I ran into this restaurant the first night. It was my first Bun Cha and I immediately fell in love with it.

You can tell when people do things the right way. Nothing fancy, just good food.

The grilled pork, the fresh herbs, the cold noodles and the broth were a perfect mix.

For the planet, we have to eat less meat. Meat production is responsible for a large chunk of emissions (around 20%).

But we don't have to be fully vegetarian. I try to eat less meat, and definitely less beef.

If I had to keep 5 meat dishes, Bun Cha would be one of them !

In Vietnam, it's hard not to notice these.

Once you get the hang of it, they are kind of easy to read and it's a good way to learn food words.

The first line is usually the name of the place.

Then, the food. Here are the ones I look for :
- "Com" is rice
- "Ga" is chicken, so "Com Ga" is chicken rice
- "Thit" is pork, "Thit Nuong" is braised pork
- "Bo" is beef, "Bun Bo" is a beef noodle soup.
- "Bun" is rice noodles, which you find in "Bun Cha", "Bun Thit Nuong", or "Bun Bo".
- "My" or "Mi" is also rice noodles, which you find in "My Ga" or "My Quang".
- "Pho" is the famous national dish
- "Mi Quang" is a famous dish from Hoi An
- "Banh Mi" is vietnamese sandwhich, usually with "pate" filling or eggs ("op la")
- "Chai" is vegetarian
- "Sinh To" is Smoothie
- "Xoai" is mango

I was told that in poor families, it's not rare that the husband drinks all day while the wife is responsible for the family.

From what I could see, it did seem like the dirty jobs were all done by women.

The ones I saw working as street cleaners, garbage collectors, or digging through trash for recycled materials, were all women.

In Vietnam they are everywhere !

I learned that the little guy in the first pic is a rice weevil.

At first, I was scared of cockroaches. Especially when I saw one racing through my bed !

I still don't like to see them, but I have gotten actually pretty good at catching them and throwing them outside, as far as possible.

I was happy to find a great co-working place in Da Nang. I am usually not a big fan of co-working places, which can be a bit noisy for me. But this one was used by locals and turned out to be a perfect quiet working environment.

When I stay in a city, I try to walk as much as possible or take public transport. It gives me a chance to see local life. There is no public transport in Da Nang, so I walked.

In the morning, the 40 minute walk was a bit of a challenge. Crossing the 500m long Han river bridge meant no shade for 10 minutes. Moments like this, you realize why locals are covered from head to toe on their scooters. In the evening, I waited until sunset to walk back.

Back at my favourite restaurant !

As I learned in the menu, Bun thit nuong (called Bo bun in the west) is derived from Bun Cha !

I am not a big fan of tourist destinations, so my expectation for Hoi An were low.

I was wrong ! Even with the crowd, it had a lot of charm and the food was excellent.

There are 2 huge beaches in Da Nang :
- On the touristy side of town, the east coast extends for almost 10km. It's a bit touristy, but still authenthic enough and beautiful.
- On the other side of town, the North-west coast, was intriguing to me because it seemed sleepy and deserted.

My hotel was close to the east coast beach, because well, that's where the hotels are... so I spent most of my time there. And I loved it. Despite the crowd, it still felt very airy. It has just the right amount of food options. If you want a vibrant atmosphere, you can. If you want to listen to the sound of the waves, just walk 5 minutes away from the food stalls. This combination makes it one of my favourite beaches.

But ... what could there be in that other side of town ?

I rented a scooter for the weekend to explore.

When I reached that part of town, it felt deserted. Maybe it was just for fishing boats.

Since I was there, I decided to walk along the beach. Then, out of nowhere, as the sun started to decline, the beach came alive.

Within 30 minutes, it was full of locals. Parents, grand-parents, kids, students, couples...

Where I used to go on vacation as a kid, in Europe, people go to the beach during the day.

After this, I noticed that Vietnamese do this every day. They leave the beach to sun-burned westerners during the day, and reclaim it between 5 and 7pm.

In most small shops in Vietnam, and almost all the street vendors, tables are so low that you can not put your legs underneath 😵‍💫

I saw a remote beach on the map and I thought it would be a good destination for a short scooter trip / hike.

Riding a scooter in Vietnam is not for everyone, but if you are a bit adventurous, it's super fun.

After a 2 hour drive, I leave the scooter by the main road and start the hike down. It took maybe 40 minutes to go down.

On the beach, I didn't stay long. It was hot, the beach was not that clean -- unfortunately not uncomon in Vietnam -- and it seemed the insects really liked foreigners.

The hike was a good escape from the city and the ride back at night through the hills was fun too.

Overall, this was a perfect example of the beauty being in the journey, not the destination !

On my last day, one last Bun cha at my favourite place !