Everyone I've met who has been to Vietnam, be it on this trip or friends from back home, has agreed that Hoi An is their favourite Vietnamese city. This is always a risky claim in my opinion, because in saying such a thing, you raise people's hopes and expectations so that by the time they see the place for themselves, it has been massively hyped up. Luckily for Kim and I, we were not disappointed.
The city of Hoi An is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a well preserved example of a South East Asian trading port, dating back to the 15th century. There is a very obvious Chinese and Japanese influence on the architecture, having been considered by both nations as the most important trade post in the region for many centuries.
Unfortunately for us, there was a lot of rain in Hoi An while we were there which made sightseeing quite unpleasant, as most of the sites are outside! However, part of the draw to Hoi An is the fantastic array of restaurants, bars and coffee shops (Vietnamese coffee is a thing of wonder) so we made sure to eat and drink our fill, trying a lot of the local dishes. We hired bicycles to get around town, as the city is quite long and narrow so exploring on foot can take a while.
Hoi An is famous for its silk lanterns, which hang all over the city, particularly in the 'old town' where the ancient port is located.
We celebrated New Year's Eve here, joining up with friends we'd met in other cities along the way as well as new people we'd met just that day. I always find New Year's Eve a little bit anticlimactic so to celebrate in a new city, surrounded by only recently acquired friends was quite fun as your expectations of how good a night it will be are a little lower. We had a great night because we had no idea of whether it would be good or not, if that makes any sense at all!
The day after new year's day, a group of ten of us hired motorbikes (I rode pillion) and drove north to the Marble Mountains, a cluster of marble and limestone hills that rise dramatically out of the ground and make quite a contrast to the relatively flat surroundings. All of the 'mountains' have caves and tunnels with Buddhist shrines and mini temples inside, some of which you can visit if you don't mind exploring underground a little. The Viet Cong hid a hospital inside some of the mountains during the Vietnam War because there was an American base nearby, and the VC rightly guessed that the US Army would never suspect an enemy encampment so close to their own, so never explored the mountains for intruders. There are also a few pagodas on the mountain tops, ornately decorated in the traditional Buddhist way and perched quite recklessly on juts of solid, slippery marble.
Hoi An is also famous for getting clothes tailor-made at a very reasonable price, so we had to check it out. I had a skirt and kimono made, with the fabrics and design of my choosing, tailored to my measurements (I asked her to make the skirt's waistband a little larger because I've lost a bit of weight here and don't expect it to last once I'm back in London!). I looked around at the tailor's fabrics but I wanted something different to what they had in stock, so I got on the back of a lady's motorbike and she drove me across town to her sister's shop to see if I could find what I wanted in there. The level of service is incredible, and my two items (which included multiple fittings) came to £30 in total.
Hoi An is the type of place where you could get stuck. It's beautiful, it's calm, there's plenty to see and do; unfortunately the Vietnamese government didn't think that was a good enough excuse though and we had to move on before our visas expired. I will come back though, I am not done with Vietnam...
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