The Town of Tailors, Cobblers and all

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We leave our Nha Trang Hotel at stupid O'Clock to catch a flight to Hoi An. The flight leaves at 7.45am and after a short hours flights we arrive at Danang airport, here we are picked up and take a hour’s drive to our new hotel in the Old Quarter of this really interesting old city.

Its like being in Paris, Rome and China

The ancient town of Hoi An, 30 km south of Danang, lies on the banks of the Thu Bon River. Occupied by early western traders, Hoi An was one of the major trading centres of Southeast Asia in the 16th century. Hoi An has a distinct Chinese atmosphere with low, tile-roofed houses and narrow streets; the original structure of some of these streets still remains almost intact. All the houses were made of rare wood, decorated with lacquered boards and panels engraved with Chinese characters. Pillars were also carved with ornamental designs.

In a wood-fronted shops a woman in traditional dress sits at a desk, bathed in the light of a lantern made from a simple bamboo fish-trap. Outside, two old men are absorbed in a candlelit game of Chinese checkers. These scenes, straight out of the 19th century, still take place in Hoi An, a sleepy riverside town in the central province of Quang Nam.

Hoi An has long been a cultural crossroad. More than five centuries ago the Vietnamese nation of Dai Viet expanded its territory southwards, encroaching on the Indianized Kingdom of Champa, which covered much of what is now central Vietnam. Hoi An, located on the Hoai River, emerged when Japanese and Chinese traders built a commercial district there in the 16th century.

These diverse cultural influences remain visible today. Visitors will find Hoi An's Old Quarter lined with two-storey Chinese shops, their elaborately carved wooden facades and moss-covered tile roofs having withstood the ravages of more than 300 years of weather and warfare. These proud old buildings, which back onto the river, remind visitors of another era, when Hoi An's market was filled with wares from as far afield as India and Europe. Colourful guildhalls, founded by ethnic Chinese from Guangdong and Fujian provinces, stand quietly, a testament to the town's trading roots.

While Hoi An's old-fashioned charm is always visible, on the 14th of every lunar month modernity takes another step back. On these evenings the town turns off its street lamps and fluorescent lights, leaving the Old Quarter bathed in the warm glow of coloured silk, glass and paper lanterns. In ancient times, Vietnamese people made lamps out of shallow bowls filled with oil. Later, foreign traders introduced lanterns, ranging from round and hexagonal designs from China to diamond and star shaped ones from Japan.

Let there be light

When developing plans to preserve their town's ancient character, Hoi An residents decided to revive the practice of using coloured lanterns. Starting in the fall of 1998, one night each month is declared a "lantern festival". On the 14th day of each lunar month, residents on Tran Phu, Nguyen Thai Hoc, Le Loi and Bach Dang streets switch off their lights and hang cloth and paper lanterns on their porches and windows. Television sets, radios, street lights and neon lights are turned off.

Strolling through the lantern-lit streets is like walking into a fairytale. It is all the more picturesque since motor vehicles are banned from Hoi An's Old Quarter. On Trai Phu Street, stop at the beautifully preserved Faifo Restaurant to sample some traditional Chinese-style pastries. Or walk on to the Treated Café, where bamboo baskets, commonly used to wash rice, have been transformed into unique lanterns. These basket lamps are but one example of people's creativity as they experiment with new shapes and materials, including lights made from hollow bamboo tubes.

Ready, Steady, Cook Vietnamese Style

This evening meal is a case of 'Cook it yourself' as the group attends a Vietnamese cooking class. Hahn our hostess turns out to be one of the most entertaining hosts ever. She got everyone involved in the preparation and cooking of each of the dishes and filled it with laughter and such quick witted humour. “Look at me, Bernie" "Not now, but later" & " The one who's name l can't say" became the catch phrases of the evening. We cooked 4 different dishes.

Sweet & Sour Chicken Soup
Pork Spring Rolls
Papaya Salad
Baked Fish wrapped in Banana leaves

You don’t ride a bike for years, then you do it all the time

The best way to see the most interesting parts of these cities is by bike. The whole group meets up in the morning and we cycle through small lanes and into the countryside where we come across small villages producing Rice, Peanuts and Fish Farming. every few metres we hear "Hello" from Children and Older folk sitting on the steps of their houses. Children run up to us and "High 5" us as we pass.

We arrive at a small river side dock and board a small boat, our bikes are boarded too and we travel along the river onto a large lake. After about 45 minutes we pull up to a small island in the middle of the lake and we are cooked a meal by the guide and the captain of the boat. We are served BBQ Beef & Pork as well as the Baked Fish in Banana that we learnt to cook the evening before.

We finally arrive back into the city streets and our guide Thanh takes us to some Tailors and it then becomes a Woman’s Shopping Paradise as everyone starts looking at what items they can have made up to order. Every shop within miles seems to either be a Tailor or a Shoe Maker and we spend the rest of the day in negotiations about Colour, Style & cost to make up new outfits. So as you can imagine l am in no need for a suit to be made for me so l opt for a couple of pairs of jeans and some new custom made trainers. So for 3 pairs of Jeans and 2 pairs of trainers my bill comes to just under $60 or about £40. We are asked to come back to following afternoon to get fitted and have any alterations made.

Time to relax and take in the City

We are in Hoi An for 3 days so it gave us time to relax and walk around the city at our leisure too. Having time to walk around all the interesting stalls in the markets or around the old French style buildings gives you time to reflect on your surroundings. I found the people of Hoi An to be very friendly and helpful. I spent a couple of hours even talking to a older lady about what was like growing up in a different culture different from mine and l shall remember our conversation for the rest of my life. Her warmth and caring words she gave me when we parted has made me realise how lucky we in the western world really are.

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Photos

She called me "Big Buddha"
Children have no respect anymore !!!

Bamboo Bridge
3 hours later in was no more (Joking)