What a beautiful day during our trip in Hoi An – Viet Nam. The weather in Hoi An was hotter than in Hanoi. It was about at least 35 degree C with sweat running off most of the day, sun very intense and even locals found it hot.
We were picked up very soon by a young and tiny tour guide – Ms. Thuan, who was arranged by our tour operator Eviva Tour Vietnam. She said she got a bachelor degree in which five year majoring in English and one year majoring in tourism, probably our best guide during whole trip in Viet Nam.
We arrived at a fishing village. Our tour guide instructed us to say some simple sentence to say hello with locals, in Vietnamese (sin chow) and a lesson on the etiquette of how to approach the people to take their picture. It was surprising to know that almost local women did do not want to be photographed and made gestures signifying not to take their photos. The men did not seem to care.
After that, we went toward to My Son. We got advice from my tour operator to arrive there in early in the morning to avoid the heat and the tourists. The one hour’s drive was mesmerizing, winding through the villages and water. The brickwork was amazing. We found the vestige beautiful and it was a little bit sad to think about the senseless devastation during the war. This was the only place that we saw a strong Hindu influence in Vietnam.
We then came back to town, enjoyed a lunch at a local restaurant; and take a city sightseeing tour. The name “Hoi An” translates into English means ‘peaceful meeting place”. It is a beautiful city with small streets. One of the main attractions is the Japanese bridge, whose decoration was the combination of China and Japan architecture, and joins the two parts of the city. We also found that there were numerous art galleries, handmade souvenir shops and tailor shops. My wife stopped in a shop to get some nice made-to-measure clothes.
In the evening, we decided to have a cocktail to celebrate our night in this lovely place and found a cafe with seats on the street overlooking the river where we could continue to watch the world pass by (and we decided to experience a bucket of cocktail with 3 straws). Such a great day in Hoi An.
by Rachel Elaine Serna