Unlike many of the other cities throughout Vietnam, Hoi An does not have a list of must-see sights. Instead, visitors come for the made-to-order clothes, shoes or bags, the beautiful lantern-lit streets and, to Adrie’s delight, the food.
Needless to day, Adrie is in her element and has a list of all the local delicacies she would like to taste. More about all her foodie finds in a separate post.
Because we took a day from Hue, we now had four days to spend in Hoi An and, with not much to do, we were both looking forward to a relaxing few days.
Our time in Hoi An can be summed up by doing pretty much the following – on repeat: strolling lazily down the streets of the Old Town looking for nothing in particular, finding great coffee shops to have yet another cappuccino, and making the most of the cheap beers and Happy Hour cocktails.
Hoi An is a very pretty place. The Old Quarter is painted yellow and retains its old world charm. But the town really comes to life at night, with lanterns lighting up the streets in different colours and the river transformed with floating candles. Despite these candles polluting an already over-polluted river, visitors seem to find some fascination in buying a candle for $1, making a wish and letting it float away on the water.
Hoi An is almost as pretty during the day as it is at night
Each candle costs $1 and, with so many on the river, they often crash and burn pretty quickly
Being renowned for tailor-made clothes and shoes, we could not leave Hoi An without a purchase. Adrie though, took that task quiet seriously and in the end bought leather sandals (made in under 24 hours), a skirt and a dress. You think that suitcase cannot get any fuller, right? In fairness, I also got caught up in the hype and found a leather satchel I really liked. Were we not leaving early the following morning they would have made me a brand new case too, which is pretty incredible.
We also wanted to buy a painting for our house. There are so many artists and galleries (almost rivalling the amount of tailors, but not quite) that we thought that a painting will make a lovely souvenir of our travels. The only problem, with all the galleries, is trying to find the exact one that you like. Wandering the streets looking into random shops in between coffee breaks ended up being a great way to spend our afternoons. We finally found one we liked on our last day in Hoi An. But not being able to decide on the size, we ended up buying four paintings! The cost to reframe one of them in London will probably be much more than the total cost combined but we really like what we have chosen.
One of the many streets selling paintings, crafts or clothes
The Japanese Covered Bridge was constructed in the 1590s by the Japanese community in Hoi An
Afterwards there was only one thing to do. We celebrated our lovely time in Hoi An with cocktails by the river. Had we discovered the cocktails at Mango Mango earlier during our stay we might not have had any money for anything else. They were simply divine. So we ordered more… oh the joys of Happy Hour!
Every hour is Happy Hour in Hoi An!
Our time in Hoi An went by too quickly and although it was left unspoken, we were both sad to leave. On our last morning we decided to get up early to have one last walk around the town and at 6am we had the pleasure of having it all to ourselves… almost.
For once I was the one that was wide awake at 6am. Adrie had to be dragged out, but the skies had cleared and the light was perfect for photos. The city was also just waking up and instead of tourists, it was already busy with locals getting to the market or their stalls, children giggling on their way to school, the market bristling with early morning activity as each merchant got their stall ready.
Best of all, there was not a tourist in sight. We had the Japanese bridge all to ourselves. The An Hoi Bridge was deserted. The river was undisturbed by boats and lanterns and you could see an almost perfect reflection in the black waters.
We really enjoyed walking through the market and watching daily Vietnamese life. Although we didn’t quite make it to An Bang beach due to rain and laziness, Hoi An is undoubtedly one of our favourite cities.
Hoi An bridge, captured at just the right time when this vendor sped past
Peace and quiet at last
There was not a single tourist in sight at the Japanese Covered Bridge
The Japanese Covered Bridge looks completely different at night
Then onto the crazy morning markets…
The Espresso Station was by far our favourite coffee shop in all of Vietnam (perhaps of our whole trip)
As in this post, the beautiful temples of Hoi An almost end up as an afterthought or fade into the background against the tourist-crazy shopping mecca of clothes, shoes, bags and crafts.
