I arrived in Hoi An with sleepy eyes and lots of hope for this UNESCO World Heritage Town. Hoi An is graceful and easygoing with it’s historical buildings set quaintly alongside the Thu Bon River. It has a sort of old-world charm and I found myself slowly meandering around the streets, browsing the many little shops, with a relaxed air.
I spent the first day in a sort of daze: half asleep and too hot (I had thought that the weather would cool as I got higher up Vietnam. It hasn’t. It’s mad hot). First, I searched for a hotel and then for food, or should I say cake 🙂
I stumbled across a lovely place called ‘Cargo’ and have since found it has a brilliant rating in the Lonely Planet. I opted for a White Chocolate and Kahlua cheesecake and a Latte, even yummier!
The town itself has an old section and a new section, basically the old part dates from around 2000 years ago and had developed into a bustling port town. However, the Thu Bon river silted in the late 19th Century and the port town, along with all of the business that came with it, disappeared. The traders moved to nearby Danang and Hoi An became a sleepy town with a slow pace and amazing looking buildings. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 and is now reaping the rewards from this, mainly tourism. It is a lovely place, but three days of mainly doing nothing is plenty…
My Son day trip
My Son, another nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site, was also on my agenda…oh how I love a UNESCO site 🙂
A tour was the most appropriate option and I opted for the Sinh Tourist as they have done me well so far, I’ve been using their Open Bus service to travel around Vietnam.
I arrived at the shop nice and early, so of course the taxi was late 😦 After a confusing start, I did eventually get to My Son, 55km out of Hoi An, and met the crazy little guide.
I was expecting that the place would be in various states of repair, but it wasn’t half as fab as I had imagined it to be…there really isn’t a lot there…but it was a fun morning out with some good photos, so a positive from a disappointing day trip.
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