We had to say goodbye to Cambodia, a country that we had grown to love in such a short period of time. We acknowledge the privilege we have to be able to come and go so easily, and we certainly spent our time mostly in the tourist friendly regions. Even still, it’s a surprising country that deserves a trip.

We left in the morning at around 6:45. Blake was waiting for us, even though we had only asked for a 7:00 pickup. We took our familiar little tuk tuk on one last trip before bidding the country farewell.

The airport was small, having no more than eight gates. We had given ourselves two hours to get checked in, go through security and passport control, and board the plane, but we made it through in less than fifteen minutes. We had a quick breakfast, and got on our plane.

Our aircraft had propellers, which was a first for me. I’ve always been excited about airplanes, space ships, and the idea of flying. The act of it —much like rollercoaster rides, or being in a car whose owner wants to show you how fast it goes— has always made me nervous. This was mildly exacerbated by me considering the propellers as a sign of dereliction. The flight went without a hitch. It was basically empty, maybe twenty people on a vehicle that could easily hold one hundred.

On arrival in Da Nang, we got our final visa for the trip, again without issue. We waited maybe fifteen minutes to get our visa, and another hour to make it through the “Foreigners” line. From airport, we withdrew bus money, and hopped a bus to a stop in  Hoi An, where we both hopped on a xe om (a taxi service— essentially, the back of somebody’s motorcycle) to take us to our hotel.

Once we were all settled in, we wandered the streets of Hoi An. Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage site; a main trading port during the 16th and 17th centuries that has been well preserved. It has clear influences from China, Japan, and France. More recently, trade was routed to nearby Da Nang, which is less a tourist city, and more of an international hub.

I was most excited, obviously, about the street food. The most well known may be banh mi, which is essentially a sandwich served on a baguette, usually with some kind of meat, peppers, vegetables, and cilantro. We walked to Phuong Banh Mi to get what is considered the “Best banh mi in Vietnam”. It was good, but underwhelming. We also indulged on banh trang nuong, somewhere between pizza and a taco on grilled rice paper. We rounded the evening out with a banana pancake and a fried spring roll, before settling in for the night.

Once again we crashed pretty hard, fairly early. Tomorrow we would dig in a bit deeper.