Saigon - Hoi An

Thursday March 5th

We didn't have an early start for the day, thanks to some earlier rearranging of departure flight. We even had time for a (Vietnamese) coffee at the airport - well, it satisfied Prue's need for a mid-morning caffeine fix, anyway.

A clockwork departure, arrival and pick-up in Da Nang had us on the 40km road to Hoi An by 2:00pm. Even from this distance we could see that Da Nang was no Saigon - cleaner and with much less traffic. We could see the city and the famous Dragon Bridge as we crossed the river heading towards the nearby coast.

On the right we could see the helicopter bunhers left by the Americans - Da Nang was a large air force base during the war. On the left was "China" Beach, a name given by the Americans and still used by tourists, although this isn't its real name. It looks a bit like parts of Bali or other beaches converted from public spaces to private enclaves. Indeed, we didn't see the beach at all during 20km of driving.

At the end of the beach strip was Marble Mountain, an unusual outcrop in a very flat landscape.

Hoi An is at the southern end of the long beach and just a bit inland on the side of a river. The old centre of town is a tourist mecca, and development is expanding into the nearby rice fields. Our hotel is a kilometer from the centre, and this is the view from near our room.

We walked into town passing shops, restaurants, schools and other businesses, with the very occasional rice field still undeveloped.

Hoi An is known for silk and tailors, and as usual, if one person has an idea, so does everyone else.

We passed a large market before coming to the river where most of the activity seems to take place.

The locals were going about their business, and this ferry was taking people between the market area and villages somewhere up the river. 

We were spoiled for choice when it came G&T time, but this place had a nice atmosphere.

We continued our walk, this time looking for possible dinner places. The river bank continued to entertain.

There was even a photographer and model doing some kind of fashion shoot.

Eventually we found the famous 16th century Japanese bridge, complete with Japanese (?) tourists. You have to pay to cross the bridge, despite there being a free alternative just beside it!

This guy seemed to be saying something to all the tourists who were indeed paying to cross the bridge.

I thought someone was fishing, but apparently this is used for fishing "shows".

At night (not long after 6:00pm) the river bank transforms, and the tourists flock in for dinner. And because it's another significant day in the lunar new year cycle (a full moon tonight), people are buying lanterns to float on the river.

After a couple of false starts, we eventually found a restaurant with an interesting menu and outlook, and had our dinner watching the world go by. We even ordered a bottle of "cheap" local wine - unfortunately, it's combination with the earlier G&T, beer and Piña Colada meant we both had headaches during the night. We won't be repeating this experience, promise.