Hoi An

My night bus from Nha Trang to Hoi An ran nice and smoothly, and I even managed to get a bit of sleep. When arriving I was allowed to check into my hostel early and get a couple of hours proper sleep once again before heading to explore for the day. It appears I've been upgraded to a premium member on booking.com as apparently I'm one of their best customers which has given me an array of perks including early check ins where possible. Hoi An lies on Thu Bon River and is historically an important trading port dating back to the 2nd century. Over the years the town has been occupied by the Chinese, Japanese, and French and their influence is scattered round the town. Nowadays the town is a maze of small streets and alleys housing an array of small shophouses, cafes, temples, and museums, being awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in 1999.

Upon arrival to the actual ancient town they were trying to sell you tickets, and by my understanding there were around 30 buildings within the town that required a ticket to enter. Each ticket gave you entry to 5 places of your choice so if you wanted to visit each of them buildings you'd need to buy an entrance ticket 6 times. As the actual ancient town was pretty compact I decided to just wander round the streets and see what there was to see before buying tickets. I soon realised that it was predominantly the museums and temples which required tickets, and I was pretty content just taking in the atmosphere of the town, looking round the shops which sold things like ceramics, art, and silks, as well zigzagging my way down the narrow streets and alleys which were all very picturesque.

After a good look round the town I cycled out to Thanh Ha village which was famed for its terracotta pottery. It was very interesting watching the locals make their products, although they were pretty pushy in terms of trying to sell it to you! I headed back into Hoi An for lunch, finding a nice place to sit by the river. It was the evening when the town really became magical with these colourful lanterns lighting up the streets. The night market was a particular highlight with the vendors selling those lanterns in all different shapes and colours. What I found most surreal though was the river which was packed with small boats taking people out each lit with a single lantern, as well as these lotus flowers with candles in which were being dropped into the river. People say it feels like a fairytale and to be fair it absolutely did. I even managed to watch the France v Australia, and Argentina v Iceland games in the process too.

The following day I went to the nearby city of Danang for the day, cycling along the coast to get there. En route I stopped at the Marble Mountains which were these 5 limestone peaks housing a series of caves and temples. Some of the caves were fascinating housing these massive statues and enscriptions in the rock. There was even one cave where you came out of a hole in the ceiling presenting great views of the surrounding area. Surrounding the mountains were all these shops selling these marble sculptures, and it was interesting seeing how the locals made them literally straight from large blocks of marble. A short ride from the mountains I made it to Danang Beach which was another nice and clean sandy beach. There was even some kind of festival taking place on the beach with lots of artwork on show. I stopped on the beach for lunch.

I then continued round to the Son Tra Peninsula, home to the White Lady Buddha statue which looked over Danang Bay. I would have continued to the summit of the peninsula which was nicknamed Monkey Mountain for obvious reasons, but my bike wasn't good enough to cope with inclines. I therefore headed into Danang City, which during the Vietnam War was basically flattened. In recent years though the city has had a bit of a revival and now houses an array of modern infrastructure including this bridge shaped like a dragon. I was going to stay in Danang to watch this fire show on the dragon bridge but it took place at lot later than I expected. I still stayed put to see the city at night though which I'd read was worth seeing. I cycled back to Hoi An afterwards which was a little sketchy in the dark as I had no lights but I luckily made it back in one piece.

On Monday I was originally planning to visit the ruins of My Son, although I decided not to visit them in the end in favour of exploring some of the outlying villages around Hoi An. I was particularly intrigued by the village of Cam Thanh which was home to these bowl like boats which the locals called coconut boats. It was very interesting walking round the village, although the locals were a little pushy in terms of trying to get me to ride on their boats. I was quite content just wandering round the dirt tracks and palm plantations which surrounded the network of waterways in the village.

From Cam Thanh I headed through the rice plantations to Cua Dai Beach where I had lunch. It was incredibly hot by this point though so I found a nice place in the shade under these palm trees for a while, before continuing along the coast to the nearby An Bang Beach which was packed full of tourists. I didn't stay long there, heading back to the hostel where I chilled out for the rest of the afternoon. I headed into Hoi An in the evening for dinner and managed to watch the South Korea v Sweden game. I headed back to the hostel afterwards, although by the time I went out to watch the England game which was a 1am kick off I had to watch it round someone's house as it appeared the pubs had a midnight curfew. They made me very welcome though and the locals I was with absolutely loved having an English guy to watch the game with!