Hoi An

We just wrapped up three days in Hoi An.  It's a charming and historic city, and in this Tet week absolutely packed with visitors.  Tet, the Chinese New Year, is the biggest holiday in Vietnam and many people travel to spend the time with family.

Our trip from Hue to Hoi An was on a small bus which stopped at several tourist spots along the way; what would be about 2 1/2 hours straight through took most of the day.  Still, it was enjoyable, and we were joined on the bus by a couple of fellow travelers we'd met previously (hello, Melanie and Lorne) and made some new friends.  Our stops included Lang Co beach and a nearby pearl farm. They grow the oysters on old motorbike tires. I watched as they pulled the tires from the water, then twisted them to make the oysters drop off.

We also stopped at Hai Van pass, which has been a dividing line between northern and southern Vietnam since the first century (when the Chinese were pushing from the north).  There are the remains of several bunkers left over from the US war on the pass.

Our bus also stopped at Marble Mountain, a karst outcrop containing several caves and temples, and plenty of stairs, on the outskirts of Da Nang.

And no tourist bus ride would be complete without a stop for shopping, this one at a factory for marble statuary.  We passed on buying the smiling Buddha who could have filled much of our front yard( and everything else).

The bus dropped us at the edge of the old quarter of Hoi An, so we had to walk about 1 km to our hotel, the Tea Garden Villa.  Although it fronts a busy street, the hotel is set well back and very pleasant.  There is a pool with waterfall (which we enjoyed), many aquariums full of fish, even a large iguana in a screened cage.  Our room on the third floor had a large balcony.

Archaeological records show Hoi An has a long history of settlement and as a trading port dating back to the 2nd century BCE, but it really took off in the 16th century.  The city is on a river near the sea, and was an important trading center, mostly dominated by Chinese merchants; it still has a sizable ethnic Chinese population.  Hoi An was spared destruction in the recent wars, and is a UNESCO world heritage site largely due to the many remaining historic buildings and French-style architecture.

The old quarter of the city is mostly free of vehicles, and is jam packed with tourist-oriented shops, restaurants and bars, massage spas, and tourists (mostly Chinese while we were there).  It is especially busy with the approach of the Tet holiday, and the crowds make Disneyland look empty and quiet.

Ellen enjoyed massages two evenings in Hoi An: first time feet, second time neck and shoulders.

In the evening the river walk is lit with colored lanterns, and there are many small boats providing boat rides along the river.  The night market is jumping with all sorts of vendors, including sellers of grilled lobsters, squid, and frogs.

A stage is set up along the river with nightly song and dance performances.

There is a moderately long list of historic sites and museums to visit in Hoi An.  There are several Chinese assembly halls (sort of a combined community center and temple), each tied to the geographic region of origin of the residents.  One of the most elaborate and beautiful is Phuoc Kien, built by people from Fujian.

The Tan Ky house, from the 18th century, is a well-preserved example of a successful trader and merchant's residence and storehouse.  The same family lived there for seven generations, until just recently when it became a museum.

The small Japanese bridge, over a canal, dates from the 16th  century.

Next day we took a cab to the nearby village of Thanh Ha which is known for pottery making.  It was a bit of disappointment: mostly we saw simple terracotta pieces cast in molds.  We met one young man doing good sculpture work, and Ellen had a chance to show off her throwing chops on a wheel.

Later in the day we walked across a bridge from Hoi An to nearby Cam Nam Island.  Not much there, but it was pleasant to walk somewhere quieter.  While we enjoyed a little lunch we watched this man laying out fish traps in the river.

All this Hoi An exploration is fun, and visually stimulating, but it can be tiring.

It's a 24+ hour train ride from Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh City, so we opted for a quick flight down.

Update: It's taken me a couple of days to get this posted.  We are now at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City waiting for a flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia.  I'll post about our couple of days here in HCM, and the Tet celebrations, soon.

A technical note: Occasionally I embed short video clips in the blog (like the one above showing a snippet of evening performance).  If you are reading this in an email, they only show up as single images; open in a browser if you want to watch and hear the action.