Vietnam
Trip Start
Apr 16, 2007
1
39
88
Trip End
Jul 2008
Hoi An, Vietnam
Monday, October 1, 2007
We arrived in a very, very wet Hoi An 5 hours later and managed to find a cracking room with balcony over looking the rice paddie fields at Thiennya Hotel for the bargain rate of $15 USD per night, thanks yet again to 'The Bible' (Lonely Planet). All our accomodation so far in Vietnam has been great value, all excellent accomodation at bargain prices....all the budget accomodation so far was of a high standard and included most mod-cons..... and was cheap as chips......this we liked!
Hoi An is a picturesque riverside town on the coast in Central Vietnam, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a well-preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port of the 15th to 19th centuries, with a population of approx 90,000. We continued to have fantastic Vietnamese food in Hoi An which included the best spring rolls ever - fried crab spring rolls wrapped in rice paper, amazing, yummy!!
Hoi An was also home to over 500 tailors! So I couldn't resist the urge to add a new tailor made suit and shirt to the wardrobe. From the 500 I chose a tailors called 'Chic' - the first fitting was somewhat of an experience (I went on my own - a mistake maybe!? To quote Joey from Friends there was definate 'cupping'!!).....Coco (the tailor) was a bit of a character and dare I say the campest tailor in Hoi An. Fearing for my safety I made sure that I dragged Margarida along with me to the second fitting! Joking aside, Coco was a top laugh and excellent tailor and the suit was that good that I ended up ordering a second one along with two more shirts!
We also visited My Son hindu temple complex which was the site of the religious ceremony of kings of the Champa dynasty, and was also a burial place of Champa royals and national heroes. After the decline of the Chiêm Thành kingdom, the My Son complex faded into oblivion and was lost to and overcome by the jungle, until 1885, when it was rediscovered by the French.
It poured with rain most of the time we were here and the river burst it's banks as you'll see in the photos's but we still really enjoyed this little place.
We also made some great new Australian friends Steve and Cherie who we went to My Son with and Pat and Debbie who shared the Coco experience in Hoi An and who we plan to visit on the homeleg of our journey.
