Hoi An, The Old City

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Hoi An is an ancient port city with a strong Chinese influence and is now a UNESCO heritage site. Although all the major shipping moved to nearby Da Nang, the main draw place is to see the scenic old town and the countless tailor shops found throughout that make all sorts of custom clothing for cheap (by western standards) prices. Once numbering about a hundred just a few years ago, there are now over four hundred to be found! Talk about overkill.

I arrived on the sleeper bus in the early morning. Tim had also taken the same bus, so together we took off to a hostel and then checked out the old town till about noon. Lanterns hung above most of the streets and Chinese temples were abound. The old town seemed nicely preserved in Chinese style and was very clean and beautiful. We found a place that served the best Pho Ga I have yet to try in Vietnam.

As the heat intensified by noon we decided to hire bicycles and head out to the nearby coast and check out the beach so we could cool off. We rode along the river and saw a lot of greenery. The beach itself was nothing too special but the water was noticeably colder than in Nha Trang, the higher latitudes were beginning to show. We also met the Norwegian girls again, they were also chilling out for a while there. We agreed to hang out with them later that evening. The ride back was interesting, we became one with the traffic and rode around for a while before heading back to the restaurant for more of that awesome Pho Ga.

We met up with the Norwegians and Canadians we had also met in Nha Trang and ate out before going out to a nearby bar. Hoi An by night was even more enchanting, the lanterns all buzzed multitude of colours, and a further calm pervaded the town. The girls seemed to get way too drunk, way too fast, having buckets from that bar. I met some other Canadians there as well, and played cards with them for a while before they left. Later on we walked the town late into the night and found a manual carriage, where we took turns carting each other around which turned out to be quite fun in our state.

I made it back late into the night and was glad I was able to get up in the morning as I was to keep heading north, despite Hoi An's charms, there was only so much to do there and it was time to keep exploring the rest of Vietnam.

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