Hội An (Vietnam)
- Nov 11, 2017
- 6 min read
Hoi An is a city on Vietnam's central coast, famous for it's ancient town. It dates back from the 15th to the 19th century!
The journey from Hue' to Hoi An was an uneventful one, a three hour bus landed us outside a small tourist office in the most unattractive part of town, we had a bit of trouble finding our room (an hour of hunting in the heat!) but eventually we located it, down a side road past a busy local market!
Our room again was one we weren't used to, big in size with Air Con, and a king sized bed, we didn't think we'd have such luxuries on this trip!
Ancient Town
First on the hit list was the ancient town. It was a straight and pretty hectic 10 minute walk, the closer we got the quieter it became, the roads around the ancient town are off limits for most of the day and at night time. With trees overhead, specialist boutique shops, tailors, rickshaws casually gliding around and traditional long boats on the river, the place was/is a photographers paradise! A truly charming town,which reminded us of Venice, and compared to most places in Vietnam incredibly peaceful!
After a few beers and some local cuisine Cao Lao (chunky rice noodles, pork, and local greens with special soy type sauce) and some more exploring the colourful French colonial buildings and wondered across the famous Japanese bridge, it's an amazing just to stroll around
and soak it all in, a wonderfully historically rich place and definitely one of our favourite places on this trip thus far!
Lantern Festival
After a bit of research and a little bit more luck than judgement, we were in town for the lantern festival.
The full moon festival takes place on the 14th day of each lunar month. The festival takes place in the old town where all vehicles are banned. It starts around dusk and ends around 10pm! The festival is centred around the two main bridges. We made our way to the main bridges around 7pm. At night, lantern festival or not, there's large traditional Indochina style lanterns, in all different shapes, colours and sizes which subtly and beautifully illuminate the buildings and walking streets, also if you stop for a moment and listen, there's faint classical Vietnamese music over tannoys, which not only enhanced the relaxed atmosphere but made you feel like you were walking around in the 1800's! As the sun was setting, we saw dozens of old ladies and children selling paper lanterns for around £0.40, in all kinds of different colours, the simple design didn't look too impressive, however when you looked up at the river the sight of hundreds of the floating little candle lit lanterns was enchanting, especially after the they cut the power! We also took a boat ride on the Thu Bon river amongst the lanterns, it was magically romantic despite the the crowds!
My Son Temples
Located just over an hour away from Hoi An, we decided to rent a motorbike to get there! As always it was great to be on the bike, even though this particular two wheeler had no speedometer and made a rattling noise when going over about 30mph. Heading deeper into the countryside, after following some misleading signs over some dusty uneven roads with arrived at the site, the day was sweltering!
Baked brick and stone built temple complex constructed by the Champa People (an unheard of but huge Kingdom between the 4th and the 13th century , the Hindu temples were subjected to heavy bombing by the Americans in the war, however there is still a lot to see, plus they are currently restoring them to their former glory. The UNESCO site in the jungle surrounded by mountains was abandoned by the Champa in the the 14th century discovered in 1898 by a French scientist, it must've blown his mind stumbling across these ruins!
It was around £6 to get in and after a short electric car ride, the temples were upon us! It was pretty much the middle of the day and not having booked to visit with a company, lucky for us there wasn't too many people roaming around! The temples themselves were fascinating, the level of skill and the time taken to build them is astonishing also all of the materials that were used, for example they made a kind of mortar/glue from trees to hold the bricks in place! Some of the temples were overgrown which added to the mysteries shrouding the area (there are slabs of ancient text which nobody can translate)! The stone carvings and detail on the ruins are second to none, telling stories of wars and other Hindu mythologies.
We spent a good few hours exploring the temples in the near 40 degree heat, after a pretty exhausting afternoon we headed back to the ancient town!
Hai Van Pass
'The pass of ocean mist'
Having only heard about this stretch of road through Top Gear, we were happy to find out it was easily accessible from Hoi An! So we took the dodgy bike out again after it survived the test run to the temples the day before! To try and beat the heat we set out around 7:30am, and by the time we reached the busy city of Da Nang (which seemed like a cool place and had a great beach where we stopped for a travellers breakfast (bread, biscuits and bananas the three B's!), the traffic was insane, motorbikes and traffic lights everywhere (sometimes it's do or die, you have to just go for it!), and after heading the wrong way for a good 20 minutes then nearly losing my cool in the city, we found the way to the Hai Van Pass, our excitement grew as we rode straight towards the mountains!
First thing we noticed was the space and lack of other road users around us (a tunnel was built going through the mountain, now most vehicles and locals opt for the quicker but less scenic route!), it was so nice to be out of the city!
During the war, this road was known as the 'Street Without Joy' and 'The Hell Highway'as it connected Da Nang and Hue, two badly war torn cities and there was always conflict from both sides to secure this important stretch of road! However up and up we went and there was zero sign of any devastation or misery, newly tarmacked road, sunshine, fresh air and only the slight rattle from the motorbike it was clearly going to be an adventure to remember! With only a few oil tankers to contend with, riding on the snaking roads was exhilarating and the astonishing views of the beaches below, mountains surrounding and nothing but goats littering the landscape, it was truly an amazing and memorable experience!
It took us over an hour (after some stopping to soak it all in and picture taking!) to get through the Hai Van Pass, and on the other side the ocean awaited us. Hungry with numb bums we headed for a familiar beach to rest up for a few hours!
Lang Co Bay was a dream. It was serene. Every direction you looked. White sand, palm trees swaying in the gentle wind, crystal clear, calm blue water and only a few beach shacks occupied this bay, it was great to be back for an afternoon! After some food from the beach shack, a swim in the sea and some time to chill out, it was time to make the return journey back over the Hai Van Pass (it was great to do it twice in one day)
The Journey back was quicker (as they always seem to be) even with us getting a little bit lost. After a long, tiring but brilliant day it was good to take our sun charred bodies (especially the hands from the bike) back to the tranquil ancient town and reflect!
An Bang Beach
On our last day in Central Vietnam we decided to spend it doing a whole load of nothing, not too far from Hoi An is a beach named An Bang, we took a stroll there. Leading up to the beachfront there was boutique shops, restaurants, bakeries and smoothie shacks a typical beach bum style little town. The beach itself was more catered for tourism than Lang Co Bay, with water-sports on offer, hundreds of deckchairs and ladies patrolling up and down selling tit tat, however it was still equally as beautiful!
Our time in and around this part of Vietnam was incredible and varied, and it's safe to say we will definitely come back to this part of the world in the future, and it is up there with our favourite places so far on this trip!
After one last walk around in the wonderful ancient town we organised the long journey to the South of Vietnam, Mui Ne, where we would meet our next host!
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