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Published: February 27th 2014
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Hoi An by Night
They close the old town to traffic in the evenings which makes strolling along lantern lined streets much more relaxing.... Hoi An was the place everyone we spoke to before leaving Australia said 'You must go there!' It was easy to immediately see why. The ancient town centre has been well preserved with lots of beautiful old buildings, at night the little walking bridges across the river are lit up, and each side of the river is lit by hundreds of colourful fabric lanterns. Photos just can't do it justice.
Hoi An is a town that revolves around tourism. I was told by the owner of a beauty salon that there are 300 spas (massage places) in town, and Lonely Planet says there are about 500 tailors! We've taken advantage of both.
I'm being a bit restrained with getting clothes made because I plan to come back to Hoi An later in my trip ... but Kaylene has been to so many, she can't remember which ones she has ordered things from!!
Today we hired bicycles from our hotel and rode 4km out to the beach. Along the way we saw a couple of other tourists on bicycles with a Vietnamese person accompanying them emerging from a path through the rice paddies. So we decided it must be
Postcard perfect!
I've seen this type of image on postcards but never thought to see a 'buffalo boy' sitting on his buffalo in the fields. It was almost as if he was posing for us... a good ride if they were being shown it by a guide, so headed off through the paddies for our own little adventure! The buildings lining the beach were always in sight, so we figured we couldn't get lost.
Many people here also hire scooters because the traffic in Hoi An is very calm and peaceful (by comparison to the rest of Vietnam, that is).
However, I got a scooter ride yesterday afternoon for free. I stopped for a foot massage; it turned out the lady owned the business and when I said I was looking for a hotel or homestay for when I come back to Hoi An, she offered to take me to two nearby. One owned by her brother in law, and another a friend😊
But they were both quality places - one called Green Life had a stunning room ... more like a studio apartment .... looking over the rice paddies. It was just beautiful but at USD48/night, it's more than I want to spend. sounds a bit silly when you think of Australian prices, but the other one for $27/night was also pretty nice, so I think I'll stay there instead. More
Lantern, Madam?
If you want to buy a lantern, this is the place! There's a street which becomes a little lantern market at night, where you can buy them in all shapes, sizes and colours. I'm sure you could get them made to order too. spending money for massages!!
Then she offered to take me on the back of the scooter back into the centre of town where I was meeting Kaylene. We've been really impressed by how friendly the Vietnamese people have been so far ... this was just another example.
Can't wait for dinner tonight. Not sure where we'll go, but the food we've had in Hoi An has been wonderful. The first night we ate at place recommended by Lonely Planet called Morning Glory. The food was absolutely exceptional....one of the tastiest meals I've had in ages. Hopefully we'll learn how to make something like this at our cooking class tomorrow!
Last night we followed another LP recommendation and ate in a non-touristy place called Bale Well in a side street. The food was also very good, but it was a funny eating experience.
We sat down at some rickety chairs, and they immediately started bringing us food. After a bit of confusion, we realised it was a set menu (cost $6). It was a bit like we were children though... a lady came up and rolled our meal in rice paper rolls. It would have been nice
It's a Hard Life!
A beer by beach ... work feels a long way away! for her to do just one to show us how , but she insisted on doing our whole dinner. Things started getting a bit bizarre when she picked up the satay sticks and shoved them in our mouths as if we couldn't feed ourselves! It caused a few laughs between us, but the food was very tasty so we decided to go along with it and just enjoy the experience!
Until next blog, hope you're all well. Love Alison.
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