With our stomach full with all the awesome foods Hanoi offered us, on the evening of 5th Dec we headed for Noi Bai airport for our flight to Da Nang with Vietnam airlines. It was around 9:30pm we reached Da Nang covering 2hrs of journey in flight. We booked a homestay Riverside in Hoi An.
The noticeable thing as soon as you enter the city of Da Nang is it welcomes you with colorful lamps and lanterns all around decorated in the streets. Da Nang is in central Vietnam and it has had a fascinating history. The famous Hoi An(UNESCO world heritage site) is only 30km away. Da Nang is that part of Vietnam which the French conquered first when they came in Vietnam. That is the reason French architecture is very much present in the city.
6th Dec 2016: we rented a scooter from our homestay and headed straight for the ancient town of Hoi An. Our first stop was a Buddhist pagoda. After that we purchased ticket for the ancient town of Hoi An. An interesting thing in Hoi An is it allows motorcycle inside the old town only during a specific time period. Apart from that time period you have to walk on your feet. The streets of Hoi An is very much pedestrian friendly. We entered around 12:30pm during which scooty were allowed. We parked our scooty in front of the Japanese bridge and decided to roam about the old quarter on foot.
Picturesque Hoi An is exactly what I have painted in my drawing book during my childhood. It has Thu Bon river flowing slowly by the sides of the entire city while small boats were being rowed in the river or anchored along the bank of the river.All you can witness around you is buildings with mixture of french, Chinese and Japanese architecture painted with different shades of yellow which feels so much soothing to the eyes that cannot be explained in words. Hoi An has a mix culture: the laid-back, hippy-like atmosphere yet it is so classy sort of place with fancy stores, elegant bistro and cafés. It is one of those unusual places where you will see both budget and sophisticated travelers.
As the sun was about to set, we were welcomed with drizzles followed by heavy rain. We were left with no option other than engaging ourself with shopping of beautiful clothes available.
Hoi An’s biggest attraction is their tailoring shops and they boast of copying any design of any designers in the world. Fancy suits and dresses, t-shirts, bags, leather shoes – whatever you want to make, someone can make it happen. Anywhere between low and average price depending on the quality you are after and detail required, if you have plans of making suits or designer gown in a very cheap rate. You know where to go . The best part is, almost all tailors in Hoi An offer free fittings and adjustments until it is perfect. Taking advantage of the opportunity, my dearest hubby gifted me a stylish coat from Hoi An.
As soon as the sun went down, the streets got illuminated with different types of old style lamps and lanterns hundreds of them hang on verandas and windows and on the streets. It created a magical environment all together. Wish it would have rained less, we could have enjoyed more. Ending our day with a romantic dinner in a rainy night in candle light by the side of the river, we headed for our homestay.
Hoi An attractions :
1)The Chinese assembly hall
2)The tran family chapel
3)Fujian assembly hall
4)Hainan Assembly Hall
5) Japanese bridge
Tips :
- Remember to park your rented vehicle in a place which has parking for the entire day.As I said earlier, we parked our vehicle in front of Japanese bridge,which had parking till 3pm only.we didn’t knew about it and nothing was mentioned anywhere as well.So when we returned after 3pm,the local cops already took our bike and parked it somewhere else. It really took a lot of time firstly to know who took our scooty and secondly where they took,since language problem is one of the biggest problem in Vietnam.
- Vietnam currency : Vietnam Dong , You can carry USD with you and exchange USD to VND near Hoi An old quarter. You can get attractive exchange rate.
- Hoi An airport : Da Nang International Airport. Da Nang to Hoi An distante is 30 km. You can take bus or private car to reach Hoi An. Please check with your hotel .
