Okay, first thing's first. Can we take a moment to appreciate the above photo? The colours, the dark silhouettes, the glow of floating lanterns among the rowboats.... just wow. This photo is unedited except for the addition of the "Hoi An" title. It was literally a picture perfect moment. And the funny part is, minutes before this, Zack and I were having an argument. A particularly stupid one actually. As we bickered and pushed through the riverside crowds in old town Hoi An, we stopped in our tracks when we saw this scene in front of us. It was so beautiful that we both decided right then and there that this argument wasn't worth our time. It was so beautiful. It was magical.
Hoi An was our final stop in Vietnam. Smaller and more relaxed than Hanoi, yet more built up than Ninh Binh, this ended up being my favourite stop of our trip. We spent three days here, though I honestly could have stayed here for weeks on end. The town itself is a beautiful old city with wonderful restaurants and shops. The main streets run along a river and you are also only a 10 minute bicycle ride from the ocean where you'll find beautiful white sandy beaches. It was the perfect place to enjoy our last few days of holidays before we were back to work in Chiang Mai.
We stayed in between the town and the beach, so we were able to use bicycles the whole time we were there as our mode of transportation. One of my favourite things we did was a bicycle tour that was led by some local university students. Our guide took us across the river (we took our bikes on a ferry) where we visited some local craftspeople. We saw craftsmen building boats, tried out our hand in making rice noodles, and met the sweetest Vietnamese lady whose job was weaving mats.
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| Along the river in town. We took a ferry over to the opposite side to visit different craftspeople |
Our guide also took us to a famous Banh Mi shop (Vietnamese baguettes) and told us about the food in the area. One of the main foods to try in this area is called "Cao Lau" which is a regional dish made with thick noodles, pork, and local greens. The noodles are particularly chewy (kind of the Asian version of "al dente"), the pork smokey and sweet, and the greens are left fresh and crunchy. It was such an interesting combinations of fresh flavors. We had this multiple times throughout our few days there! 
Banh Mi with egg
Cao Lau on the beach
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| Local boatmakers |
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| Fun fact- all Vietnamese boats have eyes on the front! I think this is for good luck/to ward of the evil spirits. |
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| Making rice noodles |
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| This man is putting together gift packages for the common ritual of sending off gifts for the deceased. These gifts are intended to be sent off to that person in their after life. They are mostly all made of paper.. we even saw a paper cell phone! The gifts are usually presented at funerals. |
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| Carpet weaving |
We had such a lovely visit in Hoi An. Here are some of the details worth noting:
How did we get to Hoi An: Overnight train from Hanoi! We were situated in a cabin with two sets of bunk beds. It was a cool experience, though it had some pretty negative aspects. One being how crazy bumpy it was (I felt like my head was bouncing all over my pillow) and the second being that the other couple in our cabin were extremely noisy at times (talking loudly on their phone and eating really loudly...). Other than that, it was an easy way to get from the north to the south and we saw some beautiful scenery in the morning.
How did we get around Hoi An: Bicycles! The town is also very walkable.
Where we stayed: Green Apple Hotel. It had just recently opened, and we were recommended this place by someone we met in Hanoi. Loved it! I would definitely recommend!
Favourite highlight: Free Bike Tour
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