us a reasonable price. Maybe she doesn't realise how much she could be making from un suspecting tourists, although looking at the environment it didn't appear that she received that many.
She told us to take a seat and grabbed a baguette before her daughter headed out to buy another (she's either been really busy or really quiet) and soon returned with just one further baguette. We sat down and watched the master at work as she slowly but gently made the sandwiches, each time putting them back in the heater to keep warm. She attempted to communicate and showed us the article about her in the Hoi An book as well as some messages people had left but it was difficult to chat as our Vietnamese is so poor and her English wasn't much better. By the time she had finished she insisted we took a seat and enjoyed our snack here outside her home and even gave us a complimentary cup of Vietnamese tea before chatting with us again in broken English and hand gestures.
The sandwich its self was delicious, with the bread being warm, very light and with a good crunch. The first taste to hit you is the spicy chilli paste before you get a taste of the delicious home made pâté and shaved pork. It was very nice and before we had even finished the first one we requested two more for the bus. The daughter headed off to buy to more baguettes and our second sandwich was made with the same care and attention as the first and she seemed pleased that we had enjoyed them that much. After she was done she happily posed for a picture before pointing out her house number and pointing to the book to indicate it was her... She was a total sweetheart and what had started as a nightmare mission had actually ended with a really nice and refreshing experience here in tourist hell. The address of this lovely lady incase you find yourself in Hoi An is 115 Tran Cao Van Street, Hoi An and she is well worth a visit. If not for the amazing and reasonably priced sandwich but simply to meet this wonderful elderly lady was who is yet to know how great she is.
We walked back from her home after lots of goodbyes and giggles with a smile on our faces... Our last memory of Hoi An was a good one and further highlights that sometimes you need to just get off the very well trodden tourist trail. We headed to the shop and bought some crisps before chilling back at the hotel reading and relaxing before our six thirty pm pick up... Next destination is Nha Trang, not one I'm massively looking forward to as its another total tourist trap but seems to be the most logical next step. It doesn't really appear to have the calmness of DaNang and when 'Lonely Planet' writes flippantly that a minor annoyance here is to be tasered and robbed, then you have to wonder what kind of place is this we are heading too lol.
We sat back at the hotel and ensured we had everything we needed for the bus ride ahead. On leaving the very nice receptionist who had looked after our bags all day gave us each a bottle of water and wished us well on our journey. We said our thanks before walking to the bus office as it was now just after six pm... Here we were given tags for our bags, two further bottles of water and a refreshing wipe. We were then herded on to a mini bus and driven the short distance to the bus station where the night bus was waiting, it looked very flash with individual beds and bright led lights. We boarded and found our beds at the back which were surprisingly spacious and comfortable then sat back and listened to some music as we started the long ride down to Nha Trang.
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