On to Hoi An on November 30, just 30 km. south of Da Nang - we booked a private car for $13 & rode in style. We booked an apartment on Airbnb & it was a great choice. Quang Vinh Apartments & Hotel, compact but well equipped, comfortable & homey. And the most comfortable mattress so far! Great to have both a washer & dryer, kitchen, English channels on the TV & a cute outdoor seating area. All for $222 for 1 week. Easily walkable to the Old Town which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, famous as a 15th-19th century trading port with a blend of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese & French architecture, colorful lanterns, narrow streets & canals.
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| Old Town |
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| Our apartment |
Unfortunately this area was hit quite badly by typhoons this fall, but they are quick to clean up. One restaurant had flood levels from past years marked on the wall, this year the level was 1.85 m. Now the street closest to the river still floods a bit with high tide.
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| A screenshot of Hoi An during the flood |
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| Also a screenshot |
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| Tide creeping in |
We spent our days wandering the Old Town, eating some of the local dishes, biking & relaxing.
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| Market |
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| Lanterns everywhere! |
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| Hoi An is famous for it’s tailor shops - they can make almost anything in 24 hours |
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| Of course there are temples |
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| Night market every night along the river |
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| Tasty rice paper pizza |
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| So may choices of smoothies(avocado ) & juices (carrot) |
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| Cau Lau |
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| Grilled meat & noodles |
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| Tapioca dumplings with shrimp, very chewy |
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| Pork skewers to wrap in rice paper |
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| White Rose dumplings, lovely 2nd floor spot overlooking the river |
The hotel offered free bicycles so off we went - out of town thru rice paddies, to An Bang beach for a beer & to watch the waves, thru the narrow lanes of Old Town.
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| She turned towards me & gave me a scare! |
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| Ladies picking snails in the rice fields |
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| An area called Vegetable Village, aptly named |
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| Can’t go wrong with beers on the beach |
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| An Bang beach & the round coconut boats the fisherman use |
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| Riding in Old Town |
We had a couple days of rain which was fine as the TV actually had several English movie channels. Most days I went for my morning run in a nearby park, Robin exercised & went for a walk. We love to eat & there is so much good food & beer - so exercise is needed or we will be sorry!
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| Nearby park |
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| Fancy funeral wagon in the park |
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| All these cages hold very pretty small birds of many kinds - the lady yelled at me for taking a photo so probably not supposed to catch them & sell them |
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| Several old structures like this in the park, from the Vietnam war |
We spent a lot of time in the Old Town, so many lovely yellow buildings & every night the boats take people out to float paper lanterns that old ladies sell.
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| Japanese Bridge |
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| Carvers |
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| Night market |
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| Hoi An is also famous for leatherworks, made to order or ready made |
We enjoyed a relaxing week in Hoi An, but it was time to move on. Everything up till now we had booked before leaving home - we figured a week in each place would give us time to relax & explore. We also booked a month in our next destination of Nha Trang as we have been before & enjoyed it. And we splurged on flights, all of $82 each. On to the next adventure December 7.
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| Lots of Christmas decorations |
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| One of many bahn mi sandwiches |
Still Living the Dream!
