Hoi An - written by Anne

This town is a real treasure situated on both sides of the Thu Bon river, by day we do a walking tour of the Hoi An Old streets through the picturesque streets of this 16^th century trading port where the buildings remind me of its Chinese, Japanese, French & Vietnamese architectural styles. We view the Japanese bridge that separated the Japanese and Chinese during early trading times, the Phuc Kien Pagoda and Tan Ky House.

 

 

On our own we head to the covered market and try local Vietnamese pancakes – they are delicious, once eaten we see all the fresh veges/salad that we have just wrapped in our rice papers being washed under the local tap water in the sink with the raw meat knives, cloths etc – hopefully there are no tummy bugs tonight! We continue walking through the fruit, vege and meat market as we have a torrential downpour that immediately floods the walking paths to about 20cm deep with muddy brown water – there's no choice but to continue onwards through the large puddles.
 

 

 

We find the local cloth markets, which cater more to my needs that the tailors making the suits and formal dresses. So I show a photo of a top I like from my phone and that's enough for them to look at, then we hunt for material and measurements are taken before being told to come back the following morning for first viewing of the finished garment. We bargain and agree on $28NZD - $40NZD for each of my tops depending on the level of silk in the material (50% paid before making), on returning the next morning I was 100% happy with all garments. Time for a massage now and home for a cool down swim and relaxation.

 

 

By night the banks of the river are lit up with lanterns and there are beautiful gourmet smells wafting out from the many cafes and restaurants, the cocktails and beers are all offered at buy 1, get 1 free prices for about $3 - $4 NZD. We are recommended to try the famous Morning Glory Restaurant which sells 'upmarket' Vietnamese street-food, the food is absolutely wonderful and great presentation, well worth the 20 minute wait time to get a table. 1980's band music drifts across the river where we are enjoying our balcony cocktails/mocktails.

We head out on our bicycles to An Bang beach 4km away going through rice paddies, watching the rice pickers and the buffalo roaming around. The beach has decent surf waves reminding us of our Oakura beach, but is also filled with sun lounger chairs and bars offering beers, shakes and cocktails. So a pretty relaxed afternoon was on the plan.

On cycling back into Hoi An we are amongst the chaos that rush hour brings, I was very proud of the kids dodging scooters, people, cars and trucks whilst maintaining a forward momentum and no stopping. It continues to amaze us how the traffic just seems to flow and work over here despite no set sense of rules!