Hoi An

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Xin Jaow from Hoi An!

Leaving Nha Trang, we decided that the weather for the rest of our journey in Vietnam would be rainy. Little did we know the sun was waiting for us in Hoi An! Yay 😊

My friends, Kate and Carrie, had both told me Hoi An was beautiful, even things I read about it on the internet said it was beautiful but I was unconvinced when I was approaching on the bus on the way there. I saw alright buildings that had a yellow tingeand I didn't see the big deal. Then, when we walked to the old town in the afternoon- WOW! Hoi An really is beautiful. The Old Town in Hoi An is a World Heritage Site which means it needs to be preserved. The streets until 9pm only allow access to walkers or cyclists, making it a relaxed place to walk around in. Many of the buildings are a mellow shade of yellow (Stuart and I have decided it's called 'Hoi An Yellow'😉. There are other wooden buildings that have a Chinese style to them, with careful ornate carvings in the structure. Classical music plays from speakers and each building is decorated with colourful lanterns, which at night turns Hoi An into a magical, romantic destination.

Our favourite place to stand, and just absorb the beauty, was near the river. Here, there is a bridge, beautifully lit up. On either side of the river are restaurants and buildings and on the water there are wooden boats and candles people have released into the water encased in a cardboard lotus! No matter how hard I tried, I could not get a good picture of what I could see. I need a better camera!!

Our first day in Hoi An, we went to the beach. Nha Trang was supposed to be 'beach time' and as we didn't get it we knew we had to get there ASAP in case it rained! We hired bicycles for 20,000 Dong, where the seat was way too high for me, never mind smaller Asian people! The bike ride there was much less chaotic than my previous journeys on scooters! At the beach, we chilled out and played a bit of frisbee with our good old faithful Aerobee. This Aerobee has been on many holidays around the world with us and unfortunately this was its last! My bendy throw meant it landed on the edge of the shoreline when, suddenly, a big wave consumed it...never to be seen again!! We searched and searched but finally gave up when we knew it was never coming back 😞 A sad day! Stu decided to go for a swim in the big waves whilst I read my book.

Stu's decision to play so much in the water was a bad one as he woke up the next morning with an infected ear and in agony with the pain. We roamed the streets for an open Pharmacy and could not find one. Suddenly, a woman popped out from a shop and called after us asking what we were looking for. She noticed Stuart was covering his ear and told him she was a nurse. When I explained that we think his inside ear is swollen she checked it using her hands (first of all checking the wrong ear!) and said she will be back with something. A man waited with us and kept on explaining she was a nurse from the hospital in Hoi An and Vietnamese medicine is the best! As soon as he said this, I thought we need to get out of here! I told Stuart I would walk up the street to just check if I could see a pharmacy. I couldn't find one! When I got back to the shop, the 'nurse' still hadn't come back. Stuart was in lots of pain and he was finding it hard to sit there and wait. We apologised to the man and said we would just go to the hospital as he was in too much pain. I actually think the woman had popped out the back door and tried to go to a pharmacy herself, come back with what we needed and would probably charge us double! Finally, we found a pharmacy and got a whole load of medicines to help Stuart and his ear! Thankfully, he is on the mend!

As Stuart was out of action for the day, I decided to let him rest and went on a Vietnamese cooking course. We were taken around a market and bought the things we needed. As it was just after midday, some people had closed their stalls for a lunchtime to re-open later. Many of the stall owners would clear their tables and then sleep on them for the break! Not my idea of a power nap! There was one lady who was asleep next to a bowl of prawn in water. Sticking out of the water was a huge ice cube. I was just hoping that it wouldn't all melt before she woke as the water would probably then spill out all over her table and all over her! When I told Stuart this, when I got home, he said it was probably her alarm clock! Haha

After the market, we took a 45 minute boat ride over the river to another part of Hoi An. We then transferred into a smaller wooden boat where we were given a Vietnamese Traditional Hat to wear. I had seen so many Vietnamese people wearing these hats and always wanted to try one! It was difficult to keep on my head as it was so big! The lady rowed us through a path of water coconut trees, which I thought was very skilful! She took us to her house where we were then shown how rice milk was made using a grinding type of machine made out of stone and wood.

Around the corner then was our chef, Ti, waiting for us to teach us how to cook Vietnamese food. I really enjoyed my cooking experience. We made fresh pork and prawn spring rolls, Vietnamese pancake, beef salad and beef Pho. Stuart's favourite dish in Vietnam has been Pho so now I will be able to make it for him when I get home! (I actually heard they have opened a Vietnamese place in Leeds while we have been away so if you are in Leeds at some point you will have to buy some Pho!)

Our second day in Hoi An it rained! Booo. The sun was good while it lasted! We decided to go on a hunt for hot chocolate as that is what you do when it's wet outside (although it is still warm here when it rains!). No where can we find hot chocolate! We even went to 'Western' restaurant hoping to find hot chocolate- but no! I think I have found my money making scheme to stay in Hoi An. Open a hot chocolate shop in the old town, decorated with colourful lanterns!! We decided instead to go to a tea room. This tea room was special as all the waitresses were deaf. The atmosphere inside the tearoom was so peaceful. We communicated by using wooden blocks that had necessary words on such as 'Thank You', or 'Bill'. I asked the lady serving me to show me how to sign 'Thank You' as I didn't really like holding up the wooden block every time I wanted to say it! We ordered our tea by ticking what we wanted on a paper menu. The organisation that runs the tea room is called Reaching Out. They are a fair trade social business that employs people with disabilities to empower them and help them to become independent. They also make lots of arts and crafts, we could have even bought the tea cups and teapot we drank from! I would if I was going home but my backpack isn't big enough. The tea was lovely and the 'necessary' plate of cookies we had were yummy too.

Today, our last day- SUNSHINE!!! We hired a scooter and went to the Marble Mountains in a place called Da Nang. There are five hills where one is open to the public. First, we climbed the stairs to see the pagoda and Buddhas on top. It was nice to look from above to see the city below as well as the sea. We then walked down where we could go to an underground cave. They called this 'hell' and on top of the mountain 'Heaven'. We walked inside and again lots of steps. The whole place is decorated with gory scenes and tacky looking monsters! It was a very strange place, plus the fact it was dark and you were going up and down stairs added to its' 'scare factor'! Outside, there are lots of shops trying to sell you marble statues and jewellery. We were told we could park outside someone's shop for free which made me feel bad that I had to buy something. I saw some rings and she insisted they were marble! I said to Stuart I am pretty sure this is plastic and she seemed very offended telling me her father had made it! I told her I wanted it but could pay no more than 60,000 Dong, which is about £2. She finally accepted when I started walking out of the shop. Think I paid too much but never mind, it wasn't too pricey!

We then drove the scooter to An Nang beach which I had read was in the top 50 best beaches in the world. No idea where they were looking but this beach was pretty poor. It was quite big but it was dirty with lots of debris. If it is known to be a lovely beach, people really should be employed to look after it. We left and went back to the Old Town for something to eat.

Next stop - Hue. We had thought about going to see the largest cave in the world from here, Hang Son Doong, but after we saw the $3000 price tag to go on a tour we decided maybe not!! I've read about another cave called Paradise Cave which I would like to go to fingers crossed the sun will keep on shining and there won't be any naff statues inside!!



Hoi An is full of beauty and I will miss seeing the colourful lanterns and hearing the classical music as I walk outside at night. I hope I find some other places like this on my travels as we have really enjoyed it here. The majority of the people here are lovely and chatty. I think they are appreciating mine and Stu's attempt at speaking a bit of Vietnamese. We have noticed there are quite a few rude travellers here that don't even bother to say thank you in Vietnamese which is a shame. So for all you reading this- thank you in Vietnamese is 'Cam On'. I always think I sound like a Londoner when I say it!

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