Exploring Hoi An

After a long day exploring the Cu Chi tunnels, we returned to HCMC to grab a late lunch, pick up the luggage and taxi back to the airport....the domestic terminal this time. We had a VietJet flight booked and of course, it was delayed :( Only by about an hour, but we were tired and it did not serve to improve our mood. The flight itself was only an hour long, so the time we spent at the airport was three times longer than the actual journey. Super unimpressed face.

We flew into Da Nang, a city about 30 miles away from Hoi An. The hotel had sent a car for us, and we amused ourselves en route by checking out the various fancy hotels and resorts sitting alongside the main highway. It made a nice change to not be crowded in by hundreds of motorcycles, but that was only true for that night. We arrived at Hoi An Pacific Hotel & Spa around midnight, and I won't talk any more about that night, because we were hungry, tired and generally unamused with the service displayed at this hotel. The next day they upgraded our room, and things fared a little better.

The view from our upgraded room

mum thinks she's a designer

Hoi An (Vietnamese for 'peaceful meeting place') is actually the one place we visited in Vietnam that I truly loved. It is a cute little market town in Quang Nam Province, with the Thu Bon river passing through the Ancient town. There is plenty to do here if you like to walk around, haggling over souvenir prices, and of course if famous for all its tailors. One of the first things mum and I did was walk through the Ancient town to find a well-priced tailor who could create some dresses for us (I in particular needed a few evening dresses for all my upcoming weddings). The second shop we went to turned out to be amazing - this sweet little Vietnamese lady ended up making two dresses for us each....by that night!!! She was so professional and did such a great job that we ordered another couple of dresses and got her to send them on to our next location. We've also got her contact details, so may be ordering some more tailor made clothes in the future. I seriously recommend doing this if you're ever in Hoi An - the low prices and professionalism found here make it totally worth it!

Cao Lau - traditional Hoi An street food

After ordering all our dresses (and I may have ordered a couple of bikinis also), we spent the rest of our first morning walking around the Ancient Town. In Vietnam they all believe in the superstition that your first customer of the day makes your luck - if you don't get them to buy something then you will have a very unlucky day. While this can be a problem if you're not looking to buy anything, this actually worked to our advantage as we managed to pick up some things quite cheaply!! Did I mention mum loves to haggle? After a very long (and hot) walk, we toddled over to the river looking for somewhere to eat, and found this lovely little place actually overlooking the river. That's where I tried my first Cao Lau, which is a traditional street food dish found in Hoi An. It's made of a rich pork broth with thick, yellow noodles, and some herbs and chilli - absolutely delicious!! Mum was also enjoying the food - she ordered a set menu of spring rolls, stir fried chicken and a flambeed banana dessert. The latter is also one of the nicer things I tried whilst out there.

Enjoying a well earned beer

Flambeed bananas - yum!

After lunch we moseyed back to the hotel, which is a couple of kilometres away from Ancient Town. This time we took the shuttle bus, but I think the rest of the time we walked it - unfortunately we got caught in the pouring rain more than once, which wasn't the best experience ever. We went down to the beach after we got back to the hotel - this is also quite a long shuttle bus ride away. The beach was wonderful, except for the fact that the weather started to go wrong. Very quickly clouds began to cover the sky and it actually got quite cold. Luckily I managed to fit a sea swim in first, but an hour later we decided to leave the beach and just managed to escape the torrents of rain.

That night we headed back into Ancient town - we had to go for our dress fittings and while waiting we went for a beer down by the river. It turns out that day was Independence day in Vietnam, so there was a lot of celebrating going on down there. Also the next day was Labour day, so many of the shops and tailors had the next day off. As we walked along the river, we saw many Vietnamese children sitting there selling souvenirs and mostly lanterns with little candles in them. They ask you to buy these lanterns and place them in the river, and make a wish. At one point during the night the river was completely full of lanterns - it was so beautiful!!

A river of light

lowering the lanterns

We had a pretty late dinner that night after we picked up our dresses around 9.30. We actually ended up eating on the other side of the river, which was full of tourists and actually had a couple of night clubs. The most amusing thing about all these restaurants is they all have a Western menu, serving wood-baked pizzas and fresh pasta and chips!! We managed to steer clear of this sort of food, and stuck to tasting local Vietnamese dishes - mum had fish clay pot for dinner and I had a mix of meat which was wrapped in a banana leaf and barbecued....absolutely exquisite!!

Fish clay pot

The next day was our last in Hoi An, and it was a beautiful, sunny and hot day. Because of the holiday, we knew the beach would be full and the shops shut, so we camped out by the hotel pool and worked on our tans - it was so lovely and relaxing! Sometimes that's what a holiday needs - a bit of relaxation by the pool :D And of course, we finished the day off with a couple of beers down by the river, with some delectable food and a brilliant view of the festivities. Fantastic!!