Day 6: Rest Stops

We took a little trip today and visited some ruins near Hoi’an. I’ll be writing more about that later, but today, I wanted to mention the tasty lunch we had on our way back home.

Rice noodles, peanut sauce, spicy fish sauce and chicken

One of my favourite things about Vietnam is that we can stop pretty much anywhere and find good food. Every little shop has a dish or two that they do really well. There are always fresh vegetables involved and almost always noodles to order, and today’s rest stop didn’t disappoint.

The thing to remember about Vietnamese food is that there is almost always a side of veggies that you can either put into the soup, or that you can use to wrap meat in. The textures of Vietnamese food are my primary reason for loving it so much, so this sort of mix-it-yourself dining suits me just fine!

This particular dish also came with a nice sesame cracker. A perfect mix of textures!

We also ordered iced coffee today with our meal, but it turned out they didn’t have any. Now, it China, we would have just been told “Mei You” (don’t have), and that would have been the end of it. But not in Vietnam!

They take service (and coffee!) seriously here!

They didn’t even tell us they were out… The owner just hopped on her motorbike and drove to another restaurant to get us some. Best of all though, she drove that same motorbike back 10 minutes later, with 2 cups of hot coffee in one hand (she steered with the other)!! They take coffee SERIOUSLY here!!!

Her motorbike
Our coffees. That she carried. With one hand. On the motorbike.

The whole meal cost us about $5 Canadian. Best of all… I’ve had dozens of meals like this (sans the coffee/motorbike experience), and no matter how small the little shop and no matter how far out of the city we go…I never get sick. Anyone who reads my blog knows I’m prone to travel-related digestion problems… But these pit stops are never what do me in.

The Thai food we had for dinner a few nights ago wasn’t so kind to me…

So, here’s another pro-tip for anyone reading this and thinking about going to Vietnam:

Stop at those little mom and pop restaurants on the side of the road! The food is good and cheap plus, you’ll experience things you never would otherwise!!

Also, travel by motorbike. You get to see some pretty funny stuff!

Stay tuned! I’ll have more stories soon!!

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