Hoi An, Vietnam

We had a good trip from Hue to Hoi An. We could have got a public bus for just a few dollars each, but it wasn't too expensive to hire a private car and driver for the 3 and a half hour or so trip, so we did just that. It was very luxurious travelling in style in a nice air-conditioned vehicle and being able to stop whenever we wanted. Our base for our 3 nights in Hoi An was the Loc Phat Homestay which had been highly rated and well reviewed on several different websites. This was with good reason. Our room was lovely and spacious with a huge bed and nice private balcony. Breakfast was excellent (as they had been in every place we stayed during our trip and there was also the free super-quick internet that every place offered. The owner tipped us off that the best banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich) in Hoi An was to be found from a cart that set up for a few hours each day just a few doors down from the homestay. We gave it a go on the first day and it was amazing! A super light baguette filled with several cuts of pork, pate, salad, spicy condiments and loads of fresh herbs, all for less than 1NZD. That ended up being our standard lunch each day we were there. There was always a queue of locals waiting for their daily banh mi fix which was a good recommendation in itself.  

This temple was a couple of doors down from the homestay and we would walk past it as we walked the 15-20 minutes into the centre of town every day.

Hoi An seems to be every traveller's favourite place in Vietnam and Will and I loved it. It's a cute wee town without the hustle and bustle of Hanoi. If we had stayed longer we would have taken advantage of the bicycles offered by our homestay to go out and explore the surrounding countryside. Bars and restaurants line the riverside and we enjoyed taking advantage of the late afternoon happy hour cocktail specials.

The town is a shoppers paradise! If you were after handbags, scarves, custom-made shoes or any leather goods in general, you were in the right place... I might have left Vietnam with about 5 more scarves than I arrived with...

Of course, Hoi An is most famous as the tailoring capital of the world. Will took the opportunity to get a new suit custom made. There are literally hundreds of tailors in the town, but he chose Bibi Silk and was very pleased with the results. Next time I'm in Hoi An (for there definitely will be a next time!) I plan to arrive with very little and get a whole lot of clothes (and shoes) made. The photo below makes me laugh, Will blames Christmas at home in the UK, followed by the very good and very cheap Vietnamese food and beer on possibly needing a larger suit made than when he left NZ!

The centre of town is limited to pedestrians and cyclists only in the evenings, so it was very refreshing not having to constantly look out and dodge people on scooters and motorcycles. Below is the scenic and historic Japanese bridge.

Will even got to try his hand at a spot of wedding photography! We saw loads of weddings during our time in Vietnam, it was obviously the season for it...

Cao Lau is the local delicacy. It is a noodle dish that is only found in Hoi An, and it is delicious. The best version we ate was amongst the locals, on the street, at communal tables for less than half the price at the tourist restaurants. The only downfall was having to sit on the minuscule stools that the locals favour...

The town looks its best at night with brightly coloured lanterns hanging everywhere and the main bridge linking the river banks all lit up.

 

I'm a sucker for a good lantern market... If you don't share the same enthusiasm for them as I do you might want to scroll pretty quickly through the following pics! One of our regrets is that we didn't actually end up buying any. We intended to, but never quite got around to it.

 

 

 

  

 Of course, it doesn't look too bad during the day either. 

 

As well as all the tourist shops, there is also the 'local' market that is very interesting to have a wander through.

 

It was lovely just having the time to relax and chill out a bit after some of the more hectic travelling earlier in the trip. This bar/cafe was a very good vantage point to watch the world passing by for a bit. In the foreground you can see my highly addictive super potent Vietnamese iced coffee.

 

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to Hoi An. We caught a taxi to Danang (the nearest railway station to Hoi An) and then embarked on our longest overnight train trip yet, getting into Hanoi at 12:30pm the following day. Once again the train trip was a pleasure. It is definitely my favourite mode of transport when travelling, even if on this trip we shared our cabin with an ancient Vietnamese man who was quite enamoured with my thighs (having possibly never seen any quite that size before!) and at one stage reached out to grab a handful, unable to keep the delight off his face! Will of course found this all quite hilarious... Luckily it wasn't long before he disappeared off to his top bunk and left us in peace for the rest of the trip.

 

Once back in Hanoi we had a day and a half for any last minute sights/shopping. We did return to our favourite restaurant and managed to nab the premium table on a private balcony a couple of floors up. We didn't even know that space existed on our previous trips to the restaurant. I got to enjoy my last humongous bowl of green mango salad, quite possibly my favourite food in the whole of Vietnam.

The next day we flew back to Hong Kong for a couple more nights with my brother (staying at his apartment this time round, as opposed to his hostel) before heading back home to NZ after a brilliant 4 and a half weeks away.