Hoi An remains my favorite place in Vietnam to visit despite its wall-to-wall tourist businesses. It is a UNESCO historical site with over 800 preserved historic buildings with over 18 of these open to the public. The pictures from several centuries ago show a similar waterfront village. During the Vietnam War—they refer to it as the American War—both sides had an agreement not to bomb nor war in this city to preserve it for generations to come.
I had considered two choices in getting to Hoi An from these caves in Son Trach: return by the local bus to the train station in Dong Hoi and take the train to Danang and then local bus down to Hoi An or take the “sleeper” night bus that leaves at Son Trach and arrives in Hoi An around 4:30 AM. Either way, it is about 215 miles. I decided to go with the sleeper. That was a painful decision not to be repeated.
These reclining sleepers were designed for people under 5’10” and I am 6’ so the design of the sleeper chair is to slide you down to the bottom of the leg chamber. It put painful pressure on my injured left leg and it was only relieved by occasionally standing up. The road was rough and windy. The other way would have been by train for a smoother 165 miles to Danang with just two one-hour bus rides at either end.
Once we got dropped off in the dark at the sleeper bus station at about 4:30 am, I took the short walk into the Old Town Hoi An. None of the hotels, restaurants were open so I headed down to the waterside market where it was busy with most of the vendors setting up their stalls. I sat down at a small bench by where a woman was making coffee. I bought a cup that she served up with a free cup of tea for 20,000 dong. I shared the table area with other vendors who were having their morning drinks of coffee or tea.
After that, I headed back to the hotel area just north of the Old Town zone and saw that the hotel I had last stayed at was being remodeled. There were three backpacker places nearby as backups, but I decided to check out the prices of some of the newer hotels. The first quoted me 650,000 dong and the second one was the Thien Nha Hotel which was just 400,000 dong—-$17 per night. Although it was only 7 AM, the receptionist booked me the room. A shower and a nap were so welcomed after the worst ride of my trip so far.
With the recent building of bridges, I no longer saw the morning commuters by ferry boats that were loaded with people and their bicycles racked up on the roof along with all their goods.
This family has four on this motorbike—I have also seen bikes with five people on them. Lots of motorbikes are used to haul goods to and from this local market.
To visit Old Town, you are expected to buy an entrance ticket for 120,000 dong. With this ticket, you are given access to 5 of the 23 buildings and attractions.
My first ticket was used to see the Hoi An Traditional Art Performance House where instead of traditional dancing, they had updated it to include some ballet moves—I preferred seeing the traditional dances they had done in previous visits–which was entertaining.
The Fujian Chinese Assembly Hall seemed to be the largest of the assembly halls that had transformed into a temple for the worship of Thien Hau. The hall was originally built by the heads of six Fujian families who had fled China in the 17th century. Some of the statutes are of midwives who teach newborns different skills for survival—smiling, sucking, etc. These are the statutes worshipped by many childless couples in the hope of having children.
The Tan Ky House, built two centuries ago, was hosted by the eighth generation of the Tan Ky family. She pointed out the many aspects of her home. She said some of the family lived on the 2nd floor.
The Japanese Covered Bridge was first constructed in 1590 by the Japanese community to link them with the Chinese Quarters. Over the centuries, this trading village was home to Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Indian, Filipino, Indonesian, Thai, French, British, and Americans. Inside the bridge, they had old pictures of the bridge and the people that used the bridge.
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Then
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Tran Family Chapel was built in 1802 by Tran Tu who later served as ambassador to China. One of the family members guided us through their chapel. The boxes on the altar represent the ancestors and are opened on the anniversary of their deaths, incense is burned and food is offered in remembrance.
It is a beautiful waterfront setting during the day with the riots of bougainvillea hanging over the worn paint and moldy facades of the many restaurants and stores calling out for tourists.
At night the tourist crowds really come out and the many silk lanterns display their multicolor beauty. Along the river, the boaters entice tourists to ride in the lantern festooned boats along the waterfront.
Opposite the Old Town waterfront, the restaurants' seats point out to this beautiful scene. Vendors also sell small colorful paper floats with candles to join in the lantern armada. These restaurants compete for who has the best musicians who put out the standard travelers' music.
In Hoi An like most other SE Asian cities I have been to, seem to use the sidewalks for everything but for pedestrians—food stalls, low-seating restaurants, motorbike parking areas, clothes, and other goods racks and tables.
When the coronavirus became a concern in Vietnam, the government ordered all of the schools to close for two months. Here is a Hoi An school that is closed with leaves gathering in the courtyard.
Now it is back to Bangkok from nearby Danang via AirAsia for just $51 for the 1 1/2 hour 540-mile trip. Once there I will see my dentist to get my 2nd molar chip repaired before heading to the islands to the east of Bangkok and on to Cambodia.
Here is my Hoi An Bus to Danang for just 20,000 dong for the hour ride along with the bus schedule.
I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my travel adventures there. That link is
https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold.
If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.
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