Things that Hội An is famous for (at least among travelers I met): lanterns, tailoring, a few famous dishes (cao lầu, banh bao banh vac, hoanh thanh), the Japanese covered bridge and well-preserved architecture around the town. I think I managed to hit most of those things. I think it's a pretty interesting place as it was a big center for commerce because of its port location, so it has influence from Japanese and Chinese architecture and culture. After flying to Da Nang Airport (Hội An has no train station or airport, you must take a bus, shuttle, or hire a car to get from Da Nang. I went with the bus because it's cheap.), I wandered around Da Nang with a tourist map I picked up in the airport, making several wrong turns, before I doubled back and realized I'd actually found the bus stop a half hour earlier. Finally, I hopped on the #1 bus and made my way south to Hội An.
Monks on the bus.
Once arriving in Hội An and checking in to my (once again, I was really treating myself) luxe accommodations at The Golden Bell Homestay, I headed in to the old town to meet up with my old roommate Dan and his friend Lisa, who had already been in Hội An for a few days.
Kites and lanterns, motorbike-free walking town (between certain hours, anyway). Pedicabs aplenty. As soon as you get here you can tell that 1) this place is super touristy and 2) it's touristy in kind of a nice way. Yes there is mostly buying and selling but you also can buy a ticket that gets you into 5 attractions, of which there are choices of museums, preserved historical homes, temples, and the Japanese covered bridge (pictured above). I saved buying the ticket for later in the trip and on this night we just walked around for a bit then went to get some food.
Sun sets and the lanterns are turned on.
We went to an amazing vegetarian restaurant, Minh Hien, for dinner. A good example of how directionally challenged I can be: later I tried to find this place on my own and just wandered the (not at all large number of) streets of Hội An before I gave up and had ice cream instead. Oh well. Win some, lose some. Anyway, this place's food was delicious and I kind of liked the hipster-ish library book store feel.
Some traveler friends Dan and Lisa picked up in the hostel who we bummed around with. Very nice Coloradoans, which seems to be the norm for people from there! (Also: hippies.)
Later we went back to their hostel to relax for a while. It was fun but I got pretty tired after an early flight, an epic trek around Da Nang, and walking around in the heat of the Hội An afternoon.
The next day I met Dan and Lisa for some coffee and food and more wandering, before they headed out in the late afternoon for their bus to Đà Lạt.
Can't get enough of those lanterns, and enjoying the late-morning ban on motorbikes. So peaceful!
Caged, broken ceramics behind bars in front of a local temple. I'm... not sure.
The store front on the right is pretty indicative of the town's style, of which it is obvious most of the operating stores must follow.
Bamboo bicycle, so cool. If not for that horror show of a bike seat I would covet the hell out of this.
Looking out the Thu Bồn River from a bridge, on the right you can see a lantern and traditional-style boat, then a fishing net in the center, and on the left in the background is the neon sculpture gallery across the river which I visited a little later on.
Tourists boats.
She's selling soy milk, I believe.
Neither the first nor the last photo I took of this damn bridge. It really is cool, though.
How the lanterns get made.
Bye Dan and Lisa!
Visiting the Central Market.
Can you see it? Look behind the sacks of stuff, that lady is napping on top of her wares. Hội An afternoon heat is no joke, and it wasn't even summer while I was visiting.
Another kind of trademark Hội An dish: chicken and rice. This was sweet and a little spicy and went perfectly with a Cuba Libra. Hey, it was International Women's Day! It felt right. Dan and Lisa had pizza and beer. Such Brits. (Kidding, Dan was a way more adventurous eater than I am. Still, it doesn't look good for them here does it?)
The Golden Bell's house Pomeranian, Happy. She was a little scared of me at first but we were pretty fast friends. I wandered around for a while longer then relaxed, and the next day I headed to a tailor that had come recommended where I had my first appointment to order a winter coat, a blazer, and a nice dress (that I ended up wearing to my friend Kathleen's wedding!). More on that later. After my consultation where I felt like a real baller and shot caller I biked my self over the beach to soak up some sun.
It was delightful. I headed back into the town later that evening after getting a shower (and let's be real, a nap. I was on vacation, there was a lot of sleeping happening). Time to try on my ordered clothes for the first time!
A shop for giant tiny sailboats, including those ones they make in bottles.
Lanterns and snacks!
Okay, so while I was waiting until the arranged time to go check out my clothes I stumbled upon this game/performance of Bai Choi, which I was not at all familiar with. I watched for a while and the best I could gather is that it was some kind of show that had an interactive element, which seemed like it could be won as people were occasionally cheering and handing in/taking pieces of paper from performers walking around. It had this great music though, folk songs that whose general rhythm just wormed their way into my brain. Here's an example. I was walking around for the next day humming it to myself.
It was really interesting.
Alleys.
Asia fucking loves the Predator.
One more pass by the Japanese covered bridge? Sure, why not.
This woman was selling colorful little paper wrappers that had candles in them. You release them onto the river, which made it look quite beautiful by night and is probably a pollution nightmare to clean up each day.
More sellers.
Chúc mừng năm mới (Happy New Year), year of the monkey!
Lanterns, fried dumplings/tofu stuff. Or bananas, you know, whatever you want.
Light up watermelon sculpture and some more monkeys because the Vietnamese are SERIOUS about decorating for New Year's with the appropriate animal.
Within the light-up sculpture park, the four Vietnamese holy beasts.
In the foreground; people offering boat rides. In the background, across the river; the Japanese covered bridge, the streets of Old Town lit by lanterns, those little paper candle lanterns floating along the river.
One more nighttime lantern shop, then it really was time to go try on my new duds!
There are so, so many choices in Hội An. I went with the owner of my homestay's sister's place, 67 Tran Hung Dao, Tuong Shop. I have no regrets, they were amazing. They worked with my on price, they checked multiple times to make sure I was absolutely happy with how my pieces came out, they consulted with my on every aspect of the clothes while they were being made. They were friendly and didn't pressure me to make a huge down payment on my stuff and they gave me a free bottle of water every time I walked in the door.
There were some weird puckering issues we had to work out but I was pretty thrilled even from the first time trying it on.
Fancy dress!
Winter coat! Part of what was so great about this experience was that the saleswoman really took her time to understand what I was looking for so as soon as I put this on, before I could even say, hey, this thing is a little too wide or this part is sitting weird or whatever, she was already there asking me if it was okay to fix those things. We were definitely on the same wavelength. I also got a blazer but I guess I forgot to document it. That was it for the night, so I grabbed some dinner and headed back to the homestay.
This is the way I wish all of my days could begin from now until forever; warm, sunny day with a bike ride into a sleepy but still well-equipped little town where I drink a GIANT glass of black Viet coffee and read Don Quixote in the shade of the coffee shop while I watch the traffic pick up as the town wakes up. This is my perfect morning.
In a shop, later: a bag made of those tabs on beer/soda cabs. I actually wanted this but it was crazy expensive and not really practical since by its very design it is more hole than substance.
Finally, on this day I bought my coupon for 5 sites in Hội An. First up: the damn bridge.
Inside is a Buddhist temple, which is kind of cool.
Photos of the bridge from the old days.
Hammer and sickle, not as popular a motif this far south. Rare enough to be notable when I saw it on this traffic circle's odd art installation/propaganda piece/lantern hoarding facility.
Wandering...
Next up: The Cantonese (Quang Trieu) Assembly Hall. This was just such a phantasmagoria of color and image, it's almost hard to get your eye to rest on anything because there's so much to look at.
Epic scenes of important things happening.
Fierce.
Horsies!!
Looking at the entrance from the inside. I would like to someday have something similar as the front gate to my house. Suitably grandiose for a domicile that houses my greatness, methinks.
Next up: There isn't a ton to see in the historical home/shop of Đức An, and you can't go upstairs because there are still people living here. But it is a cool chance to see the architecture of the old-style houses from the inside.
Shop.
Walking behind the shop, into the living area/home.
Tiny bonsai things!!
Then, wandering again...
Coffee and ice cream, must-have in the unrelenting late-afternoon heat of Hội An. I went for coconut and pistachio plus iced coffee at the little chain, Hoi An Roastery. There were a few of these around the town and although they were definitely offering more expensive fare than the simpler cafes, they were pretty charming. And the coffee was GOOD.
This ice guy showed up on this motorbike with a trailer hitched to the back, a tarp protecting the ice from the midday sun. He started flirting with tourists and offering rides. I for one was ready to jump on.
Another bamboo bike, this time for tykes!! I think this seat looks even worse, if possible, than the first one.
Next up: The Phuc Kien Assembly Hall. Another gathering place for Chinese merchants, this time the Fujian.
Oooh, a table covered with international currency!
Vertical money?! I didn't even know people did that! Wait, is that... It is! Magyar Forint!
Next: The Quan Cong Temple.
After that I'd run out of tickets and a little bit out of steam for the (expensive) sights and experiences Hội An has to offer. I mean, the prices aren't terrible when compared to going to somewhere like Disney but on the scale of tourist locations in Vietnam, they really do gouge you on stuff like food, drinks, transport, accommodation, etc. Although to be fair, I probably could have stayed somewhere and eaten more cheaply than I chose to. So if you're willing to look around a bit more you can probably do better than I did, pricewise. But even with the expensiveness this place was worth it to me. I love how the stuff came out from Tương's shop, the free breakfast, bicycle and beautiful hotel room made Golden Bell a really relaxing place to stay, and I have no complaints about anything I ate or drank while I was here. 10/10 would probably happily move here after retirement.
No comments:
Post a Comment