Hoi An was amazing! One of my favourite towns so far in Vietnam. It is heavily influenced by Chinese culture as it is where outcasts from China settled after the Quin dynasty overthrew the Ming dynasty. Eventually marrying Vietnamese people and creating a hybrid culture. Today it is filled with colourful lamps and Chinese temples.
Our first stop in the city was to the old town where we got to see several Chinese temples . They all had large intricate statues, big wall murals around the legends of moving here and also spirals of incense that take two weeks to burn. People can write wishes to hang in the spirals and after two weeks the legend is that they should come true.
We also got to see a traditional house, they are known as tube houses as they aren’t very wide but are quite deep, they have an open garden section in the middle to let light and air into the house. The one we visited had been in the woman’s family for 8 generations. Although it had had to have several renovations as the house is mostly made of wood and there have been several floods over that time with some of them being 3 meters or more in height.
In the afternoon we walked around the shops, Hoi An is famous for its tailors and some shops employ over three hundred! So it is easy to get a custom made suit in 24 hours at a decent price. Most of the men were keen to get suits so us women headed off in search of dresses instead, I got three tailor made dresses for £50! And a pre-made top and trouser combo for £5 so some great bargains but it is also hard to close my backpack now!
After we finished shopping we walked along the river to find somewhere for dinner. The river was very lively with lantern lit boats and floating candles. We picked a restaurant overlooking the hustle and bustle of the town and enjoyed a lovely dinner.
Our second day in Hoi An was a free day to do whatever we choose. A few of us decided to do a bicycle tour through the countryside. It was slightly terrifying getting out of the city on bicycles when everyone else was on motorbikes and it was rush hour, especially with my history on bikes, I still have a scar from when I fell off in Mexico! But it was wonderful in the country we got to ride through the paddy fields and see the farmers harvesting the rice, although it was a bit of an obstacle course weaving around the large sheets of rice left to dry out in the road.
Along the way we stopped off at a farmer’s house and got to see his other non-rice crops and he was letting us smell his mint and basil and we all had a go watering the plants with a large water can holding device that went over the shoulders. He seemed slightly anxious that we were over watering his crops and with good reason, it was harder than it looked to use! Hopefully he’s crop are okay and he won’t get skurvy because of us!
After this we continued on the road for a while until we came across a farmer riding a water buffalo and we all stopped to take photos. After our guide talked to the farmer he offered to let us have a go at riding it for 5k Dong which is 16 pence you can’t really say no at that price can you! So the three of us brave enough had a turn being led around in a small loop and boy was it hard work to stay on, I swing from one side to the next with every step, I felt like I was on one of those bucking broncos you get at bars. Luckily I managed to stay on and we were quickly back off on our ride again.
Next we rode along a river for a while until we reached a hut with some locals inside, they gave us some cool tea and used reeds to make jewelry for us while we drank it, I got a flower bracelet and a cricket shaped ring. It was very impressive. They also brought us some sugary coconut strips made from water coconuts in the river. I don’t normally like the texture of coconut and it’s very bitty but this was chewy and very nice.
After we finished our drinks and snacks we got to ride in the traditional basket boats. They showed us their party trick of making the spin in circles at speed before taking us down the river, or maybe up the river… it was hard to tell after all the spinning! They also let us have a go at rowing but that also led to us spinning in circles, this time unintentionally. One we were down river they took us into a spot amongst the water coconut plants and handed us a stick with fishing wire and some meat attached to go crabbing. Apparently, along with making cucumber based decorations, this is a skill of mine and I caught crab after crab, getting about 8 in total. Our guide was very proud and rowed us to the other groups where he proudly presented our crabs to the others who had yet to get any. After that I got teased quite a bit, ‘if you hang out with Alice you’ll catch crabs’ was the quote of the afternoon! I was quick to point out it wasn’t my fault they weren’t getting any…
In the evening we went to our second fitting for the clothes and then to dinner. The boys had already had their second fitting for the suits so they were able to pick theirs up on the way to dinner and decided to wear them which lasted all of 15 minutes before they had to head to the bathroom and change back into shorts before they sweated through their new suits.
After dinner we decided to take a ride down the river in one of the pretty lantern lit boats. It was really busy with other boats but they all looked so beautiful it only added to the experience.
After that us girls had our third and final fitting and headed home ready for and early morning flight to Ho Chin Min / Saignon City. I’ll tell you all about it soon, love Alice x
