Hoi An
Hoi An is a lovely place and is worth a couple of days visit if you have time. We stayed at the Vinh Hung Resort. We had villa style one room units overlooking one of the rivers and out the back is our own pool.
Hoi An is a must visit if you come to Vietnam. I will post some pictures we have taken later as for now the computer won't let me.
The town is as pretty as the picture you see here. There are lots of tourists but there are even more tailors, cafes and hawkers. The town is almost one big shopping centre.
Gaye and I got up at 4:45am to visit the market. Heaps of people buying and selling heaps of fish. All kinds of fish from sharks to sardines.
The weather was very humid but not as hot as Saigon.
There are over 400 tailor shops in Hoi An and we went to three of them. We had a few suits, skirts, pants and whatever made and are a little bit tired from walking from place to place. I got my cheapest suit made in one of the open shops in the Cloth Market for US$60. There are no change rooms here - you strip off in front of whoever is there and whoever walks down the aisle. The suits are not easy to try on when you are hot and sweaty. I liked the quality and service from Yaly and their suit cost US$80. The price is variable depending on the style and quality of the cloth.
Friday night we hung around the old town and watched the full moon festivities. The locals light small red candles and float them down the river in multicoloured cardboard boxes. All the street lights are turned off and outside lighting is provided by silk lanterns. People got into small boats and paddled among the candles up and down the river. The close the streets to motorized traffic during the festivities and so it was nice to be able to walk down the street without the constant beep beep of motor bikes.
Last Day in Hoi Ahn
Sunday 4 March was our last day in Hoi Ahn. We went for a tour to visit the Marble Mountains just before Danang and the Citadel in Hue. We started at 0700 and finished at 1730, it was a long hot trip. Climbing the many steps at Marble Mountain made me sweat so much my jeans and shirt were wet. Was it worth it - I think so as I got to see some things that I would never have seen otherwise. I would love to have some of the marble statues in our garden however the shipping charges are huge.
We stopped on top of the mountain pass between Danang and Hue and got hassled by touts selling postcards beads and fake pearls. We also saw the concrete fortifications built by the French and Americans.
The Citadel in Hue was huge. We had a very ordinary lunch at a restaurant in Hue that our driver took us to - worst lunch in Vietnam. The trip over the mountains between Danang and Hue was very scary. All in all we were very glad to arrive back at the hotel in one piece. Along the way there were a couple of road accidents - one involved a big truck that flipped over on its side.
Created on 02/19/2007 07:10 AM by Phil
Updated on 04/01/2008 07:01 AM by Sexton
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