I ran into this restaurant the first night, almost by chance. I had never had Bun Cha before and was not sure what to expect, and I immediately fell in love with it and with this restaurant !

You can tell when people do things the right way. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy, they just focus on making good food.

The grilled pork, the fresh herbs, the cold noodles, the broth, it is just a perfect mix.

As always with meat, I must mention that, as responsible world citizens, we have to eat less meat. For animal rights, but also for the planet, because meat production is responsible for a large chunk of emissions. For more details, see related posts.

But we don't have to be fully vegetarian. If I have to keep only 5 meat meals, Bun Cha would be one of them !

When you walk in the streets in Vietnam, it's hard not to notice those signs.

Once you get the idea, 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:
- "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".
- "Bun Cha ca" is a fish noodle soup
- "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

Several vietnamese told me that, in poor families, a lot of men have drinking problems and drink all day while the wife is responsible for the family.

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

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

In Vietnam these are everywhere !

I am no insect expert but I learned that the little guy in the first pic is a rice weevil. Maybe stay away from the rice in that house.

At first, cockroaches scared me like hell. Especially when I saw one in my bed. Over time, I have gotten pretty good at catching them and throwing them outside so they can play with someone else.

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 !

As I am not a big fan of tourist destinations, I had low expectations for Hoi An.

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

Not many pics, but this is where I spent most of my days.

I was super happy to find a great co-working place in Da Nang. I am usually not a big fan of co-working places, which I find noisy or full of entitled westerners, but this one was different. It was used by locals actually doing work !

The walk in the morning was a bit of a challenge. It was a 45 minutes walk away from my place, which is great, but I didn't realize it was going to be that hot. Especially walking on that super long bridge which offered no shade for like 10 minutes. In the spots I did not manage to cover, I could feel my skin burning. The covered parts were sweaty.

In the evening, I usually waited until sunset to go back home, so the walk was more pleasant.

Of course I could have taken a grab, but I prefer walking, especially when I travel. It gives you time to pause and it makes you see life on the way.

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, 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 honestly, 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 and you get all the peace you want. This combination makes it one of my favourite beaches.

But ... what could there be in that other side of town ? Surely, one huge awesome beach is enough ?

I rented a scooter for the weekend to explore.

When I reached the other side of town, it felt deserted. Maybe this side was just for fishing boats.

But since I was there, I decided to keep walking along the beach. And, as the sun started to decline, the beach slowly came alive.

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

My western mind had never thought a beach could be deserted during the day and alive in the evening. Where I used to go on vacation as a kid, in Europe, people go to the beach during the day. Europeans like to tan.

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 many small shops in Vietnam, and almost all the street vendors, tables are so low... Why oh why.

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

The 2 hour drive to the hills on the other side of Da Nang was fun. Riding a scooter in Vietnam is not for everyone, but if you are a bit adventurous, it's super fun.

I leave the scooter at the shop by the main road and start the hike down. It took maybe 40 minutes to get down.

On the beach, I didn't stay long. It was super hot and I was bitten by all kinds of things.

As they say, the beauty is in the journey, not always the destination. It was a nice hike and overall a good escape from the city.

The ride back at night through the hills was fun too.

On my last day, one last Bun cha.

After this trip, I have had Bun cha in Hanoi, but this place is still my favourite !