Hoi An Vietnam

Thursday, March 21st, 2013 Hoi An, Vietnam

 The day before yesterday, we decided to just wander around the old town for the morning before we went to the shop down by the central market to pick up Anita's dresses. Here we are in front of the Japanese covered bridge, one of the iconic sights of Hoi An that is in many tourist brochures and guidebooks.

 The streets in the ancient town are always closed off to cars and for certain hours of the morning and evening, they're closed off to motorcycles as well. This is great because pedestrians and cyclists can wander freely. The ancient town is very picturesque with 200 year old buildings, lanterns that are lit (electrically, now) at night across a lot of the streets and lots of trees in blossom.
We picked up Anita's dresses and went back to our hotel to cool down. It's mid 30s, sunny and humid every day so by noon it's time to hide from the streets for a few hours. Our hotel has a small rooftop pool where there's a nice breeze and shade. Great place for a cold beer.

 Anita was so pleased with her 2 dresses that we decided to go back to the shop and buy another dress and a matching jacket. The lady who runs the shop is very competent and very nice. She drew what Anita wanted on a pad, took measurements, gave us cold water and told us the jacket and dress would be ready by 2 pm the next day. Again, the price was very reasonable - $38 for the jacket and $30 for the new dress, all custom designed, fitted, lined and made with good materials.

We thought these good purchases deserved celebration so we sat in a riverfront bar overlooking the ferry dock and enjoyed some 4,000 dong (20 cent) draught beer. What's not to like?

After happy hour, we had dinner at an open air restaurant overlooking the river. Good food and nice surroundings.

 Yesterday morning, we each bought an ancient town ticket for 120,000 dong ($6) that allowed us to visit 5 sites through the day. Once again, the so-called latest, up-to-date edition of Lonely Planet says it costs 90,000 dong. I think that sometimes they just change the year on the cover to get people to buy a  new edition. Anyway, Anita is in front of one of the old merchant houses open for touring.

The old houses and shops are partly concrete but mostly timber frame. They have trap doors up to the 2nd floor, as well as stairways, to allow all the furniture to be hauled upstairs every year for the few days of annual flooding. In the picture, the whitest mark is the flood level in November, 2007, about 8 feet from the floor. Every building in the ancient town floods at least a couple of feet deep pretty well every year and some years are worse. This is just accepted as a normal course of events.

 The Chinese and Japanese merchant traders built temples and community meeting houses as they grew wealthier. The meeting houses have gardens, meeting rooms, altars and lots of artwork depicting storms at sea, sea monsters and some battles.

 Lots of blossoms make everything even more beautiful.

There is a very distinct Oriental style to all the buildings.

 Some of the statues are pretty gruesome.

 Dragons are popular too.

There are lots of fountains.

 And big murals.

All of the art is very lively. With the Oriental architecture, the lanterns, the art, and the blossoms, Hoi An is a beautiful place to visit.
Last night we tried a different restaurant along the riverside. The prices were reasonable and the food was good. The staff were somewhat inept but there was lots of entertainment. In restaurants that are open to the street, which is most of them, it's common for street vendors to walk in and try to sell stuff. This is tiresome at times but people usually accept it when I say no or Anita uses her teacher voice. Otherwise, the vendors, the staff and the other tourists are entertaining. Some tourists are fun to talk to while others seem a bit brain dead (usually the ones in tour groups). Either way we're enjoying it.
The other day we met a British couple on the street whom we met at our hotel in Sapa. Twice in Hoi An we've run into an American tourist whom we met on the bus on the way here. He almost came to Canada in 1968 to dodge the draft, but luckily the birth of his son saved him from the Vietnam war. We meet lots of people from all over the world, which makes the trip that much more entertaining.
This morning we're packing up to check out in about an hour. The hotel will store our packs and we can lounge around the rooftop pool for the afternoon before having an early dinner. Then our sleeper bus picks us up at the front door at 6 pm for the trip to Nha Trang. We should arrive there at 7 am tomorrow.
Hoi An has been described as "graceful, historic and Vietnam's most atmospheric and delightful town". All true. It's a great place to wander around for a few days but now we're off to Vietnam's beach party for 5 nights!