Posts Tagged With: food

Bali: Sanur day 4/5 Andaz by Hyatt garden villa

Posted on November 8, 2025 by Mel

So….just to be clear this place isn’t usually within our travel budget. It’s a one off to celebrate my 40th and my thesis submission for a PhD! We are staying at the Andaz by Hyatt in Sanur for the next few nights in a garden pool villa and it’s just lovely. We are now back on the main beach so everything is within walking distance again. On checkin the room wasn’t quite ready so we lazed by the “adult only quiet pool” and had some snacks.

At 3pm we checked in, and our villa is beautiful and quiet…as you’d hope. We have a private pool and are surrounded by mature trees and nature which is so calm and relaxing.

We went for a wander for dinner in the evening and headed 400m up the street to Warung Mama Sanur which had excellent rendang and Ayam Soto, as well as cheap soft drinks. This place came up a few times in my research for local eateries and I definitely recommend it if you’re down the south end of the Main Street.

I do want to mention somewhere….they are spending a huge amount of money fixing up all of the sanur footpaths on the main road which is fantastic. They are doing a really good and thorough job however it has made things a little bit tricky for me with my mobility issues. I just have to go slow. Once they are done it will be an excellent tourist selling point.

We also went on a bit of an adventure last night to test out Bali’s tourist medical systems lol. In under an hour and with a total cost of $45 AUD with no passport on me I got a prescription med I needed and only 1-2 awkward conversations to report back on for it…that was at 9pm at night as well! So probably a better experience than trying to get the same medication in Perth really.?

I woke up on day 5 to my 40th birthday! Yayyyyy old Mel!

We walked up to Cafe Batujimbar for some breakfast where B had fried rice and I had eggs and some very tasty juice. Not the cheapest option on the Main Street but very tasty fresh food, especially the squeezed juices.

Then it was pool time, reading in the sun and relaxation for the afternoon.

Dinner was a step away from local places tonight and instead we went to the Hyatt’s beach BBQ grill all you can eat. Cost is about $70 AUD but its buffet and includes all kinds of meat, sides, seafood and dessert. It was DELICIOUS! Really good quality food.

They also had fire dance performers with two live shows at 7:15am and 8am for diners. We added the drink package to our dinner too which came with unlimited cocktails, beer and wine.

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Bali: Sanur Day 2/3 – further away from the beach this time

Posted on November 7, 2025 by Mel

So to show you where we stayed this time here’s the map. You can see here at Alantara Sanur we are much further inland and on the other side of the bigass highway which is not a fun process to cross. Price wise it was comparable to smaller places closer to the beach which surprised me….but no resort features so I see the trade off.

We are about a 10 min grab ($3) or shuttle (free from hotel) ride from the centre. The biggest issue here has been that while the villa is beautiful there is very little that’s walkable nearby. Most warungs are either closed now or just food carts and I prefer refrigeration. It’s also a good 20 min walk to the beach.

We did grab ($2.5) to Naughty Nuri’s to give it a go for the first time. Food was great! Prices are what you expect for a tourist focused place.

On day 2 we walked up to one of the only open nearby places called men’s shed. Pretty much what you expect from the name lol…old Aussie white dude runs it, lots of western food and white dudes inside. Beer was well priced and good music though!

Day 3 we did some pool lazing (still love the private pool) then caught the hotel shuttle into the beach area and had dinner and drinks on the beach at the Tree Bar. Definitely more my vibe.

We move to a much more central (and expensive!) location for the rest of this trip now but I don’t think I would stay here again. The distance from the centre and the highway didn’t work for us even with the private pool and villa. It was a good test of preferences and priorities!

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Giving Bali another go…

Posted on October 27, 2024 by Mel

We have both been to Bali a few times now and just don’t seem to enjoy it. We have stayed in Kuta, Ubud, Seminyak and Jimbaran in a very expensive resort. I can’t quite pin point why as we both like Thailand and Vietnam which has a lot of the same cultural aspects – including hawkers and street sellers who drive B mad. AyaNa Resort (photo below) was amazing but almost Australian pricing so the “cheap” aspect got a bit lost.

One of the infinity pools at AyaNa Resort

We are giving Bali another try in a few weeks though because a 3.5hr direct flight for $100 each way was hard to say no to. After a lot of reading and talking to friends who visit Bali frequently, we have opted to stay in Sanur. Apparently it’s a little less intense.

When we visit Thailand and Vietnam, we tend to pay a bit more for accomodation (yay, spinal issues) but we love to eat out at markets and local restaurants or food stands (not carts)). Drinking alcohol is hit and miss for us currently as we aren’t big casual drinkers so it’s definitely not a main focus. Cocktails are always a winner though. Based on all that, Sanur seems a good fit for a “relaxation” trip.

Ajanta Villa advertising image

We are booked in a private villa (Ajanta Villa) which is near the beach and food markets, two of the things we both love about Thailand trips. This will be my first time with a private pool so I’m pretty stoked for that! I’ve also done heaps of research on food places in the area as well as beach clubs….and I’m keen to hire a bike and enjoy the 5km bike/walking path.

We haven’t booked any big day trips as this is definitely a “read books and lounge in pools” type getaway. With that said, we will be in Bali for my birthday so we are going to catch a Grab to Nusa Dua and check out Koral Aquarium Restaurant + reef beach club on that day.

Koral Restaurant

So…I’m excited! I have a slew of new books on my kindle ready to read because PhD life is melting my brain and I haven’t been escaping with my favourite authors as much.

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Vietnam: all the yummy restaurants we ate at!

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Mel

Saigon

• Home Saigon (yummy but a bit expensive)

• Quán phở số 10 (excellent local Pho!)

• Rice Fields (over rated and expensive)

• Den Long Restaurant (excellent!)

• Bahn Xeo 335 (very good, walking tour)

• Quan An Co Lieng (good, walking tour)

• Street cart to try Bot Chen

• Bahn Mi Ngoc Chau street cart

• Seafood alley

• Eden Star Hotel included breakfast (pretty good)

Ben Tre and Can Tho

• The elephant ear fish resistant! (It doesn’t seem to have a name but the food here in Ben Tre was absolutely amazing as part of tour)

• Mekong rustic lodge (awful, couldn’t eat the dinner or included breakfast)

Hanoi

• Cha Ca Thang Long (elephant fish only thing served, mix of tourists and locals but good)

• Bun Cha Dac Kim (yum, walking tour)

• Pho Ga Kahn Beo (came here twice for the “dry” chicken pho)

• Bahn Mi B+ (pancakes made as you watch)

• Bahn my pho co (good but unusual…this was the weird separated Bahn mi dish)

• Hoa Beo (dessert – yum!)

• Cafe Dinh (authentic egg coffee)

• Nimh Binh – awful mass produced tourist place pumping through hundreds. So bad didn’t even get name!

• Palago Hotel included breakfast (pretty good)

Hue

• Quan Hahn restaurant (very tasty local dishes)

• Roast pork noodles at local place opposite the Eldora Hotel (yum!)

• Madame Thu (touristy but good)

• Eldora Hotel included breakfast (eggs made to your liking helped a lot here)

Da Nang

• Bep Tran (authentic local food, good pricing but very busy)

• My Quan Co Sau (best noodles ever! Definitely try quang here, pricing was excellent + Michelin recommended)

• Wink riverside hotel rooftop bar (for a western bar their food was fresh and tasty)

• Wink riverside hotel included breakfast (great range including pho!)

Hoi An Town

• Bahn Mi Phuong (good but a very tourist focused option and not cheap)

• Hai Cafe BBQ (higher prices but excellent BBQ meat)

An Bang Beach

• Soul kitchen (expensive, food is good but not worth cost. Great view!)

• Phuong’s Beach Restaurant (tasty, best priced on the beach option, can use their beach chairs and drinks are very well priced)

• Lucky Restaurant (our favourite where we ate many times and very well priced)

• Passions (great food, good price)

• Purple lantern (nice food but another very tourist focused one)

• Nya Hung Restaurant (really nice hot pots)

• Aira Boutique included breakfast (very low quality, ended up going elsewhere each day)

• An Bang Fresh Juices (really yummy, no added coconut water or milk)

• An Bang Beach Village (recommended by an ex pat and the red snapper was amaaaazing!)

• Hoi An Noodle Bar An Bang Beach (very new, tasty but not as good as some of the other local places)

• CHiEM boutique hotel included breakfast (you have to order on an app the day before which so many people whinge about but we thought it was great! Food was delicious )

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Day 21/22 Vietnam: An Bang Beach (home tomorrow!)

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Mel

We enjoyed our last two days here by doing very little. One thing I have found hard in An Bang is because the heat and humidity are so high – and the UV index is 9/10 most days – we don’t venture out during the day too much. This is standard weather for July. In Thailand and Indonesia, I would lay on a beach chair all day but here…it really is just too hot. Apparently this is what it’s like all year round aside from the typhoon/rainy season. We are thinking we might try in March where allegedly it’s cooler? Still just as humid though. I love the food but the heat and intensity of the sun is just….a lot. Even for an Aussie! I firmly cemented this today by dozing off on a pool lounge for half an hour and not realising the shade moved. I made it 22 days with no sunburn and now I am a toasty-red, peeling lobster.

The beach is very rough here as well and not something I would feel confident swimming in most of the time. Still beautiful though.

We finished our holiday with a few visits to our favourite local place as well as some amazing seafood at A Bang Beach Village last night.

Things I have learnt on my first Vietnam trip:

  • Vietnamese people freaking love karaoke. I had no idea! I never expected to be on a relaxing Mekong delta boat ride while listening to karaoke from a nearby three story karaoke lounge
  • The tonal change for thank you and shut up is very minor. Same for pho and hooker. Eek…we avoided both words lol
  • I didn’t research food at all and have eaten so many delicious things! I didn’t know every single town/area has its own “regional specialties” and have loved trying them all as we moved around. I think my favourite food was the Mi Quang noodles we had in Da Nang at the Michelin Recommended place….and my daily Bahn Mi from the very local Lucky Restaurant in An Bang where I got to pat the cute baby and see grandma every day
  • there are dogs EVERYWHERE here. Most are pets although there are a few strays…everyone pats all the dogs and most of the restaurant owners feed the strays so they are a bit chonky. We also saw so many dogs on scooters including a german shepherd and a golden retriever both being exercised by the owner on a scooter 😂
  • My SIL warned us we had to be a rock in the stream of traffic and let it flow around us. This worked well in Saigon but as we went further up we discovered there were less and less “rules”. I actually preferred Saigon traffic even if I did make a high pitched panicked sound every time we crossed the road
  • B says I have to add the coffee is delicious. And that egg coffee sounds weird but is a tasty snack
  • I am definitely not cut out for this level of humidity and heat. Phew. The day we climbed the damn pagoda (700 stairs) in 40C heat at 90% humidity was definitely my undoing.
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DAY 19/20 Vietnam: Da Nang back to An Bang with a Hoi An visit!

Posted on July 16, 2024 by Mel

Day 19

We left Da Nang at 11am and it was a 30 min drive back to An Bang and our hotel I’m feeling very conflicted about -Aira Boutique. The beds are so hard I can’t sleep, there is loud music nearby (other venues) every night that NOBODY has mentioned in reviews…but it’s a nice little locally run hotel. It’s also one of the most expensive on this part of the beach (still bloody cheap compared to other places!) and they pursue you if you write negative reviews. Hmmm. We got back with our get your guide transfer during rain and napped/watched eps in the aircon until the usual 4pm happy hour at the pool started. Only mocktails for drinks today as we are a little dusty from last nights fireworks and wine effort!

Dinner was at a newer place in A Bang called Hoi A Noodle Bar. It was okay. Not amazing but not bad either.

Day 20

Well, at around 11am today I finally called it and decided I wouldn’t stay the final 3 nights at Aira Boutique. Running on about 2hrs sleep again I stomped my way down the laneway to a smaller “Aparthotel” called CHiEM Hotel and asked if they had a room. They confirmed they did have a ground floor garden room and the price was $80 USD a night. They also let me visit the room to see the noise levels and sit on the softer bed. Sold. An hour later I was happily ensconced in my new home for 3 nights. So far so good. Apparently there was a rooster issue for 3 months (he lives behind the outside wall) but someone “fixed the problem” in February. Ha.

Last week, one of the activities we had to cancel due to my insanely swollen feet and legs was a cooking class at red bridge cooking school. We were inside the no refund period but they offered us a banquet dinner instead at their well known (and apparently very good) restaurant in Hoi An Ancient Town. So off we went! The restaurant is Hai Cafe Courtyard BBQ .

This was actually our first visit to the area at night and we had been warned it’s very loud and full of party people. We arrived at Hai Cafe at 6:30pm (just on sunset). The BBQ was DELICIOUS and we highly recommend it.

After dinner we wandered for a little while at our own pace (no guide this time so I could do my own thing) and I enjoyed seeing all the lanterns. I can also see how the party reputation is gained! It was very crowded and touristy but I did enjoy the lanterns. I did some haggling at the markets but my heart wasn’t in it as I really just wanted to pat all the dogs….some sellers went home happy with what I paid.

Two more days of beach relaxation before we head home on Thursday.

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Tipping in Vietnam

Posted on July 14, 2024 by Mel

We did parts of our trip with a private tour guide arranged in each region. The organiser who connects us with local guides gave us this guidance on tipping:

Tipping is not customary in Vietnam, though it is highly appreciated. Workers from the upscale hotels (4 to 5 stars) are more likely to expect tips, although it’s perfectly fine if you don’t. In some restaurants, a 5-10% service charge is added to the bill, hence you may not need to pay a tip. Tour guides and your chauffeur will expect a tip for their service. Our recommendation is USD $5 per guest per day for your guide and USD $2 per day per guest for your driver (more or less based on your satisfaction, of course).

So based on that we tipped the following for our drivers and guides in each region:

– Saigon and Can Tho 4 days with the guide and driver: guide = $40 USD, driver = $20USD

– Ho Chi Minh Walking Food Tour with private guide (4-5hrs) $10 USD for guide

– Hanoi 2 days with guide, 3 with driver: guide = $20 USD, driver = $15 USD

– Halong Bay 2-3 days with English speaking “boat wrangler” who got us a private table when I was going to lose my mind on the crowded boat. We tipped him 200k VND and the crew the same

– Hue and Hoi An: this one was a bit messy as the guide was not great and I cancelled halfway through…he got a few free meals out of us first though. We tipped the driver $12 USD for 3 days.

Other tips were mostly in VND especially after we got out into the Hoi An and An Bang area which are more regional. They were small extra amounts at local restaurants we visited numerous times and little extras for taxis or local drivers.

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Day 18 Vietnam: Da Nang International Fireworks Festival (the finale!)

Posted on July 14, 2024 by Mel

So we had no idea this was a thing before arriving in country and a local guide mentioning it. There is some info here and there is also a Facebook page with a lot of detail. We discovered the finale was China vs Finland and anything with fireworks and China in it is gonna be good! We also realised it would be on while we were in nearby An Bang Beach. Reading about the history of the event tells me that it was first organised in 2008 by the People’s Committee of Da Nang City. Since DIFF 2017, the festival has featured 8 teams from different participating countries and 10 or 11 pyrotechnic shows. Each performance night has two teams at 20 mins each so 40 mins of fireworks! The theme for 2024 is “made in unity”.

Hotels were expensive and booked out months ahead for this but I managed to get a stay at Wink Riverside with a package including accomodation, a rooftop seat and buffet dinner with drinks package. I was not up to watching fireworks with potentially thousands of locals…and tourists….crammed into stands haha. By the time we retreated to the hotel the number of road closures and security made me very happy with this decision. Apparently hotel occupancy tonight is 99% and they are expecting over 100 000 (yep, not a typo) people to come into the area. Last year in 2023 just under a million people attended over the 5 nights which is crazy. This was some of the traffic at the end tonight!

We checked into Wink Riverside Da Nang at 12:30pm. It’s a young person/business stay hotel so tiny rooms but excellent value. Similar to Tune Hotels if you have ever used those.

Tiny room
Lovely view though

We went up to the rooftop for a brief paddle around in the pool. They really don’t seem to embrace sun covers here…I just don’t get it. The UV index is bloody 10 today!

We then walked down the road for lunch at My Quáng Co Sau where we had another regional delicacy – Quang noodles! They were absolutely amazingly flavourful. Each bowl was 40k VND which is around 2.50 AUD.

At this stage it was starting to get very busy in the local area as people arrived for this evenings finale show. We retreated to the hotel room and enjoyed the river view and some reading with the soothing background noise of endless car/bike horns 😀

The rooftop fireworks was an excellent idea. It wasn’t too crowded, the food was decent and the free booze was Australian wine! It’s worth being aware we booked very late and the table was crap – which is understandable. I was grumpy though as the advertising did not represent that (Vietnam things) and made my feelings clear. We got moved further forward just before the fireworks which I was really glad about.

The fireworks started at 8:30pm and went for two 20 min slots. Although we missed a few bits on the roof it was still pretty amazing. My rooftop pics don’t do it justice so I borrowed some off their social media – well done team Finland for the win! Well deserved. Also well done team Mel for finding out about this, booking it in country and getting a rooftop view!

Team Finland
Team China
Team Finland finale
What 100 000 people could see down on the side of the river
Well done team Finland!

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Day 17 Vietnam: Da Nang on the river

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Mel

We left An Bang Beach today to enjoy 2 nights in Da Nang. This wasn’t originally planned but came about after I found out there is an all night rave in front of our beach hotel tonight (no thanks) and the Danang international Fireworks Festival Finale is tomorrow night!

Da Nang is not our usual sort of place. It’s a resort town and has hundreds of expensive high rise beach resorts lined up one after the other. They also block locals from the beach which I’m very opposed to. The tourist stuff around here is very cheesy. With that said, I really needed a decent bed for a night as I am struggling with Vietnamese rock solid mattresses. Our Melia Vinpearl riverside hotel for tonight has very nice beds! And a next level view….

Dragon bridge

Da Nang has two “touristy” areas with the huge beachside resorts and then a big group of riverside hotels. The new one-kilometer-long (actually, well over that) walking zone runs from the foot of the Dragon Bridge to the Tran Thi Ly Bridge in Hai Chau District and only opened a couple of months ago. We missed the walking street though as I was in charge of directions and we went the wrong way haha.

The Dragon Bridge is very Da Nang haha. Its unique design makes the bridge look like a dragon rising from the river to fly to the sea. The Dragon Bridge can “breathe” Fire and Water with performances at 9 pm on the weekends. The Vietnamese tourist info said only Saturday and Sundays but the internet told us Fridays as well…and eventually I found a link to this site which verified it. Vietnam are not great at updating their websites.

Initially, we were going to visit Asia Park and go on the Ferris wheel evident in some of the photos but it was a real hassle to get to and reviews say the park is not great value. Again…tourist area. Given our epic view from the hotel room tonight we decided we didn’t need a Ferris wheel as well. So we walked down and across the dragon bridge then up the other side. We had dinner at a place full of Vietnamese locals with no instructions on how to put this Da Nang specialty dish (Bahn Cuon) together. Luckily Google helped! https://vietnam.travel/things-to-do/da-nangs-special-pork-rolls

We walked back to the hotel around 8pm and got some lovely photos while walking across the Han Bridge.

Then it was 9pm and time for the dragon to do his fire breathing thing!!!

Tomorrow, we are checking out of here and into a waaaaay cheaper hotel for the grand finale night of the Danang International Fireworks Festival. It was very difficult to get accomodation for that event and prices were about 30x the usual amount for riverside stays…so no panoramic river view from the room tomorrow 😂

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Day 14, 15 and 16: An Bang Beach Relaxation

Posted on July 11, 2024 by Mel

Day 14

Today was a designated rest day which meant lunch at a local family owned restaurant called Lucky’s. Great food and prices about 3 mins walk from our hotel! The Bahn Mi was about $1.20 AUD and the pineapple smoothie was $2 AUD.

After lunch we read some books and then floated around in the hotel pool during happy hour. Happy hours in Vietnam are amazing – they range anywhere from 1 – 7 hours haha.

Dinner was at another local place call Passion Restaurant, this time we had mains of Bahn Xeo and Chicken Rice. Plus two cocktails and two beers which came to a grand total of…$18 AUD.

Day 15

We were supposed to attend a local cooking school on Day 15 but my little swollen feeties weren’t up for the challenge. Instead, we had a leg massage which really helped with the fluid in my ankles. Then we visited Phuong’s Beach Cafe for lunch where we enjoyed lemongrass chicken and a local dish Cau Lau. Phuongs is to the far left of An Bang Beach and comes highly recommended by expats in the area. You can also use the beach chairs as long as you buy something but the humidity and UV index is way too hot for us, even in the shade.

After lunch it was nap time before happy hour and pool swimming at the hotel. We then watched a beautiful sunset on the beach along with half of Vietnam 😂

Dinner was at purple lantern which was a little bit too touristy for us…yummy seafood though.

Day 16

Breakfast today was at Lucky’s where B finally got to try his pancakes. He’s been hanging out for these for a few days!

I had a few hours work to do in relation to grant applications so I knocked that off while B watched tv eps. We also changed rooms at Aira Boutique today as the noise levels have been….a lot…at night. I’ve been making a fuss (who…me?) about it each day. It’s not getting any better though which is interesting. They really wanted me to remove my 1 star review….

Then it was happy hour and pool time again! We drank lots of mojitos with belgiums, NZs and aussies before dinner at Nya Hung nearby.

Tomorrow we are off to Da Nang for two nights to avoid a giant beach rave taking place on An Bang Beach which will be a nice change of pace.

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