Tag: sunset

Our trip to Viet Nam had several stops, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hoi An. As it was very close to the border between the former North and South Vietnam, it did not sustain much damage from the war. Hoi An is well worth a few days when in Viet Nam to see all that it has to offer.

Lodging…Gia Vien Homestay

Looking back, the real highlight of our visit was our homestay, Gia Vien and especially our host, Linh. I booked it on Booking.com after a recommendation from some friends. It was easy to make contact with the host to arrange pick up from the airport, as well as add some extra days and order daily breakfast for $2 each. We paid for our stay when we checked out.

Linh and her family live in this home and rent out 5 rooms to guests. She spoke English well, her smile lit up the room and she liked chatting with us as a way to improve her language skills. We had a room with 2 queens which was cozy and clean for the three of us. We were served breakfast at our convenience, which included a bacon and eggs option or traditional Vietnamese soups such as Quang noodle or Cau Lau. Chewy Vietnamese buns and a plate of wonderful tropical fruit were served every morning. The banana pancakes served on our final morning were exquisite!

Our host also arranged our excursions. We visited Me Son, the Eco Coconutt Cooking School and a spa. She suggested a local restaurant for lunch and sent us in a taxi through the rain to visit her tailoring shop. She also did a load of laundry for us . Our 4 night stay with breakfast, excursions, laundry and transportation to the airport cost $260. We felt like we were in a 5 star hotel.

Location

Gia Vien was within walking distance to the old historic city. We could have used available bicycles to ride to the beach, but we found enough to do along the river in the old streets. Taxis are inexpensive but are not allowed to drive into the old city. Keep in mind that Hoi An does not have its own airport so you will need transportation from Da Nang, which is about 40 minutes away, although Uber is an option if your hotel doesn’t provide transportation.

Hoi An old city

Hoi An used to be a port city. There are many old buildings that represent the Chinese, Japanese and Dutch sailors that originally settled here. A ticket allows you to visit 5 of these structures. Check out Travelfish.org for detailed information on what might pique your interest, as well as more about the history and activities in Hoi An. This site is very comprehensive and is my primary information source on South East Asia travel.

We visited Chinese medicine shops, newspaper offices, assembly halls and warehouses for shipping goods. The arches represented earth/man/heaven. Most buildings had rooms in the front and an open courtyard in the center for light and air circulation. The kitchen and bathroom were located in the back. One that we visited had a 6th generation family member still living in the house. He gave us a tour of the building.

The hand carved furniture, screens and trim were spectacular. The dark wood was beautiful. They used pulleys to lift supplies to the upper level. The back of many of these buildings opened to the river to access supplies, which were then sold from the front. There continues to be water issues as the river regularly floods due to rain, or dams opened upstream without warning. We could see old flood levels up to the 2nd story floor.

Blue and white ceramic discs covered the Japanese bridge that was built in the 1600’s. The bridge must be very sturdy to hold all the people we saw.

Pottery Museum

The Hoi An Pottery Museum provided a helpful audio tour. The building was beautiful and the pottery samples very interesting. This local pottery from the 1600’s was found in Japan, Syria and Egypt. It’s hard to believe that travel was so widespread in those times.

Vietnamese coffee

We found a rooftop coffee shop that gave us a good overview of the old part of the city near the Thu Bon River. It was our first taste of Vietnamese coffee. The lower cup contains sweetened condensed milk. Locally grown coffee is ground quite fine and water is filtered through the grounds into the milk. It has a chocolate undertone. It was sweet and rich, although we preferred it diluted with a little more water. This coffee is consumed hot or over ice. These little coffee filters made a good souvenir to bring home.

Many tourists were enjoying the coffee and the view of the walking streets below. Many others were talking selfies and ignoring the wonderful coffee and the interesting views. Late in the afternoon was a very busy time and the street below was filled with tour groups and cyclo tours trying to weave between the crowds.

After wandering the streets and admiring the fantastic light on the river at sunset, we went to the White Marble Wine Bar to celebrate a family accomplishment. They served celebratory Prosecco and a sample platter of Vietnamese finger foods. They also had a delicious cheese tray. You can find most any food you want in this city, or most Asian cities, in my experience.

Full Moon Festival

The French colonized Vietnam in 1887 when they won the Sino-French against China. That explains the french bread, good wine and many French-Colonial buildings in Vietnam. It also explains the Catholic churches we saw in Hoi An.

The most popular religions in Vietnam, however, are Vietnamese Folk Religion and Buddhism. We had the opportunity to observe these beliefs in action at the Full Moon Festival since the full moon is a time to meditate, observe rituals, reflect on life and honor deceased relatives and ancestors.

Lanterns decorate the streets every day. The city turns off electric lights for a time during the full moon to create a special atmosphere. Sellers along the river sell paper “boats” with candles. The boats are released into the river by locals and tourists alike, hoping to bring good fortune and hope for health and happiness. I’m not sure what good fortune it brings to the environment further downstream.

This evening is a big draw for tourists who can arrange boat rides down the river. The restaurants and bars along the river are full of visitors. We did see some locals offering their own prayers and treating the full moon festival as a real spiritual event and not just an event for visitors.

My Son

We took a day excursion to My Son-(Me Sawn). It is an area of Cham temples near the mountains from the 4th to 13th centuries. Instead of mortar, plant resin was used to connect the bricks together. Areas of the temples damaged in the war were restored with cement. It is not as strong and moss and plants are growing in between. Restoration is done now with a kind of tree resin, but it is not as good as the original from centuries ago.

There is evidence of bombing craters amongst the temples, which celebrate the Hindu Gods of Brahma-the Creator and Vishnu-the Preserver, and Shiva-the Destroyer. Brahma, the Creator. Some of these temples were only discovered 10 years ago. UNESCO designated these temples a World Heritage Site in 1999. The fee provides pathways, clean bathrooms ad restoration. Japanese and India are paying to restore this area as well.

Itinerary

My Son is on a smaller scale than Angkor Wat, but the views at the top were beautiful. We were up in the mountains with jungle views. A bus took us from Hoi An to the main parking area at the temple site. An electric cart took small groups to the temple site. The area was clean and well maintained. We had a guide for the day who did know quite a lot about the area but his phone kept ringing and he would just stop the tour and talk in Vietnamese for awhile, then continue with us. He also explained about the “American bombs” many times throughout the day. The couple from Virginia decided they would be Canadians for the day. Most of the people in our group were Europeans.

We took a bus from our homestay to the site, then took a bus partway back. There were lots of rice paddies and villages along the way. We travelled the rest of the way on a boat which included lunch. This was a pretty lackluster meal by Vietnamese standards, but there was lots of soya or hot sauce to add flavor to the vegetables and rice.

Tailoring

One of the popular activities in Hoi An is to visit a tailor shop and have clothing made to measure. Since our host ran a tailoring shop with her sister, we wanted to check it out. Lihn sent us to the shop in a taxi, which was on the way to the historic city. Her sister helped my daughter choose a suit design from a catalogue. She then chose a fabric and lining material. After all the measurements were taken, she was told that she could try the suit on that evening! The cost for the suit was about $120 US.

She also had a fancy dress and 2 summer dresses made, based on examples already made up in the shop. Everything was sewn to order. The casual dresses were closer to $20. My husband had 3 short sleeve shirts made for about the same amount. I chose a top from the catalogue, then fabric and matching trim. Lining and buttons were added. The tailor added darts to the back and adjusted the sleeves so it fit really well.

Linh has 10 tailors working for her and the quality of the fabric and the stitching was top quality. They made changes until we were happy with the results. A tailor on a moto even stopped by our room one evening to check the fit on the suit pants. Being in Hoi An for 5 days meant we had time to get everything right, and still spend our time seeing everything that we wanted.

Shoes

I also had a pair of shoes made to order but they were too loose in the heel when I went to pick them up. They had been remade and were perfect when I returned the next day.

Hoi An…Well worth a few days

Since we had 4 nights in Hoi An, we had time to discover a few more fun things to do. Linh booked us into a nearby spa for a mani-pedi that started with a luxurious soak in water infused with lemongrass and flowers. We snacked on Vietnamese coconut crackers that were delicious. The spa offered to sell a box of them to a Korean woman and her 3 daughters who had just finished having massages. She bought 10 boxes! Such good customer service. I bought my own at the airport. They were great gifts for my gluten-free family members.

We also discovered the T Room Gin Bar a block from our homestay.The seating was outside in a lovely green garden space. A local woman owns it , but our server was a British woman who teaches hotels how to do proper customer service. She was excellent.

The locally infused gin were all half price because it was winter. I had cucumber, black pepper and fennel while my daughter had rose and cardamom. They also had pomello and vanilla, or longan with lime.

Take time to relax

Hoi An is an old city with modern surprises. It is clean and calm. You cannot smoke in the old city and Baroque music played softly from the loudspeakers scattered throughout the area.

Sometimes it is nice to just sit and watch the world go by after touring old buildings and temples, getting new clothes made or eating and drinking delicious local foods. It is a city well worth a few days visit while in Viet Nam.

I’ll describe our day cooking at Eco Coconutt Cooking School in another post. Here is another post on cooking in Thailand.