Hoi An was exactly what we needed after HCMC. It’s definitely touristy, but in a quaint, not overwhelming way.
The information desk at the airport hooked us up with a taxi driver whose English was very good and we learned several things before he dropped us off at Thanh Binh Riverside Hotel, right in the heart of the old town. One of the things we learned was that we were right in the middle of a three-day weekend in honor of Reunification Day. That would mean we’d have two very busy nights and one less so.
For less than the price of a Motel 6 at home, we had not one, but two rooms at Thanh Binh Riverside and Mick was, understandably, ecstatic. Plus, the location could not have been better – the river and the narrow streets full of colorful shops and restaurants just outside the hotel entrance.
The Vietnamese flag is everywhere in Vietnam. The gold five-pointed star symbolizes the five groups of workers in the building of socialism (intellectuals, peasants, soldiers, workers and youths), while the red symbolizes bloodshed, and the revolutionary struggle.
The town is well-known custom tailor shops and we definitely saw lots of those.
If you want a suit made from fabric covered with bananas – that fits perfect – this is the place. I passed up the custom shops, but found some really cute $5 sundresses (no doubt mass produced).
When we weren’t walking about town, we were in the hotel pool, where we could get a drink delivered for $2.
The evening is perhaps the best time to see Hoi An. When the sun sets, hundreds of brightly colorful lanterns hang over the streets and wishing candles float on the Bon River. Our first night walking around in the evening, what we thought was a huge lantern in the distance turned out to be one of those enormous, deep orange full moons that always elicit a “whoa!” even though you’ve seen one before. My pictures didn’t do it justice, so I didn’t include any.
Walking along the river one night, we came across a gregarious group of people – predominantly Vietnamese – playing the “Pot Breaking Game.” Basically a clay pot piñata, this game involves being blindfolded and then trying to break the hanging clay pot with a stick. There’s no candy in the pot, or anything else that we could see, but the winner was able to claim a prize. Jeff decided he had to try and it was hilarious. As for the others who’d tried, the audience shouted assistance, but since it was in Vietnamese, it didn’t help much. Jeff stopped a good 3 feet short of the pot and valiantly whiffed the stick! Everyone, including Jeff, laughed.
Apparently Hoi An is a favorite of Anthony Bourdain and after trying several restaurants, it’s easy to see why. A particular favorite was Morning Glory, which was recommended by our hotel and, obviously because of the wait, very popular. With 45 minutes to kill before our reservation at Morning Glory, we visited “Dive Bar,” just a few doors down, a place that reminded Jeff of The Blue Light.
Morning Glory is the most famous restaurant of several owned by Trinh Diem Vy, who also owns a cooking school and a hotel in Vietnam. Vy named his restaurant after the spinach-like vegetable that is able to thrive in difficult circumstances – a characteristic he felt was shared by the Vietnamese people.
Our favorite dish, at both Morning Glory and another place we had lunch, was the White Rose Dumpling, a shrimp paste-filled, rice paper dumpling, steamed and topped with crispy fried scallions and served with a sweet/salty sauce.
Tran Tuan Ngai, who owns the White Rose Restaurant in Hoi An, is the third generation owner of this secret recipe, cooked up 100 years ago by his grandfather. As the recipe has never successfully been duplicated, Ngai is the sole supplier of these dumplings for local restaurants. They are delicious. Two thumbs-up from all three Jordans.
One day we decided to brave the heat and humidity and take a bike ride to the beach. Riding a bike in Vietnam is a unique experience, even in a smaller city like Hoi An. On our journey, we got lost, stopped to sit on a water buffalo, got honked at 137 times and nearly killed 28 (only a slight exaggeration).
The beach was nice, though. And we met a lovely lady named Misa who spoke English very well – self taught after leaving school at age 11. She told us that while primary school is supposed to be free in Vietnam, there are “fees” associated that many poor families can’t afford and tuition is generally charged for secondary schools. Access to healthcare for poor families is similarly limited. We asked Misa how she could stand the heat being fully covered from head to toe. She explained that Vietnamese people don’t want to get dark skin and go to great lengths to avoid it. She showed us that she actually had four layers on her upper body and two pairs of pants in addition to socks, shoes, a face mask and two hats. She said that sun protective clothing and even sunscreen are too expensive for most Vietnamese people, but I’m thinking there is some superstitious lack of trust in those kinds of products, too. Here is an interesting article I found that explains this phenomenon a bit more:
Vietnamese cover up to get coveted whiter shade of pale
After sufficient time in the sun and warm water, we picked up our bikes from the bike lot attendant and made the perilous trip back to the hotel.
The bargain basement pricing we’ve seen for seemingly everything here has to be one of the reasons for the massive development we saw on the way from Da Nang to Hoi An.
Before long, the beachside road from Marble Mountain into Hoi An will be lined with high-end, luxury resorts and golf courses book-ended by the subsistence-level dwellings of those hired to build and then work in them.
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
‘Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
– Joni Mitchell
I guess that’s the way it goes. Good for jobs and stimulating the economy, but the landscape will definitely change.
When I remember Hoi An, I will think of this:
Looks lovely but hot!
This is making me hungry!