Hoi An
…is a picturesque old city, which luckily was at an early state preserved in its current state, cars banned from its inner roads (not motorbikes, though). There is even a ticket to support maintenance of the city, which includes a bit a complicated system of visits to historical sites within the city. In the end…I never found the right time to buy such a ticket and see the sites, which mostly consisted of buildings of Chinese congregations or temples. Not the most interesting stuff anyway. Just the town by itself is the main attraction.
It turned out that my hotel, despite not being right in the town’s center, is only 7 walking minutes away, so even the location is not as bad as I was afraid of after the motorbike ride.
HA_20070812_131320.jpg: The Japanese Covered Bridge, which many guides and locals make quite a fuss about. I didn’t find it so insipring, but together with some surrounding buildings and a blue sky it still makes for a nice picture.
HA_20070812_130945.jpg: Standing on the bridge, looking into the opposite direction. (The previous picture is made from a spot left to that small bridge in the picture’s center.)
HA_20070812_131141.jpg: The bridge’s entrances are garded by two monkeys on one side and two dogs on th other. With this funny red scarf on top of their heads it looks quite cute.
HA_20070812_131419.jpg: The building to the right of the bridge, in a bit a different angle with palm tree.
HA_20070812_131756.jpg: The street leading away from the bridge into the old town proper. Gives a good idea what Hoi An Old Town looks like. A really beautiful collection of old houses kept in good shape.
HA_20070812_133800.jpg: Just one example of these old houses in colonial style.
HA_20070812_135426.jpg: Landing fish at the old market.
HA_20070812_135625.jpg: Not only one boat’s business…
HA_20070812_140133.jpg: The actual market. I am not a market-liking person, but I went once across it just because it is part of the deal.
HA_20070812_143541.jpg: Time for lunch and a coffee in one of the many cafes along the river front.
HA_20070812_150612.jpg: Another impression of Hoi An’s streets.
HA_20070812_160043.jpg: On the Old Town’s side (in this picture behind the river) the houses lead nearly up to the river. On the other side (where I am standing now) there is more room for a promenade. But it is mostly deserted as certianly most of the actual life takes place in the Old Town on the other side.
HA_20070812_175427.jpg: View up the river during sunset.
HA_20070812_175616.jpg: And from the Old Town’s side across the river to the promenade side with another set of restaurants who had a bit of trouble attracting guests. And we have high season now!
HA_20070812_193217.jpg: A small street with a number of lampion shops give a nice night scene.
Today was one of my rare nights alone 😉 and I had dinner early and just by myself in one of the many restaurants. But it was a bad choice: Service was unattentive. Although I was the first dinner guest I had to wait very long for my soup and my fish. And then both wasn’t exactly great but expensive… For the other nights we chose one of the cheaper restaurants along the river: Better food for less money and unbeatably cheap beer: 3,000 Dong per glass: 0.14 EUR.
I had done some web site updates in the morning, after getting the laptop connected by wire to the hotel’s network. The guys there are really friendly! When I came back from the city I wanted to continue a bit. Not too long, I had to get up early the next day for My Son. But I thought I make one more article. That was when the first time my laptop’s displayed only displayed gray. That caused an entire collapse of my otherwise good mood. I just went to bed after a single beer.
Today’s Lesson: Go for cheap restaurants in Hoi An.
Categories: AsiaHoi An
Originally Created: 08/15/2007 10:48:48 AM
Last Edited: 08/15/2007