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.

I am not vegetarian but 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 !

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 !

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 better 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 quiet working environment.

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 find out.

When I reached that area, it felt deserted. Maybe it was just for fishing boats.

Since I had come all the way 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...

In Europe, people tend to go the beach during the day.

Vietnamese seem to 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 like 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 !