Tuy Hoa--an underrated (by at least our guidebook) town

We stopped in Tuy Hoa, a town our guidebook called "soul-less", but that was not our experience. Sure, our hotel was in an area of town that didn't have a ton going on, and it was virtually empty. But look at the view! Tuy Hoa has rice paddies in the middle of the town. 

An example of the typical small house with terra cotta roof: these were everywhere in town, and also in the smaller villages we passed on the train. We loved the bird-street-lights.

A Tuy Hoa garden cafe. Closer to the train station, away from the beach, these lovely garden cafes were down alleys and on side streets. Delicious coffee and tranquil setting.

PSA: don't drink ruou and drive.

This small mountain in town has a Cham temple (below) and botanical garden. The god image inside the temple had an extensive wardrobe of capes just behind the altar.

View of town and river from the mountain.

We loved this building! It has a mohawk and face. Also on the small mountain, it is a War Memorial. 

Along a street bordering the mountain are many cafes. We stepped into this restaurant because it advertised banh cuon, but wound up with something else. We tried to order banh con, but the proprietor did not understand our haphazard attempt to pronounce this...or, it was not available. We aren't sure. And, we don't care: what we got instead was delicious, and we would not have ordered it off of a menu. I do not know all of the varieties of "nem", there are many, and some are more like luncheon meat, which we do not like. This one, however--no comparison to lunch meat. The owner showed us how to roll the meat up with a variety of herbs, into rice paper, and then dip into sauce. At the end of the meal, she gave us a taste of cold ruou, an unfiltered sweet rice wine. 

Barbecued nem!

Our friendly nem- and ruou-maker. We bought a bottle of the ruou, in the plastic bottles on the table there, and took it with us for our long train ride north.

Not the most pleasant train experience, since we were so near the televisions, but the yoga program was good.