Cho Huyen fermented pork roll and Bau Da wine. Photo M.Anh/SGGP

Getting off a stuffy car, you should firstly hire a motorbike to travel around Quy Nhon coastal city, which is full of sun, wind and peacefulness. That is what a Sai Gon’s backpacker experienced when rambling around Binh Dinh.

Sea swimming is a pleasure that cannot be ignored, particularly taking a dip in the deep blue sea with white sand bank, which is one of beautiful beaches in Viet Nam, located between Quy Nhon and Song Cau District in Phu Yên Province. Various kinds of seafood are sold there, such as crab, squid, shellfish, mackerel, tuna… with cheaper prices compared with Phan Thiet, Nha Trang, Vung Tau.

It is more expensive if you want to enjoy Roasted lobster with cheese or Lobster underdone which is taken from lobster cages keeping on the spot. If possible, you should ask a dish of grilled siganus gustatus with a cost from 30,000 VND to 60,000 VND each. You should chew all fishbone because the way of processing grilled-fish makes the fishbone more delicious than its flesh.

When it’s still sunny in the afternoon, the best choice is that you should visit the Quang Trung Museum where many objects marking the glorious victories of plain-clothes hero Nguyen Hue are displayed.

After exploring historical events, an indispensable part of any visit to Binh Dinh, you return to Quy Hoa Hospital where the poet Han Mac Tu lived and left many poems at the end of his life. If you love his poems, you can easily visit his grave in Ghenh Rang in the late afternoon.

From Quy Nhon, it takes 20 km to leave for Binh Dinh town situated along the national highway 1A in the north, here you can visit many rice wine breweries to enjoy Bau Da wine, a Binh Dinh’s specialty. You will go into ecstasies when sipping at a mouthful of Bau Da wine and enjoying Cho Huyen fermented pork rolls.

Why don’t you drive the motorbike from the Ganh intersection on the national highway 1A to Phuoc Loc commune in Tuy Phuoc District and visit Bay Liem’s house, one of three cradles of Cho Huyen fermented pork roll.

She often uses the lean pork and pigskin mixed with beef to make the fermented pork rolls. They are then wrapped with guava leaves. It costs 50,000 VND per kg or 10,000 VND for tens. Also, Sores of coconuts, another specialty originated from Tam Quan, could be found here.

It takes a day and a half to travel these places. Returning to Quy Nhon, you should visit Nguyen Nga Center to buy some souvenirs made of Cham brocade. Foreign tourists often buy the souvenirs here for they are beautiful and cheap, particularly made by disabled children.

Alongside these, you also could enjoy the rice vermicelli with fried fish which is sold at every corner in Quy Nhon at night. You will be surprised by not only its sweet-tasting sauce and fried fish but also its extremely cheap price.

 If having more time and love travelling, you could pass through the An Khe mountain pass and Mang Yang to visit Pleiku mountainous town. Nothing is more interesting than a backpacking journey from a coastal city to a mountainous one by a motorbike.

• Source: SGGP