Hoi An for Tet

 We started our 9 days in Hoi An on a bit of a sour note - Robin spent the night before we left vomiting as a result of probably something he ate at the Da Nang night market. Luckily it did not last too long, but he felt weak for several days. Just as he got better it was my turn - again perhaps something I ate but it was an unpleasant few days. Happily we were back to “normal” & still able to enjoy our time in Hoi An. 

We booked an apartment thru Airbnb for $374 for 9 nights - Azumi - which also had hotel rooms & a pool. It was on the 3rd floor, so lots of stairs for exercise, the best feature was a huge balcony off the large bedroom - but due to all the windows we were also subjected to a lot of street noise. And a very annoying speaker on a pole directly across the street that broadcast news & music twice a day, of course in loud Vietnamese. And the daily garbage truck also plays music as it collects the trash, of course fairly early in the morning!

The bedroom

The pool, very cold but Robin braved it a couple times

The apartment 

I spent some time exploring (& getting lost, thank goodness for Google maps), finding a big local market for fruits & flowers and a Moonmilk store (convenience store) for groceries - pretty good selection, even some “Western” foods. 

I’ve never seen pink pineapple 

Local market

Rice paddies right next to our apartment 

Still have no idea 
What these fruits are!

One of the dishes specific to Hoi An is Cau Lau - a soup made with special noodles, often seen drying in the sun. Pretty tasty. 

Noodles drying

Hoi An’s Ancient Town, located on the Thu Bon River is a well preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century & as such is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The mainly yellow buildings are a fusion of Chinese, Japanese & later European influences. The city uses lit up cloth lanterns to decorate buildings & boats which then take tourists out on the river to float small lanterns with candles. This makes for a wonderful sight at night! 

The river at night

The Japanese Bridge, dating from the 16-17th century 

Selling paper lanterns to float

Our accommodation provided free bicycles to use so out we went - we made it to An Bang beach - really windy & cool, we found the “vegetable village” nearby, stopped to check out a water buffalo & her calf, rode thru lots of rice fields & even rode a bit in the crazy traffic! 

An Bang beach

Vegetable village

Thru the rice fields 

We found a nearby bar, Havana Bar that sold bottles of Saigon beer, 450 mls for 10,000 dong -$0.56! And we got to watch a rat running around - we don’t see many but they still freak us out!

Tet, Lunar New Year is Vietnam’s most significant celebration - families reunite & honour their ancestors, while praying for luck, prosperity & health in the new year. The public holiday runs for a week or more, there are many preparations including cleaning, decorating, offerings to ancestors, what to wear (red or yellow), giving out luck money to children, buying a tree, buying new clothes, visiting Pagodas & lots of smiles! We were lucky to be there & to see how the Vietnamese celebrate.

Year of the Snake

Watching fireworks from our balcony 

Offering in a shrine

More offerings

Kumquat tree & large pots of yellow chrysanthemums 

Envelopes for lucky money

We headed out on the bikes another day with no destination in mind but ended up at the Coconut basket boat rides in the water coconut forest. We paid our $5.50 fee each & hopped in the circular boat with our “driver/paddler”. He took us thru the water coconuts & into a larger river, where it got crazy crowded with boats, stops for photo ops & to watch singers on boats & boat spinning (all hoping for tips). A bit cheezy but a fun ride. 

Of course we had to wear the hats!

A boat spinner

Water coconuts

We took in the Memories of Hoi An show & “theme park”, several mini shows depicting early days of Hoi An & the main show on a huge outdoor stage with hundreds of dancers & performers, lights, a lake, fire & fireworks! - all interwoven stories of 400 years of the history of Hoi An from simple rice farming, to the Champa period with a lavish royal wedding thru to the busy trading port & to the future of a peaceful modern life. 

We enjoyed wandering around the Ancient Town & area but it became very crowded by later afternoons, but good for people watching & eating. 

Lots of matching outfits

Hoi An is known for handcrafted leather goods & tailoring to order

Asian women don’t like to get tanned so many wear these long coats

Vendor cart - from this 

To this

Lots of hard working women with garbage 
carts keeping the streets clean

We did a day tour to see My Son Sanctuary- a cluster of partially ruined Shaiva Hindu temples constructed between the 4th - 13th century by the Kings of the Champa. A UNESCO World Heritage Site that was unfortunately bombed by the US during the Vietnam war & is slowly being restored & uncovered. Impressive craftsmanship as the very tidy & good looking sections are actually the oldest, where as the bricks with mortar visible are newer repairs & reconstruction. The experts have yet to determine how the bricks were held together. 

A Cham cultural dance performance 

A bomb crater 

We had to return to Da Nang for a few days as that is where the train station is, to get there we booked a private car for the 40 minute drive for $14.

We are finding that what ever you might need, you can find it here if you look - we have found a suitable replacement for Tums, a generic Claritin, some saline nasal spray, paracetamol (same as Tylenol), cough drops (we have seen multiple flavors of Fisherman’s Friend). Sun screen is pricey if you get brands that you recognize but local versions with less SPF are available but may also have a “brightening or whitening” effect as well! Lots of toiletry options but pretty much all hotels provide shampoo, body wash, soap, toothbrush & paste, combs, q-tips. Clothing choices are unlimited but larger sizes found less frequently & the quality of things may not be up to our standards (& lots of “knock off stuff). 

No we haven’t eaten there

A tasty shrimp dinner

View of the night market from our room in Da Nang

A lot of greenery on the balconies!

My Kindle E-reader crapped out - it has been struggling a bit, we Googled “Da Nang Kindle” & voila - a small store listed them for sale! Off we went, found the shop, luckily a couple young people there who spoke excellent English helped us to get it all set up & starting to download all my books. They had the most recent version but also a new, open box version similar to mine so I bought that - cost $139, they even included a case!  Very happy!

Finally got around to booking our return flight from Vancouver to Edmonton & we decided to fly from our next location of Nha Trang to Ho Chi Min City. February 7 we took a 12 hour train ride from Da Nang to Nha Trang, this time booking lower berths instead of seats. It was much better! Big window to look out, able to sit on the bunk or have a lay down/snooze, much quieter & peaceful than the busy carriages with seats & definitely smelled better. And this train had a good menu with pretty good food. 

Our compartment, we had others on the top bunks part of the trip

Menu on the train

A big hay stack  - lots seen from the train

Rice cakes drying the sun

Views from the train

Along the coast, some huge rocks

Off to explore Nha Trang, Still Living the Dream!