After learning about much of southern Vietnam's history in HCMC, it was onto Hoi An, a town we'd heard great things about!
All of our travel in Vietnam was to be by train rather than bus, as we'd heard the buses could be pretty dangerous, and the risk of theft quite high. As we would learn along the way - the limitations of travelling by train has its drawbacks given that we are indeed in Vietnam for their peak season. It's summer in Vietnam, and summer holidays for all the families and train travel is the preferred choice for locals as well.
Hoi An doesn't have a train stop of it's own, instead we have to get the train to Danang and make our way south to Hoi An. We'd decided to take the public bus to save money. Many forums online let us know that there is the inevitable "tourist tax" on this bus, but still far cheaper than a taxi or private car. Upon leaving the terminal, we were swarmed by offers of taxi's, mini buses and private cars - but we just kept going! As we were waiting to cross the street to the bus stop, one final tout came to speak with us - his offer was outrageous and we let him know we'd be taking the bus. As we continued to walk away he halved his offer - which was then comparable to the bus and half the time, so we decided to take him up on it! Perhaps we are getting the hang of this negotiation thing after all ;)
After getting settled into our homestay we rented bicycles for the afternoon to explore Hoi An. The town itself is so picturesque with yellow colonial buildings lining cobble stoned streets. There is a river running through town with a beautiful bridge crossing over into An Hoi. The bridge is illuminated at night by lanterns and dragons - we weren't the only ones taken with it - there were hordes of tourists (domestic included) taking pictures along the bridge. This is where we first learned about the Vietnamese photo shoots! It is as though everyone is doing a glamour shoot at every opportunity! Hoi An is also where we started to get our "celebrity status" - being asked by locals to join them in their pictures!
We arrived in Hoi An in perfect time - for the full moon! It turns out there were also some additional festivals and celebrations going on, so we were able to see a lot of special things. Our first afternoon we witnessed a parade - it appeared to be various choir groups from around the world - some in very ornate outfits. Huge crowds gathered to watch the performers and beauty pageant queens pass by.
As the sun goes down, Hoi An is at it's best. There are lanterns lining the streets, hanging from trees, decorating buildings along the way. Also, with the full moon the streets were closed to cars and motorcycles for the evening. Young girls and older women were selling lanterns to be sent down the river - all adding to the beautiful atmosphere.
The following day we rented bikes again - from a lovely woman down the street from our homestay! Her bikes were in much better condition than the ones we had from the homestay - still just one gear...but there was air in the tires! ;) Fortunately Hoi An is pretty flat, so one gear isn't a problem. We explored more of the area, outside of the Old Town & had a great lunch at Bale Well (thanks again for the recommendation Amy). We didn't quite know what to expect when we arrived at the somewhat out of the way restaurant. We sat down, looking at the menu on the board - the choice of 6 items and figuring out what we'd get - when all of a sudden trays of food were delivered to our table! We were obviously confused since we hadn't ordered anything yet! One of the women working there came to our rescue as she could tell we didn't have a clue what was going on! She let us know it was in fact the ONLY thing they served - and showed us how to make our own spring rolls! Loading up rice paper with a skewer of pork, some greens, another spring roll and some other veggies and dipping it into a delicious sauce, we were set! I shared many smiles with the locals enjoying their meals as well - we were the only westerners there at the time. When we were finally finishing up, they brought us even more food! Then there was dessert! Yum, it was all delicious and super filling and such a great experience!
The people in Hoi An were really friendly and welcoming and we both immediately felt so much more comfortable in Vietnam than we had in Cambodia.
After a day at the beautiful, nearly empty beach, it was time to leave Hoi An and head north to Hue. We once again opted for the public bus to get back to Danang - this time we actually took it. We asked our host at the homestay about getting to the bus terminal and he let us know he'd arrange to have his friend come. When a taxi showed up we weren't shocked - but then our host let us know he'd paid for it! That was shocking! Especially as we were already on our way out, he'd already been paid, etc. Vietnam is definitely different - we like it! :) When we arrived at the bus terminal, there was a bus waiting, so we were directed over - our "herder" for the bus quickly ordered someone to cover the posted prices on the side of the bus - which I joked around with him about for a bit. Let him know I'd seen them at least ;) It didn't make much difference in the end, we still got charged the tourist tax, but at least they were helpful - helped us get off at the right bus jump - not without a slight slip of the hand as he assisted me! We were in Danang with plenty of time to spare before our train departed, so we went to a little restaurant near the station - complete with kids sized chairs. There was a young girl selling gum there - she was really cute and curious and shy around us - and even though she knew we weren't buying - when she left she waved goodbye. Again the friendliness and the lack of wanting something from us in return was a breath of fresh air!
Here are a few pics from this leg of the trip - next stop Hue!
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