Wow, what a full day! Let's get started. First, a note on the weather. As you have probably gathered, while temperatures have been suffocatingly hot here in southern Vietnam, in terms of precipitation the weather has been good, with only brief spots of rain. Today, however, we awake to angry, overcast skies. Buffet breakfast at the resort and then we are off on the bus to explore Hoi An, considered one of the jewels of Vietnam's cultural heritage. The unique combination of Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese influences in the old town have earned it a UNESCO heritage site designation. Hoi An's survival was a result of several factors. First, it used to be a major port, but the river gradually silted over and the town literally became a backwater. Second, its proximity to Danang during the
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