There was a bit of confusion finding my berth on the overnight train from Saigon. A whole Vietnamese family were in the cabin having dinner, thankfully all but two got off before we left.
I was on one of the top bunks along with a girl from Iowa who was taking a break from her fire dancing career on Koh Phi Phi in Thailand. She kept me amused the whole trip with tales of life on a party island and her burn horror stories.
Meanwhile, on the bottom bunk, a super cute little Vietnamese girl kept tickling my legs and popping her head over to see what was happening.
After my poor choice of accommodation in Saigon it was a relief to find the Green Tea homestay was a winner. I set off on my bicycle immediately to get my bearings and start exploring.
Hoi An is everything I expected and more, romantic crumbling French architecture with a Vietnamese slant. Even the name of the river running through the town is romantic, the river of memories. 
My first night and time for another food tour, this time on foot with our guide Luc and another Aussie.
Starting out with Banh Mi at Banh Mi Phuong. 
Considered the best in Hoi An by Luc and Anthony Bourdain I can’t say I disagree. The baguette was perfect; crispy, light and still warm from the bakery next door with pate that was out of this world.
After we grabbed a spot at a street stall for more Banh Khot. In Hoi An they are served with pork, quail eggs and herbs, kind of like an open spring roll. For me much better than the Saigon version, possibly because I wasn’t traumatised with a duck egg foetus straight after.
Hoi An is famous for a couple of dishes and one of them was our next stop, White Rose Dumplings. Filled with prawns, topped with fried onion and fish sauce they are meant to look like a rose. The resemblance was lost on me but they were nice. Can’t say they were much different from other prawn dumplings I’ve had in the past.
We also tried bang cake which is a sheet of softened rice paper sandwiched between two crispy rice crackers. You have to bang them together with your hands to make them stick before dipping in soy sauce and eating. Tastes as you would imagine, more novelty factor than taste sensation.
Our final stop was the most relaxing, sitting on a tiny table on the river away from the hustle and bustle drinking a beer and having steamed rice cakes filled with mung bean paste.
Fun fact I learnt from sitting by the river in Hoi An; Vietnamese frogs croak differently to Aussie frogs 
thesquirrelsadventure 