Hoi An: Highlights Reel

Best Experiences: Anna

1. Strolling through the enchantingly-lit streets at night. It’s not called the city of lanterns for nothin’.
2. Strolling through the charmingly-sunny streets during the day. The best part of Hoi An is just the town itself. The yellow, French-colonial cafes lining the river, the botanical touches on every shopfront, the meandering alleys leading to secret courtyards: it’s beyond romantic. 
3. Riding the scooter to An Bang Beach, through town and across the rice paddies.

Best Experiences: Aaron

1. Scooting through rice paddies, eyeing all of the cows and buffalo.
2. The lantern-lit boat ride down the Thu Bón River.
3. Relaxing on An Bang beach with drinks in my hand and Big Thief in my ears.

Best Meals: Anna

1. Hoi An had consistently the best food we’ve had on the trip. No place was number 1, but everywhere was great. My favorite meal, though, was probably the four-hour-long marathon session of eating and chatting and drinking beer on Artspace’s patio. Our wagyu burger and carbonara pizza were delicious and it was good craft beer, but most of all, Aaron and I just had a great time connecting under the mild sun.
2. Ganesh Indian Restaurant was a small space, but it was packed. The food is why. Our shahi paneer was both creamy and piquant–a difficult culinary feat to pull off.
3. The dried-beef and green mango salad, crunchy crab wontons, and white rose dumplings at Cargo Club: it was our first real meal here and we ate it looking out at Hoi An’s picturesque riverscape. 

Best Meals: Aaron

1. Artspace for pizza and burgers. The food was good, but the conversation was great. One of those times where I really appreciated being with someone who speaks my language.
2. Tadioto Roll at.. Tadioto. Fresh fish and a lovely courtyard. I’ve missed sushi more than just about anything.
3. Fatfish Restaurant in Da Nang. There seems to be a correlation between pizza and good conversation, which is of course the tastiest part of any meal.

Blooper Reel

1. When we arrived at Deckhouse on An Bang beach, they were packing in the beach chairs. In the hopes of getting an ocean view, we insisted on being seated on the upstairs deck. The hostess warned us it was windy, but I was not to be deterred. We were up there for maybe 15 minutes before I had to find someone to lower the plastic sheeting to block us from the wind. 15 minutes after that, we just went downstairs.
2. Trying to help our friend from Saigon recreate his pictures from 50 years ago. He had very specific ideas about where he should sit and where we should take the picture from, but then would frown and fuss that every picture looked nothing like the original. He was so sweet and we wanted so badly to please him, but the pictures were just impossible to recreate the way he wanted them. I think he thought we were stupid for not being able to do it. 
3. Sand crabs scare me. They are fast, and they are camouflaged, and they scare me, ok? So we didn’t walk down My Khe at night.