Iryna Yang (born in 1996) is a Belarusian who has lived and worked in Vietnam for 5 years. With over 810,000 followers and 24 million likes on her personal page, Iryna regularly shares videos about her travel and culinary experiences across 63 provinces and cities.

Recently, Iryna traveled to Phu Yen. Here, she visited some traditional markets and experienced things she “never thought of”. That is, waking up early in the morning, going to the fishing village to feel the atmosphere of the seafood market at dawn, and enjoying delicious food.

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Iryna woke up at 4am to experience the bustling scene at Hon Yen fishing village.

The destination the female tourist stopped at was the fishing village of Hon Yen (in An Hoa Hai commune, Tuy An district), about 15km from Tuy Hoa city center. Because the seafood market opens from 5-6am, the young woman had to wake up at 4am to get there.

“Honestly, during my days in Phu Yen, I have never woken up so early. The scenery at this time is so beautiful, right at dawn. I am so glad that I was here to feel the bustling atmosphere of the morning market,” Iryna said.

The female tourist said she wanted to buy squid and shrimp “to have the freshest breakfast”. She started walking around the market and kept exclaiming with delight when she saw the pots of fresh seafood being brought out by the people.

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The girl asked to buy fresh squid and was surprised because the price was quite cheap, only 100,000 VND/kg.

Arriving at the squid display area, Iryna approached to ask for the price and “finalized” to buy half a kilo for 50,000 VND. She was surprised when the seller proactively helped clean the squid, so that the customer could take it home and just rinse it with clean water before cooking.

Then, following a local suggestion, Iryna went to a restaurant in An Hiep, Tuy Hoa City to experience making banh xeo on the spot. She revealed that she loves the taste of banh xeo so much that she didn't mind getting up at 4am to go to the seafood market to buy ingredients to make this dish.

In Phu Yen, tourists can easily find street food stalls or traditional markets that offer assistance in making banh xeo from ingredients brought by customers.

Because the seafood here is fresh and cheap, tourists often choose this form of dining, both to be assured of the quality of the food and to not have to spend time preparing it.

“I think people here make banh xeo a little differently, so I was curious about the taste of this dish. I have never had banh xeo like this before,” Iryna said.

Iryna brings fresh squid she just bought from the seafood market to the banh xeo restaurant.

According to Iryna, banh xeo in Phu Yen has an eye-catching appearance, is quite large in size, and is eaten with fish sauce instead of sweet and sour fish sauce. In addition, the cake is also enjoyed directly, eaten with herbs instead of rolled in rice paper.

“This is the coolest banh xeo I have ever seen. It has a lot of filling and we still haven’t used up all the squid we bought,” the beautiful tourist exclaimed.

While enjoying the pancakes, she could not hide her excitement and admitted that the dish was so delicious that "it was worth waking up at 4am".

“It’s really delicious, the cake is much softer than traditional banh xeo which has a crispy, slightly dry crust. The fish sauce is also fragrant, not spicy, and goes well with banh xeo. I think this is a great combination of flavors,” the young girl commented.

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Female tourist enjoys Phu Yen pancakes with seafood filling

Iryna said that what was even more surprising was that after she finished eating, the seller told her that she didn’t need to pay because she had left a lot of squid. When Iryna insisted on paying, the seller only charged her 7,000 VND for 4 cakes.

The Western guest expressed surprise at how cheap the meal was. Each cake cost less than 2,000 VND, more affordable than a glass of iced tea costing 3,000 VND.

“She said the squid was more expensive than the pancake I had eaten. Even though she kept refusing, I still decided to give her 20,000 VND because the food she made was amazing,” Iryna said, expressing her gratitude for the kindness of the locals.

During this trip to Phu Yen, Iryna also visited Giai Son market - the cheapest market in Vietnam. Here, she challenged herself to eat a variety of delicious dishes at Giai Son market with 50,000 VND and was extremely surprised by the results.

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Belarusian girl surprised because she can eat many delicious dishes for only 50,000 VND

She ate 7 dishes to spend the above amount: Banh canh (10,000 VND), banh xeo (10,000 VND/4 pieces), jelly (5,000 VND), banh bot loc (5,000 VND/5 pieces), che (5,000 VND), congee (10,000 VND), banh bo (5,000 VND/3 pieces).

“I have to admit this is the cheapest market in Vietnam. The food is not only cheap but also delicious,” Iryna commented.

The unexpected reaction of Western guests when enjoying a "strong-smelling" dish in Vietnam Although the dish was rated as "the worst in Vietnam" by an international culinary magazine, two Western guests still boldly tried it. They praised it as delicious and were surprised that it could be harmoniously combined with many other unusual ingredients.