Hoi An

This lovely little river and ocean city was a delight for a few days to live in.

The city of Hoi An is a tourist hub of activity. The local things to do are go to the tailors for clothes, and to do cooking classes! We did both of those, as well as other walking around exploration while we recovered from our jungle expedition.

We arrived three hours ahead of schedule to the town, at 1:30AM. Fortunately we had booked a hotel for the night before arriving, and just walked in, picked up some keys and slept immediately.

Our days in Hoi An all followed the same type of template. Walk around for lunch and food in the morning and early afternoon, siesta for a bit, and then tackle the night. Now that we are in Southern Vietnam (mid really, but who’s checking), things get hot quick.

The activity in Hoi An all surrounds the Old Quarter, a neighbourhood of yellow two story buildings on the riverfront, and the adjacent island. It is here where we found quality bahn mi (we would generally have 2 or 3 from different shops for lunch), as well as our tailor. There was a food and souvenir market that we would walk through to get to and from the Old Quarter.

The tailors were funny. We had ours selected for us when we got into a conversation with a lady on the street. This is a common sales tactic in Hoi An, but early bird gets the worm for us. She led us to the shop and before we knew it we were selecting fabric patterns.

The shop was bustling. There were at least 10 women who were there helping people select their colours, patterns, fabrics, and everything else for their new clothes. We spent half an hour picking out future outfits for ourselves, before concluding our first session.

We came back twice for fittings. Every time I put an item on, I though it fit perfect, but then Moon would take her chalk and put lines everywhere. Some seams too tight, shoulders not right, I don’t know. It didn’t take long for them to know what was wrong. I certainly didn’t know. But each time we re-fitted, the thing fit better. Cam seemed to fit in her stuff a little easier.

We also hit up the spa and massage for an afternoon. It had the most adorable attention seeking mini poodle that would flop beside me for belly rubs. A nice way to recover after the caving expedition.

The nights were very cool. In the canal between the Old Quarter and the island, a bunch of boats with lanterns will take tourists up and down the canal. The effect is that of lights moving everywhere along the water. Apart from the hassle of salespeople wanting us on their boats, it was lovely.

There was also a vibrant night market on the island. Here they sold everything, from basic electronics to live lobsters. Its fun to walk around, but again, lots of aggressive sales. There are many promoters trying to sell their bar as well. There’s a Mr. Bean themed one! No idea why.

The food in Hoi An was quite lovely. Our first lunch was at one of the only proper restaurants we went to in Vietnam, where Cam got a delicious pork belly and coconut rice. I got Cao Lau, the dish of Hoi An.

Cao Lau. Its a noodle dish from Hoi An. The noodles have a bit of wood ash in them for a smoky flavour. It also gives it the brown colouring. Its paired with some crispy chips, herbs, and pork with a fish sauce on the side. It’s fantastic, and in our time in Hoi An we must have gone to at least one Cao Lau a day.

The cooking class was wild! But we will walk about that in a future blog.

It was a short and simple time for us in Hoi An. Just one more stop now in Vietnam! Another city. Bigger, bolder, and better (according to them), than the rest. See you there!