Hoi An

Going from Hanoi to Hoi An was a culture shock in an unusual way. We were proud of ourselves for how well we did in Hanoi, a city in which there is little English spoken and which is definitely not designed for tourists. Hoi An, in comparison, is like a Disney version of Vietnam. Originally a busy trading port, with a river running through the middle of the city, the city declined several centuries ago when the river silted up until a recent rebirth centered solely around tourism. Almost everyone in the city speaks a fair bit of English, and all of the menus and signs are in English and targeted at tourists (primarily advertising daily happy hours).

The river that runs through the center of the city.

Hoi An's river at night.

The old town is perfectly preserved and many of the old buildings actually requires an entrance ticket to get in. Hoi An is charming at night, lit by lanterns and bustling with night markets.

Despite catering to tourists, Hoi An does have fantastic food. Its origin as a busy port gave its cuisine an international influence, primarily from Chinese merchants who also heavily influenced the old city architecture. The center of the Old Town also features a beautiful Japanese-style bridge.

The entrance to the Japanese Bridge.

In front of the Japanese Bridge.

A few local restauranteurs have built mini empires of upscale restaurant chains around the town. These restaurants would seem cheap to us if we had not just come from a city in which our most expensive meal cost about ten dollars. We realized that we made one error in trip planning in that we began our trip in the cheapest location, and each location after it will progressively become more expensive.

Hoi An is also well known for its fantastic tailors. We wandered into a shop planning to buy a couple items and ended up being (happily) upsold into buying custom shirts and suits.  We had three fittings after the initial consult, meaning we were in the shop at least once each day.

Katherine being fitted by a small army of assistants.

Hoi An is also a beach town. It's common for tourists to rent bikes to cycle to the beaches a few miles outside town. We made the perhaps poor choice to head out at noon on a day pushing 100 degrees outside, but the beautiful and quiet beach we found ended up being worth the trip.

Biking to the beach.

Our semi-deserted beach.

Our favorite activity of the trip was a full day cooking class that began by shopping for our ingredients at a local market. Each person in the class chose a dish to make. Katherine chose fresh spring rolls, and Josh chose bun cha, which had him chop, and then mince, the meat by hand before grilling it over a hot charcoal fire. We were able to sample the dishes that each person in the class of eleven made, leaving us stuffed to the brim. Hoi An's charms grew on us over the few days we were there, but we were excited to leave for another big city.

Shopping in the market.

Katherine presents her spring rolls (assembly still required).

Josh minces meat for the barbecue patties...

... and grills them up.

Assembling the barbecue soup.