A Few Days in Hoi An

Returning to Hanoi from our 2 day trip to Halong Bay, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed out for the train station.  We booked an overnight train out of Hanoi to Danang.  Caution - negotiate your taxi rate with the driver before leaving!  Our hotel had arranged the rate for our ride, but we did not verify it with the driver when we left.  Upon arrival at the train station, he demanded a huge sum for the ride!  We finally paid him what the hotel told us it would be and then left.  Inside the station, we were taken for a ride by someone else, who escorted us onto the train, took us to the wrong sleeping berth, and demanded $10 USD for his services!

Our adventure continued when we realized we were in the wrong berth, went to our new room to find it overrun with HUGE boxes from a man who said he was our roommate.  Susan took charge of the situation, and kicked the man AND his boxes out.  We were left with a nice German woman, and we grabbed a young Australian girl to join us.  We promptly slammed our door shut and locked it for the night! Oh, the joys of travel!

We managed to survive the night and arrived in Danang early in the morning.  After finding a few others to split a taxi, we drove to Hoi An, our next destination. We really lucked out, and again had a great hotel, the Long Life Hotel.  Once again, the staff was fantastic, and the hotel itself was beautiful, complete with a garden in the backyard and a pool.  It was a quick walk down to the Old Town, but I would stay there again.

Hoi An sits about 2 miles from the beach.  There are 2 main beaches at the end of the road, one of them being "China Beach" as the westerners call it.  China Beach was an R & R stopping point for the troops during the war.  Today, however, the entire strip is boarded up and under construction.  There are several HUGE resorts going in, including the Sheraton.  Once it is all up and running, it will definitely be a place to stop.

The town of Hoi An is a definite stop off point on your journey thru Vietnam, in particular the Old Town.  A few blocks from our hotel, you hit the backpackers street with small restaurants and tons of clothing stores.  Hoi An is the place in Vietnam that you go to and get your clothes custom made within a day.  Past the backpackers street, you reach what the locals call "Flower Street."  This is because the sides of the streets are lined daily with flower vendors.

A little further down the road, you enter "Old Town."  Although there is no cost to walk around Old Town, the officials offer an unguided tour of Old Town for $5 which gives you access to several of the historic buildings.

One of the more interesting buildings were toured was the House of Phung Hung located near the Japanese Covered Bridge.  The house was built in 1780 and has been home to the same family for 8 generations.  The family is still living there - our tour was conducted by the niece of the occupants.

The house is a mixture of Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese influence, which is not surprising considering the builders of the house made their fortune in the spice trade.

Because of the close proximity to the Thu Bon River, the house is a victim to the floods every year.  Some years are worse than others.  In anticipation of the floods, the family pulls up thru a trap door in the second floor all the furniture and belongings on the first floor.  They will then live on the second floor until the flood recedes, usually 4 - 6 days.

Located near the House of Phung Hung is the Japanese Covered Bridge, one of the more memorable structures in Old Town.  The bridge was constructed in 1593 by the prosperous Japanese trading community in order to link the west side with the Chinese quarter.  Today, it serves as a convenient pedestrian bridge over a tributary to the Thu Bon River.

On the other side of the bridge are several great shops along the tree lined street.  There is very little motorized traffic (including motorbikes) in Old Town, so it is a great place to stroll the streets.

Old Town runs parallel to the Thu Bon River.  At the end of Old Town on the river side, is the traditional food market.  Once again, the markets are spectacular - smelly, lively, and full of lots of creatures for sale.  With the ocean 2 miles away and the market right on the river, seafood was prominent in the market.

Along with the stalls selling food in the market, there are also several curbside "restaurants" where the brave can mix in with the locals and try the specialties.  I, of course, was not one of them.  It is pedestrian only traffic within the market compound, with the exception of delivery bicycles carrying crates of fresh veggies and eggs.

One of the neatest things that happened to us in Hoi An actually happened by accident.  We were on our way to the morning food market and on the main tourist street. We looked over and saw a lot of locals gathered for something.  We decided to investigate, so we walked over and into the crowd.  Locals were pulling up on bikes and on foot, and delivering bags of what seemed like food.  They had several of the packages on display, and also what appeared to be a tasting table.

As we were standing in the crowd (I noticed that we were the ONLY westerners in sight)  we heard a voice come over the loudspeakers.  "Excuse me my friends, I would like to take the opportunity to explain to you what we are doing today."  I looked over in the direction of the sound and realized that one of the locals was speaking into a microphone and staring us down.  He was talking directly to us!

Anyway, he went on to explain that as part of Tet, the residents of Hoi An had started a tradition of collecting glutanous rice cakes from businesses in town and delivering them to the needy in the area.  Each business had spent the entire night, literally, preparing, and wrapping their glutanous rice cakes, forming them into logs, and then decorating the wrapped packages.

The highlight of the day was the official judging of the tasting of the cakes.  We were whisked over to the judging table, given chopsticks and asked to taste the entries! As I was taking photos, Susan was interviewed by the media, and as she spoke, the moderator translated for the crowd her remarks into the microphone!

After the tasting was done, a lady came over and tapped us on the shoulder.  She worked at our hotel and had recognized us.  She asked if she could show us the rice logs our hotel had prepaired.  Many photos followed.  The moderator told us that several thousand people would benefit from the food distribution.  Each local village was sending someone to collect their allotment, and they would then be responsible for distributing the rice logs to the needy in their area. Everyone was so nice to us.  Truly a memorable morning.

The main part of Old Town is comprised of the food market, a few shops, historic buildings, and restaurants.  Tons of restaurants.  Really nice restaurants geared to tourists.  One of the places that we dined at was the Cargo Club.  I would highly recommend stopping to get something to eat here if you are in town.

They have a small eating area on the first floor, but the main dining area is upstairs, which includes an outdoor patio right on the riverfront.  The food was excellent, and the menu was quite extensive.  It's a blend of western food, and Asian cuisine.  I opted for the mushroom garlic risotto, and it was incredible.  I think my friend had a salad, Jerry had the pizza, and Jim had squid.

To me, the highlight of the Cargo Club is the pastry counter and dessert selection!  After travelling in a country where there were no desserts to be found as we know them, it was a mouth watering experience to stand in front of the display case and choose your dessert.  I went for the mango cheesecake.

I did stop by the next day also and had the chocolate mousse.  Incredible.  And of course, we bought pastries in the morning also.

Another restaurant that I personally ate at in Hoi An was "Good Morning Vietnam."  With a name like that, you just had to stop in!  The restaurant is actually 1 of 4 in the "chain."  It is an Italian restaurant, run by Italians also, and the food was amazing.  It is located across the street from the Cargo Club.

In addition to all of the great restaurants geared toward tourists, there is also an endless supply of local restaurants dotting the sidewalks on the way to Old Town.  We ate twice at a Vietnamese restaurant across the street from the hotel.  We also had a great meal that the hotel clerk suggested to us.  We had asked her where she would go to eat, and it was quite a shock to her that we would ask!

She gave us the name of a place called Balle Well located off the beaten path.  We decided to give it a try, and after winding our way thru a series of alleyways, getting lost along the way of course, we managed to run into it.  There were SMALL red plastic chairs (literally kid size) outside in the alley, and several tables inside.  It was really a great, authentic experience.  We literally sat down, picked up the menu that was printed on the back of a wetnap, and without ordering anything, the food started arriving.  Apparently, there is no choice at the restaurant - it is a set meal.

The meal included a large platter of mixed greens, satay pork on skewers, a coleslaw relish, rice paper for rolling, and several dishes of sauces.  Before we could dig in, the owner of the restaurant, an elderly woman, came over and began assembling our rolls for us, including dipping them in the sauce and holding them up to our mouth!  She was really sweet.  She came over occasionally to check on us, and when she realized I did not like the sauce that was offered, she went and got another selection for me to try.  The meal was finished with a platter of fresh pineapple.

The local cuisine that I ate on the trip was very good with the exception of the rice paper, which I didn't enjoy!  The paper is used to make wraps, and is also used in the fresh spring rolls and the fried spring rolls.  The fried rolls are not as bad, but the plain wraps and fresh spring rolls are like trying to bite into cardboard!

The last day in Hoi An, I spent some time walking around by myself and exploring the city.  There was a bridge that crossed the river, so I decided to venture over to the other side.  The "island" is considered the new part of Hoi An, and it is just being developed.  There are a few older buildings mixed in with the new buildings along the waterfront, but once you leave the river street, it is all new.

There were several great restaurants on the other side, along with a few hotels going up.  The new buildings are definitely being built to attract the increasing tourist population.

Hoi An, and Vietnam in general, is really a work in progress.  It is a mixture of the old and new, with the old making way for the new - the tourists.

I would definitely put Hoi An on your list if you are visiting Vietnam.  Although we spent several days there, we did not even begin to explore the surrounding area.  As I mentioned before, of course there are the beaches north and south of Hoi An. Less than a year from now, the beaches will be lined with resorts, which may be good or bad, and the entire stretch will be busy with tourists.  There are several islands off of China Beach which have great snorkeling and diving opportunites.

The Imperial City of Hue is also north of Hoi An (busses, trains and planes go into Danang, which is centered between Hue and Hoi An).  Danang Airport has now expanded and has international flights coming and going, mostly due to the draw of the beaches.  There is also the World Unesco Heritage site of My Son, a short distance away.

Ahh, too much to do and too little time when you are tryng to hit the entire country in 2 weeks! It was time to leave Hoi An and venture off to another destination further south down the coast - Nha Trang.