Jaspa's Beach Club - Hoi An

Regular readers of my blog may recall that we usually head to one of the 2 Jaspa's in HCMC for breakfast  on the weekend.  It's the best in town.  Well it would not be a Sunday if we did not go to Jaspa's so with some 2 for 1 vouchers in hand we headed to the newly opened Jasapa's Beach Club.  It took about 10 minutes or so by taxi to get there.  Located on An Bang Beach....it was fabulous!  Although only open 2 weeks things seem to be running pretty smoothly.  The food was just about identical to the menu's in Saigon and why not...when you are on a good thing, stick to it.  As for the setting, I will let the pics speak for themselves. Kids could be a loud as they liked (and trust me...they are loud) while the big kids chow down on great food and pitchers of cocktails.  The kids all ended up soaked from the beach and we changed them into dry bathers to get them home....that sums up the relaxed atmosphere of the afternoon.  Apparently at night the place gets packed to the rafters and on a Saturday and Sunday they crank up the Aussie BBQ from about 4.00pm.  We wish them all the best with this new place.  We loved it.  Thanks for a great afternoon.  If you are heading up that way here is a link for the 2 for one meal JASPA'S 2 FOR 1 DEAL

The kids kicking back

What can I say?  What a great place to spend an afternoon.

The neighbouring restaurants

We ended up propping up the bar later in the afternoon....or was it the other way around?

Thickshakes for the kids

Nachos for the grown ups

.....and squid

........and margarita's

....and daiquiris....are you getting the picture?

....all while the kids ran around in the great outdoors.  It was a fantastic afternoon.

Doing it tough
WE'LL BE BACK!!!!!

Morning Glory

Advertised as "Gourmet Vietnamese Dining", Morning Glory, 106 Nguyen Thai Hoc St, Hoi An, was a delightful dining experience.  As you know I use Trip Advisor a lot.  When it comes to restaurants you need to take it with a grain of salt (pun intended) as quite often the owners will post numerous fake reviews of how wonderful their place is and just a quickly write how awful their competitors are.  Well Morning Glory comes in at number 2 in Hoi An and we were not disappointed. We ate downstairs amongst the hustle and bustle overlooking the open kitchen.  Run by a lady called Ms Vy it serves the kind of food her grandmother used to make, traditional street food as well as her new ideas.  There is also a cooking school attached.

Poor Quiddy was running a nasty temperature so we had to eat and run.

Traditional Bun Cha

From memory this was the roast pork

I really should write the names of these things down.  It was pork that you wrap in Bun Xeo (pancake) .  Delicious.

As Quiddy was under the weather I did not get much of a chance to take more photos.  The shrimp curry was particularly good.  All in all this place was deserving of its Trip Advisor ranking and I would recommend it to visitors to Hoi An.

Hoi An Part One

We snuck out of Ho Chi Minh for the Queens Birthday long weekend.  Happy Birthday Lizzie and thanks for the day off.  Nick and I had been to Hoi An many years ago.  About 12 I guess.  We decided it was time to go back and check it out with the kids.  So with Team Sommerville in tow we caught a flight to Danang on Friday night.  It takes just over an hour then about a 20 minute drive.  We were booked into the Life Heritage Resort which is one of the few resort style hotels within walling distance to the "Ancient Town".  It was just a beautiful as we remembered.  In fact it is so well preserved it borders on a movie set!  One of the best parts is that it is blocked off to traffic a lot of the time so you don't have to have eyes on the back of your head to make sure the kids don't get sideswiped.

A bit excited to be going away

Beds all set and ready to hit the hay.

Buying the essentials from the market (limes for the Vodka!)

Bustling market full of fresh produce and every type of fish you could think of.

Don't ask 'cos I don't know

You don't see this in Saigon due to bird flu.  Fresh poultry.

Upon exiting the market you end up pretty much in the Ancient Town.  The river is on the left.  All up about a 10 minute walk from the hotel.

This was Nick buying some batteries for a toy for Quiddy.  The adoring crowd surrounding them were some local tourists who wanted to touch Scarlett and also were picking their jaws up off the ground listening to Nick speak Vietnamese.

The town is famous for this beautiful little Japanese Bridge.

Back at the hotel.  Boy did we work up a thirst!

Quiddy was not allowed to get his head wet due to the possibility of him getting an infection just before his ear operation on the 27th.  I managed to find this boat in Saigon and he was quite happy.  What a trouper!

Team Sommerville heading up the rear.  Hmmm...blonde and twins.  They did not cause much of a commotion amongst the locals now did they?

Hoi An is equally famous for it's tailoring.  Every second shop is a tailor who can make that suit up in less than 24 hours.  The quality can be a bit hit and miss but I got some really nice stuff (4 dresses) for under $100USD.  Lets hope they don't fall apart when I wash them.

The "sweat shop!"

Will post more pics soon!