It was a very touristy place, but in quite a nice way. The buildings were maintained and kept in good condition in the centre of town, and although most houses were now shops, local people were also living in them. I woke up early to take photos before they had all opened for business.
The riverfront aspect of the town also gave it real charm and interest, with boats waiting to take people on trips, but also transport goods from downriver and ferry people across to the islands and opposite coast.
Hoi An is also famous for it's tailors, and their shops abounded the streets. As our hotel was a bit out of town, they seemed to forgo the ridiculous first-price that many were quoting in the centre, and Dani purchased a couple of items to take back to Adelaide. The women joked with her that she had a Vietnamese model's frame.
Exploring the abundant local market I was greatly enamoured with the local people and their traditional woven hats. I could only guess at this woman's age as she prepared a huge vat of tea. Whenever we see people older than 50 we always wonder at their experiences of the war, though obviously lack the communication skills and opportunities to ask.
In order to get from our hotel to the town centre and the beach - each a few kilometres away, we had considered hiring bicycles for around $1 USD a day. However, the quality of the machines were extremely poor, so we decided to rent these amazing electric bikes much-loved by locals. It was a great relief to choose when we wanted to pedal, and when we wanted assistance to fly up hills or just enjoy the cooling breeze.
They were also useful for us to travel further afield, as we decided to visit a neighbouring 'vegetable island', where locals work the fields communally and produce an abundance of vegetables and herbs, with complete disregard for the seasons of the northern hemisphere. We watched this man use an ingenious system for watering the crops, which needed to be done daily in the scorching heat.
Later that day we explored the coastline, and finding an undeveloped section we marvelled at this abandoned house and coracle, which I had previously thought was a uniquely British method of water-transport, but we later saw many of them on the Vietnamese coast.
It was a particularly nice coast, with beaches shaded by palm trees and balmy water. We preferred to visit in the evenings when the heat of the day had subsided somewhat, and were pleased to see so many Vietnamese doing the same, obviously enjoying the place as much as us foreigners.
