Hoi An, Vietnam

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After Hanoi, we spent 4 days in Hoi An which is a small fishing village along Vietnam’s central coast, and our love for Vietnam grew deeper. The town of Hoi An is very small and we walked the whole thing in probably 2 hours. But it’s so quaint and charming with a very Mediterranean feel to it. Reminded us a lot of southern Italy and Croatia, but throw in a little Asian flavor with all of the silk tailor shops and silk lanterns hanging everywhere. The town was gearing up for the Chinese New Year on Feb 14 and would hang up a new set of lanterns on the main bridge every day. At first we loved popping our heads into the tailor shops just to browse but we couldn’t resist and fitted Anthony for a custom-made 3-piece suit and Mel for a new silk dress.

The food was even better in Hoi An than in Hanoi and those fruit shakes we mentioned, they were even better too! We enjoyed a lunch of Cao Lao every day—thick doughy noodles topped with roasted pork, cilantro, mint, and fried wonton croutons sitting on a really light meat broth. Mmm, so good! They also had incredible fresh spring rolls, coconut-pumpkin soup, and what we dubbed Vietnamese nachos—tortilla-sized fried wonton crackers topped with shrimp, grilled pineapple and mixed veggies.

Hoi An also had a great beach, just 3 kilometers outside of the main town and we had a blast driving over there one day on our rented motor bike and another day on our rented bicycles. The beach was really nice and not too crowded. We were also blessed with dry, sunny weather, which is not always the case considering the rainy season turns Hoi An’s charming streets into Venice-like canals. But as we were kicking back in our lounge chairs by the beach, under the tiki hut, with a fruit shake in hand, we knew we hit it right and only wished we could stay just a little longer.

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Photos

More beach!
Nice sand, nice water, nice weather....we loved this beach

Streets of Hoi An
Silk lanterns everywhere

Tailor Shops
Tailor shops all over the place-- you can get anything custom-made, just pick a picture out of the many fashion magazines they have sitting on their coffee tables

Mel's New Dress
Melanie's new custom-made silk dress

Anthony's New Suit
Anthony's new custom-made suit

Riverfront
The riverfront in town had a lot of the old-style fishing boats docked there, many will take out tourists

Riverfront after lunch
Happy walk along the riverfront after a great Cao Lau lunch

Great Dinner
Great price-fixed dinner to try all of the Hoi An specialities

The beach!
Lots of palm trees to shade the beach

Day 2 at the beach
Our set up on day 2 at the beach was even better- nice lounge chairs and a tiki hut

Reading Time
Anthony finishing up his book on the beach

Bridge at Night
Our last night of Hoi An, walking over the bridge. They were almost done putting up all of the special Chinese New Year lanterns

Hoi An's River
Hoi An has a river running right thru the city and our first hotel there had a great view of it from the 4th floor breakfast cafe

In Front of the Bridge
In front of the bridge that led to our hotel

Shops in Town
Shops all over town and most had families waiting outside to greet the tourists

Japanese Covered Bridge
This bridge is hundreds of years old and was built by the Japanese to connect to a Chinese trading area of Hoi An

Streets of Hoi An
More basket vendors with fresh fruits for sale

Comments

[maria]

sounds lovely
I would love to get there someday!

[Cheryl]

Dear Melanie and Anthony, Just loving every minute of all your adventures. You both look great in your new clothes. Stay safe, Love, Cheryl