Hoi An - Sunshine Hotel Review
Danang & Hoi An, my stay in Sunshine Hotel
Hoi An, Danang, this place is where I got my most memorable experience in Vietnam. Hoi An is an old city which preserve the traditional feel of their town by not allowing any car or motored vehicles to enter the old city area.
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| Da Nang |
Here are short description on the city from wikipedia and tripadvisor.com :
This city on the central Vietnamese coast is a well-preserved example of the important Southeast Asian trading port it was from the 15th-19th centuries. Already a common stop for backpackers, it is becoming better known to tourists. On the 14th day of each lunar month, the town trades its electric lights for traditional colored lanterns. Sights include the Japanese Covered Bridge and the Quan Cong Temple. Let the town’s expert tailors make you some bespoke clothing.
The city possessed the largest harbour in Southeast Asia in the 1st century and was known as Lâm Ấp Phố (Champa City). Between the seventh and 10th centuries, the Cham (people of Champa) controlled the strategic spice trade and with this came tremendous wealth.
The former harbour town of the Cham at the estuary of the Thu Bồn River was an important Vietnamese trading centre in the 16th and 17th centuries, where Chinese from various provinces as well as Japanese, Dutch and Indians settled.
During this period of the China trade, the town was called Hai Pho (Seaside Town) in Vietnamese. Originally, Hai Pho was a divided town with the Japanese settlement across the "Japanese Bridge" (16th-17th century).
The bridge (Chùa cầu) is a unique covered structure built by the Japanese, the only known covered bridge with a Buddhist pagoda attached to one side
Unesco world heritage
In 1999, the old town was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as a well-preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port of the 15th to 19th centuries, with buildings that display a unique blend of local and foreign influences. According to the UNESCO Impact Report 2008 on Hội An, tourism has bought changes to the area which are not sustainable without mitigation.
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| Da Nang, View From Plane window |
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| DaNang, pemandangan dari jendela pesawat |
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| Hoi An, View from the plane window |
Sunshine Hotel
On this occasion, we stayed at Sunshine hotel, one of the best value hotel we stayed at in Vietnam. On this trip we usually stayed in a budget hotel, ranging from 20-35 dollars a night. Keep in mind, costs in Vietnam are really low, so a $20 dollar hotel in here would be on par with a $40 dollar a night hotel in Bali.We were a group of singles, renting two rooms for two days, totaling about $120
Arriving in the afternoon, delighted to see the large room and a clean, comfortable bathroom with bathtub.
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| Hotel facade (taken from http://www.travelfish.org) |
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| Sunshine Hotel Hoi An |
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| Hoi An Sunshine Hotel - Bathroom |
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| Dresser - Sunshine Hotel Hoi An |
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| Hoi An Sunshine Hotel - Bedroom |
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| Hoi An Sunshine Hotel - Balcony |
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| Hoi An Sunshine hotel - Balcony view & Swimming Pool |
It's quite surprising to see there's a balcony on the spacious room, and also a swimming pool for the guests. You can't beat it for this price. Usually for $20-$35 elsewhere in Vietnam, we get a a very narrow hotel, in an cramped office building, bathtub is a rarity and of course there aren't any swimming pool.
It's a wonder how they can charge so low for the kind of facilities we get.
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| Hoi An Sunshine Hotel - Neighboring fields |
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| Hoi An Sunshine Hotel - Casear Salad, Vietnam style |
Because we didn't get any meal in the flight here, we were a bit famished, hence my friend ordered a Caesar Salad in the afternoon, for a quick bite before dinner. This one really taste nice, though a bit different from the standards, funny plating and also a funny tangy sauce, better to call this Hochiminh Salad or something, other than Caesar Salad :D
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| Elevator Ride |
To our surprise, the food here is on par with a good restaurant. Taste nice, decently priced. The only complain we got was that service was a bit slow, probably due to being understaffed.
The Cao Lao, Banh Xeo and Spaghetti taste good. The sandwich is also nice but the bread is a bit hard.
Juice are made fresh, blended on site, not the concentrated sugary kind of juice we usually get in other restaurant.
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| Sunshine Hotel - Cao Lau noodles |
Cao lầu
This is one of the most iconic dish in the area, a regional Vietnamese dish made with noodles, pork, and greens and is only found in the town of Hội An, in the Quang Nam Province of central Vietnam.Its unique taste is rumoured to be contributed by the water from an undisclosed ancient Cham well just outside of the town.
This rumour is promulgated in a popular guide book and has become something of an urban legend. It is likely that the origin of Cao Lau in Hoi An goes back to the town's history as a trading port.
Prior to the Chinese establishment in Hoi An, in the 17th century, the town was also a centre of Japanese trading activity.
The famous Hoi An bridge also dates to this period. Cao Lau noodles are clearly derived from Japanese soba noodles. Although there are some who claim that they are Chinese wheat noodles, they are not made of wheat and have a different texture.
There are as many variations on this dish as there are households in Hoi An. The noodles are Cao Lau; the way the pork is cooked (or omitted), the greens (the use or absence of mint), the use of lime or chilli jam, these are all variations on a theme. Use Cao Lau noodles and you have Cao Lau. (Wikipedia.com)
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| Sunshine Hotel - Juice Mania |
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| Sunshine Hotel - Spaghetti |
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| Hoi an Sunshine Hotel - gỏi cuốn |
Chả giò
Nem, (or nem "spring roll" rán "fried") which can be roughly translated as "minced pork roll," is a popular dish in Vietnamese cuisine
and usually served as an appetizer in America and European countries,
where there are large Vietnamese communities. In southern Vietnam, it is
referred to as chả giò ("fried minced pork").
The most commonly used meat is pork, but one can also use crab, shrimp, chicken, and sometimes snails (in northern Vietnam), and tofu (for vegan chả giò- 'chả giò chay').
If diced carrots and jicama are used, the stuffing is a little bit crunchy, matching the crispy fried rice paper, but the juice from these vegetables can cause the rolls to soften after a short time.
If the rolls are to be stored for a long time, mashed sweet potato or mung beans may be used instead to keep the rolls crispy. One may also include bean sprouts and rice vermicelli. Eggs and various spices can be added to one's preference. Sometimes, the ingredients can include julienned taro root and carrots if jicama cannot be found. Taro roots give it a fatty and crunchy taste. (Wikipedia.com)
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| Hoi An Sunshine Hotel - Banh Xeo |
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| Hoi An Sunshine Hotel - Sandwich |
Breakfast in Sunshine Hotel Hoi An
The included breakfast, understandably not as good as the dinner ala carte menu we had. But it's still good, considering the low price of the accommodation. Coffee was the best part though, Vietnam have one of the best coffees, even the one made without espresso machine tastes nice. A condensed milk seems to always be present every time coffee are served.
There are choices of salad, noodles, soup, and a bit of meat dishes.
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| Breakfast @ Hoi An Sunshine Hotel |
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| Breakfast @ Hoi An Sunshine Hotel |
Sunshine Hotel
02 Phan Dinh Phung Street, Hoi An City Center, Hoi An, Vietnam
For Booking Please Visit :
Sunshine Hotel Agoda
Sunshine Hotel Booking.com
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