Hoi An

Hoi An: Jan. 19-22, 2009


(The small quaint picturesque town of Hoi An was designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. According to Frommer's, "From the 16th to 18th century, Hoi An was home to Vietnam’s most important port and trading post (ceramics with nearby China)." The town houses 844 protected structures and historical landmarks. You can easily see the proof in the architecture that many Japanese and Chinese had passed through this town on their trading routes. Cute cafes, historical homes (we only biked by them, but didn’t go in any), and numerous tailor stores (that we found ourselves trapped inside of) dot the city map of Hoi An. Definitely a city not to be missed on a trip to Vietnam.)

A day by day recap of the City of Hoi An is not really necessary as it was filled with D’s ultimate dream of shopping for cheap (which adds up to not so cheap) tailored clothing, the way you want it and in a little bit of time. What is worth noting is the character of this little town, the French feel that has been left behind from their presence, and the beaches that are only a stone’s throw away from the old town. D and I started our stay in Hoi An after a bus ride from Hue that took about 4 hours. Four hours on a bus with locals, tourists and all sorts of other weird people like us who end up taking busses because they are cheap. For about 4 bucks a piece, we landed seats on this bus and kept to ourselves for the ride that we hoped to walk out of alive. In Vietnam, the buses seem to rule the roads. They are the lions of the streets so to speak. They go where they want to, when they want to, and how fast they want to. They’re just bigger than everyone else, so the drivers get this sort of high off of the fact that nothing will be able to take them in a head-on collision. To prove this, our driver frequently drove in the left lane and honked a deafening horn to warn the others to back off. I believe that a pack of Mopeds could take a bus if they teamed up by using strength in number type tactics …God knows there were enough of them around. Anyhow, a few hundred near misses later and a new pair of shorts, D and I hopped in the car that our hotel had sent for us and arrived at the Ha An hotel in Hoi An. http://www.haanhotel.com/

According to the pictures that we saw on the internet, the Ha An looked like a quaint little hotel that was done up fairly well for a good price. We were greeted by the 90 lb. bus boy who wouldn’t allow us to lift a finger even though we had the two enormous bags that were about twice the size of this guy, and he escorted us to the lobby where the receptionist gave us a welcome drink of ginger tea and explained to us about the hotel and the little city of Hoi An. Thoroughly impressed, we were shown to our room that had fresh rose petals on the bed grouped in pairs of three and places across the fold down on the sheets. D and I took a look around at this unexpected surprise of a room (only $50/night) and just as the words, “Everything about this place is awesome” came out of my mouth, the words that immediately followed were, “Except for that HUGE Freaking spider!!!” (Pardon the language). Close your eyes D, go to your happy place, but whatever you do don’t look at that thing.

Our new enormous friend lingered on the desk next to the television and was crawling methodically across the shortbread cookies that we had picked up from the lobby just minutes before. I thought he was going to eat the cookies in one bite given that it wouldn’t have been a problem for him with the size of this thing. This thing wasn’t your ordinary cob spider…..it was the Arnold Schwarzenegger of spiders. He must have been using the hotel gym for quite some time now. Knowing that D is terrified of anything that is 30 times smaller than her and she can’t speak to and get a response out of, I grabbed my shirt and with one swift swing, sent him to arachnid heaven. Sorry, a bit cruel, I could have just scooped him up and threw him out the window or something, but I knew that if this thing wasn’t dead, D wouldn’t sleep for about three nights knowing that it might come back for revenge of not letting it eat that darn cookie. Also knowing that just because there was one enormous spider in our room, D must be thinking that the whole family lives there as well. I picked the spider up with some toilet paper and walked downstairs to show the receptionist. I told her that we had found a spider and told her that D would probably not sleep in that room at all if we had to stay there and if she would be so nice as to move us to another room. With a concerned face, she asked “did you kill it?” You bet your butt I killed it lady, you think I was going to let that thing crawl around in my wife’s mind for another millisecond? I don’t think so. She seemed a little upset that I had killed one of nature’s creatures and went on to explain, “These are no problem to us, I can pet them and talk to them and they are fine.” Really? I guess I could have taken that approach if I had thought about it or tried, but given the sensitive nature of my wife’s arachnophobia, I felt compelled not to strike up a conversation with this creature that, by now in D’s imagination had grown 2 inch fangs and 20 more eyes, and decided that a quick death was better than a sleepless night. Selfish I know. She told us that the hotel was booked due to the Lunar New Year being right around the corner and the only thing she could do was upgrade us for 10 bucks more to a larger room. Done.
Minus the spider encounter, the one other thing that this hotel offered was an excellent breakfast buffet.

We don’t usually like buffet style food, and we don’t usually get buffets for breakfast. This was a great exception. They had everything and the fruit variety that this hotel had was crazy awesome. I don’t think I have ever had pineapple as good as the pineapple in Vietnam and I must have eaten a pound of the stuff every morning after waking up. The omelets were cooked to order and were terrific. D continued to eat passion fruit—her new favorite fruit—like they were grapes. A spread of other items and endless coffee and you could stay there all day. We would have but we had to get to shopping I guess. With the room and the spider situation suppressed for the time being, D and I had wanted to take advantage of the tailors in Hoi An that the town in known for. We walked around the main drag and passed the market where we picked up some pearls and bracelets for D and some friends. On to the tailors, we shopped around a bit for pricing and to tried to avoid the foreigners discount that seems to be a recurring trend around this joint and ended up stopping at a place that a friend had recommended. We looked at the fabrics and asked if they could do certain styles and if they could mend a few things or make exact copies of some stuff that we had with us. The response to all the questions was, “we can do anything.” This statement turned out to be true as we tested out the bold statement and I had a few shirts made and had corduroy pants copied that I have had for awhile and like the style. They nailed everything right down to the belt loops. There were a few things that were wrong on D’s stuff, but over the next few days, we eventually got it right with a few fittings. I had some suits made that turned out nice and was about a third of the price that I would end up paying for back home. As if we didn’t have enough clothes already in our 2 ton bags, we decided to test the durability of our luggage to see if it really was good quality. What we ended up doing was buying a $10 bag to hold the rest of our goods that we had now acquired. Oh well, vacation is nice in a place where dinner is 6-7 bucks with beers included.

Central Market (Where's D?)Through all of our back a forth to and from the tailor shops, we got to see a bit of the old town of Hoi An. Every street is lined with tailor shops and souvenir shops with girls who stand there and, in their best Engrish, inform us that, “you need new clothes, custom made….you need suit……you need shoes, we make them here. Sir, Sir your wife is pretty…where you from?” This goes on and on wherever you are. If you can get past that little nuance and the guys on the motorbikes asking you “you want motorbike ride…you need motorbike? It's safe. Cheap….. Sir, you want motorbike?” (Although it is clear as day that you are actually riding on a bicycle and have a viable means of transportation) then you can see the small town charm that this place has. Little shop owners making silk lanterns and families that live in the town hanging out down by the water market, it is the kind of place you could stay at for weeks and never get sick of (Except for the motorbike dudes).

(A man selling baskets from his bike.) (The bathroom at the tailor shop: Enter with caution.)

(We spent a lot of time on Tran Phu and Le Loi Street shopping and going to the tailors.) Through all of our back a forth to and from the tailor shops, we got to see a bit of the old town of Hoi An. Every street is lined with tailor shops and souvenir shops with girls who stand there and, in their best Engrish, inform us that, “you need new clothes, custom made….you need suit……you need shoes, we make them here. Sir, Sir your wife is pretty…where you from?” this goes on and on wherever you are. If you can get past that little nuance and the guys on the motorbikes asking you “you want motorbike ride…you need motorbike? Cheap….. Sir, you want motorbike?” (Although it is clear as day that you are actually riding on a bicycle and have a viable means of transportation) then you can see the small town charm that this place has. Little shop owners making silk lanterns and families that live in the town hanging out down by the water market, it is the kind of place you could stay at for weeks and never get sick of (Except for the motorbike dudes).

Thu Bon River

(A man making lanterns. We wound up purchasing some for our "one-day" future patio.)

D and I explored the city by bike and cruised to the other side of the river where we found a small spot to catch sunset and a beer in a place that was a diamond in the rough. Right on the bank of the river, we ordered our .70 cent beers and watched as the school kids throw their bikes and mopeds on the boats to take them down the river and the old ladies in their coolie hats row back and forth across the river picking people up and delivering goods for small change. Boats with loud generators rigged with a prop and converted to be a motor filled the river and it was a river traffic jam that seemed as normal as the 5 o’clock traffic in any metropolitan area. Not worried about drinking and biking) although we should have been with the mopeds on the loose) we hopped back on the bikes and went for some local cuisine.

(The little town of Hoi An)

(Watching the sunset)

Now, the only things that might like food more than D and I are rats. You know the four legged creatures that stir at night and move in darting movements that bring a sort of finishing touch to scary movies and stuff like that. Well, there is no shortage of river rats in the city of Hoi An as we found out on the way back from dinner on one of the nights. Hoi An shuts down around 9:30 pm or so and once that time rolls around there is nobody, and I mean nobody, on the streets. You can’t even find the motorbike guys to bug you if you want to….wait, those guys are still out, but they are hanging around the one or two bars that are still open like vultures waiting for some drunken tourist who might think it is a good idea to cruise with these guys after a few beers. As denae and I walked back from dinner, we noticed a small dog in the shadows. Maybe it could have been a cat, but it didn’t move like either of the two species….a rat it was. I have seen a rat or two in my lifetime, but these took the cake. They could easily be mistaken for a cat or dog as proven by us and just coming from dinner, ensure that you will say your bedtime prayers so that you won’t get sick off of whatever it was that you just ate and hope that the beef Pho that you said was soooo good wasn’t our newfound night stalkers. I guess it adds to the “character” of the town and is probably why everyone splits so early in the evening around there.

(Silk lanterns at night)

(Moped taxis--Need a ride?)

After dinner and a good night’s sleep, D and I woke up with an agenda to finish up our shopping adventure and to ensure we had all our “stuff” before heading to a different hotel on the beach to relax a bit. From city to city, D and I have a tendency to budget travel. Mostly because we can’t afford to do it any other way and because we don’t see why spending more money should make your trip more fun. So when we splurged to stay at a resort on the beach the last night we were in Hoi An, it was a truly nice experience. Not that we hadn’t been spoiled enough at this point, we wanted to do absolutely nothing and relax on the beach for a day or two. This feat is something that we have trouble accomplishing as we are usually running around trying to cram 5 lbs of crap in a 2 lb bag.

(Picture of the Ha An Hotel)

(One of the tailors we used.)

(Instead of cars or trucks, they use baskets to make deliveries!)

(Japanese Covered Bridge)

(More pictures of the Japanese Bridge)

(Last minute purchases: Lanterns)

(Amazing Pho Ga. We found a cute little place to grab lunch before heading to the beach!)

(Cheers!)

Anyhow, we grabbed our stuff and rolled to the Victoria Beach resort where we had planned on staying for a night before we flew out the next day to Ho Chi Minh. In all of our traveling, we have only stayed at two other beach resorts and that was only for one night in the Bahamas and also in Marbella, Spain.

Victoria Hoi An Resort on Cua Dai Beach was simply paradise: http://www.victoriahotels-asia.com/

We arrived at the Hotel by taxi and we were immediately greeted by the bell hop who wouldn’t allow us to touch our bags. Ok, if that’s the way this will be, I won’t throw up arms about this one. We were directed to the lobby where we were greeted by the receptionist and all of the busy in our lives stopped. We instantly relaxed and were given another one of those welcome drinks (which now seems to be customary to this little town) that were fairly awesome. The lobby doors opened to the front of the hotel and were also opened to the back that faced the pool and the beach creating a beautiful view during the daytime. Fortunately, the weather we had was nearly perfect, so there was a cool breeze that flew through the doors and made you feel like you were in a movie or like you might not belong at a joint this nice. The ceilings were about 20 feet high as well adding to the effect and there was nothing cramped about this place. We enjoyed our drink and were oriented the hotel and given out room key that had a carved wooded keychain on it in the shape of a fish; reminding us that we were at a hotel on the beach, and big enough for us not to forget to leave it at the door in case we left the hotel for anything.

We could tell right away that we were going to enjoy this so we tried to take full advantage of plopping our butts on the beach and relaxing. The whole hotel had sort of a Spanish feel with yellow stucco design and terra cotta tiles on the roof to compliment the Spanish floor tile throughout the walkways. The hospitality was overwhelming and the staff couldn’t do enough for you. Trip Advisor will get a 5 star from us on a review. I could get used to this I think. The beaches of Hoi An had sort of an orangey color to them that met the teal water to make a great place to kick back and enjoy a beer or two. Being the little fish that I am, I took a swim and found the water was just about perfect. A little chilly when you first get in, but once you move around in it for a minute or two, your body warms up to it. Body surfing was in call for a little while so I waited for the perfect set of waved and waited for natures boost to help me swim ashore. Let’s do it again. When the water is at that temperature, the best part about it is getting out and having the hot sun warm you back up and dry you out while you lay down on the beach. D found her refuge in a book and was totally content with a huge smile on her face while sitting by the ocean listening to the waves.

(A picture of our room)

(The gorgeous pool)

(Relaxing on the beach)

(Having fun in the water)

(Watching another beautiful sunset)

The receptionist greeted us when we came back into the lobby and told us that we had a message from one of the couples that we had met on the tour of Halong Bay, Gerard and Angie. Gerard and Angie are from Australia and Gerard is part owner of a clothing company that caters towards the rodeo crowd with a mix of surfer style threads too. Interesting I thought, but it turns out that it’s a pretty cool style. I called Gerard and we met both of them at a great little restaurant in the old town. It was nice to have a couple to b.s. with over dinner and to reminisce about the trip to Halong Bay which was so awesome. Gerard and Angie had just rolled into town from Hue so D and I got them up to speed on the town on how we saw it and the little ins and outs that we had found by talking to people and just cruising around ourselves.

We indulged in dinner and dessert and D and I both had a scoop of ice cream. I thought to myself how jealous I was that year-round the Vietnamese live in a climate that you can enjoy ice-cream to cool you off. I’m not saying I don’t eat ice-cream in the winter in cold places, but it just isn’t as appealing as eating it in the winter when it’s 80 degrees outside and feels like summer when I know back home the high would keep the ice cream that we were eating frozen all day long just by leaving it outside on the porch. I got cinnamon ice-cream as it was the first time since Italy that I had seen it offered anywhere and remembered how terrific it was there. D got passion fruit sorbet. This is something that needs a description of its own. D’s new love is not me, but passion fruit. In the morning she ate about 5 of these little boogers and was wanting more. The only thing that kept her from partaking in 10-15 each morning was me reminding her that if she kept it up, she would have to make more frequent trips to the lovely public restrooms that Vietnam offers. This fruit, if you have never tasted it or seen it, is about the size of a racquet ball and is red in color (like the kind of red a mango gets when it is fully ripe) when it is ripe. When you cut this in half, there are seeds that are covered in a sort of slimy pulp that you scoop out with a spoon and eat all at once, disregarding the seeds and swallowing everything. The fruit is mostly tart like a sour patch candy or something and has a sweet, sugary taste to compliment it. They are very good and I think D would leave me if one of these things grew arms and legs and could carry on conversation. The Sorbet that she ordered tasted identical to this sort of flavor and ranked up there with one of the best ice-creams that has hit my mouth to date. It didn’t lose any of the flavors of the fruit like some sorbets do and there was nothing else added to it. Just fruit that was turned into a heavenly scoop and placed in from of my wife. D is happy and B chalks up brownie points. Go Sorbet!!!

D and I knew that we had to check out in the afternoon because we had only decided to stay for one evening at the Victoria. In order to maximize the use of the facilities that they offered, we asked if we could leave our bags at the hotel while we stayed on the beach due to the fact that we were flying out later that evening and we didn’t want to have to spend a whole lot of time at the airport or some other place with a bunch of bags. The hotel was accommodating and offered for us to utilize their spa facility in order to shower after being at the beach all day. A very nice gesture that we jumped on and went about relaxing a little more. The morning was a little overcast, so D and I thought it would be in our best interest to utilize the spa and sauna facilities for the morning. Good choice. We walked into to this relaxation and aroma therapy room that smelled like eucalyptus and had that spa sort of feel. We each went to the locker rooms and threw on bathing suits and relaxed for a few hours in the steam room and the spa. The day went by slow which we were grateful for and I got to go body boarding on the beach while D sat by the pool and read her book. This ended up being one of the nicest places we stayed and we felt like honeymooners again.

We had decided to push our flight back to the later flight in order to enjoy the Victoria a little bit more. In doing so, we rode the margin of time that we had from the time our plane landed to the time we had to be on the bus that was going to get us to our next destination of Mue Nei. We had some people tell us that it only took about 30 minutes to get to the travel agency and others that told us up to an hour or more. We had about an hour from the time that we landed to get our bags, get in a car and head catch a bus. I’m glad we pressed this envelope a little and enjoyed staying at the beach as opposed to staying in Saigon for that extra three hours that we would have had because in hind sight, it all worked out fine. We had a car pick us up from the travel agency that we booked through which was well worth the cost and they got us there with about 15 minutes to spare (plenty of time). In that fifteen minutes, I had time to run across the street to get us some 5 dollar dinner and hop of the bus safe and sound……for that moment anyway.