December 7 / 11
Hoi An, on the coast of Vietnam, is a gem. Its French influenced streets and architecture blend with Vietnamese culture and entrepreneurship in an easy-going but busy way. We loved it here, and might have stayed longer had we not been running out of time.
Our arrival, though, was less cheerful. For the first time since Cebu in the Philippines we were greeted by rain – real, proper rain, with everyone in plastic raincoats or carrying umbrellas. There weren’t many people around and we splashed our way out to lunch after a tortuous trip from Vientiane via a sleepless night in an airport hotel in Hanoi (it was cheap, but not cheap enough).
Fortunately Hoi An is a tonic for the worst ills – it’s a beautiful small town, full of character and characters, with lots of little alleyways (which people still whizz down on scooters) and an array of shops and bars to spend your time recovering in.
Our hotel helpfully provided us with a long list of things we could do and we – or rather Nikki – set off on a quest to eat every special meal the place could provide. The food was simply wonderful – we didn’t eat in the same place twice and we never had a bad meal. Much of the nightlife is set on the river, which has some very loud bars (Mr Bean was particularly noisy) and looked less inviting to eat, but in behind we found a lovely restaurant and ate fried wonton and bun cha ta that was simply delicious. We wandered around bars, taking advantage of the very extended happy hours and fending off endless pedlars of pop-up cards, tiger balm and bookmarks whose right to approach you is guaranteed by the government, according to the owner of one of the bars we frequented.
Hoi An is also famous for its tailors and Nikki was keen to get a copy of a dress made up. Naturally she ended up with a different dress, a new top and two pairs of trousers, all of which were made up in 24 hours (and all of which she looked lovely in). Even I joined in, to buy two pairs of linen shirts and trousers so that I didn’t always look like the elderly relative at the wedding that no one looks after.
We also found an amazing little museum of ethnic culture in behind a photography shop run by Paul Réhahn – The Precious Heritage Museum and Art Gallery – which is simply superb, mixing photographs with costumes and explanations of the over 70 different ethnic groups that make up Vietnam. There’s even a film of Réhahn meeting many of these groups and explaining the background. It’s highly recommended even if you don’t want to buy any photos.
We had time to do a couple of excursions – the bizarre basket boats, and the bamboo theatre. The basket boats are how the locals traditionally got around the local waterways. They feel incredibly unbalanced yet the locals whizz around as though they’re in human propelled speedboats. I was persuaded to try a spot of fishing as well – frankly my fishermen ancestors will be spinning in their graves! We also caught a show at the bamboo theatre – think Cirque De Soleil with bits of bamboo. The performers were staggeringly fit, and it was a shame the theatre was half empty.
Still, we staggered out to find another happy hour, and then tried Banh Mi, the French themed sandwich that Hoi An is particularly famous for. We tried it again for breakfast on our final morning from the Banh Mi Queen restaurant and that is highly recommended (go early or you’ll be queuing down the street).
The food everywhere was fantastic. If you get the chance try Banh Xeo. It’s a kind of egg omelette with bean sprouts that you put into rice paper, along with kimchi, various meats and dips. Just superb.
Our final excursion on a not so Lazy Sunday was to the Marble Mountains. There are five of them but only one – Water Mountain – is open to the public. There’s an elevator up but we took the steps and then wandered around the stupas, temples and caves that adorn the hill. Quite how those were built pre industrial times is astonishing. The government has now banned extracting marble from the mountains to protect them, but the base of the mountain is surrounded by families who carve the stuff, presumably now imported from elsewhere. Nikki bought a nice light mortar and pestle to add to the nice light leather overnight bag she’d also acquired in Hoi An. Oh, and the views are amazing.
Our final afternoon was spent in another lovely restaurant serving superb Vietnamese food overlooking the river, before we ended the day drinking cocktails in a bar listening to a not bad band covering all sorts of modern and not so modern classics. Nikki and I reflected that we were probably the only people in the bar who could remember when most of them were released! Many of the young people present looked perplexed when the band broke into a rendition of “West Virginia”:-)
Hoi An is lovely, friendly, full of amazing food and great tailoring … oh, and everywhere we went the snow lay deep and crisp and even – at least metaphorically as everywhere was playing Christmas music and was covered in Christmas decorations. Of course none of them were Christians and none of them had ever seen snow. Ho ho ho … Hoi An.
– Tim