Hoi An, Part 1

Hoi An, Vietnam
15.8801°N, 108.3380°E

Sarah and I left Da Nang in a “Grab” taxi, which is essentially the Uber of Southeast Asia. In most places in Vietnam, you can request a GrabCar or GrabBike, the latter being a ride on the back of a moped (and the cheaper option).

While we did take a few scooter taxis in Vietnam – and loved it – our bags wouldn’t fit on the back of a moped and so we opted for a GrabCar down to Hoi An.

Meeting Moon

Hoi An is 45 minutes south of Danang. The drive takes you along central Vietnam’s sandy coast before turning inland and crossing a few small bridges over estuaries leading to the Thu Bon River.

Sarah and I rented a homestay in Hoi An for two and a half weeks the day before we left Danang. We were a bit nervous about booking accommodations for so long sight unseen, but we did know that everything we heard and read about Hoi An sounded like just what we were hoping to get out of this stretch of the trip. We were looking for a smaller, laid-back city with a walkable and bikeable downtown not too far from the beach. Hoi An checked all of these boxes.

The reviews we read about the accommodations we chose all were very positive, and the kicker was that included in the price of our stay was complimentary breakfast and free bike rentals every day.

We were dropped off outside the homestay by our Grab driver and were greeted with a big smile by the owner, Moon. Moon runs her tailoring business out of the first floor, and before showing us our room told us a bit about her business and her family.

We met a few of the women who work for Moon, as well as her husband Thanh who showed us where the bikes were located. We loved everything about the accommodations and felt reassured we made the right decision. Something about this place felt like home, which both of us really appreciated at this point in our trip.

Hello Hoi An

Hoi An is a city of about 100,000 and is most well known for its historic old town. Ancient Town Hoi An is a “World Heritage Site”, a designation given by the United Nations to landmarks or specific areas with historical or cultural significance.

Located on the Thu Bon River and only a few miles inland from the East Vietnam Sea, Hoi An was one of the most important Southeast Asian trading ports dating back to the 15^th century. During the 1700s it was a critical nexus of trade for Europeans, Chinese and Japanese doing business in Southeast Asia. Its architecture is extremely well-preserved from this era (and before), hence the UN designation.

Moon’s place is only about a five-minute bike ride into Ancient Town, so Sarah and I took full advantage of our complimentary two-wheelers to explore everything the town had to offer. We were also only a 15-minute bike ride to a number of beautiful beaches, many of them lined with small cafes situated behind lounge chairs and cabanas set up for dining and drinking on the beach.

A lot of people told us that Hoi An is only good for a few days visit given its small size, but after our first week we felt like there was so much more to see and experience. The Ancient Town is filled with tourists from over the world, but once you get outside of those streets you are surrounded by rice fields, small farms and almost exclusively locally-owned shops and cafes.

A highlight of our time here was getting to observe the day-to-day lives of the Hoi An people (Hoi Anians?), and interact with them whether we were trying to order from a menu, buy shampoo, or figure out the price of a mango. The people in Hoi An were overwhelmingly friendly to us even though the language barrier proved difficult when we couldn’t access Google Translate on our phones.

Riding Dirty

A very popular way to see the outskirts of Hoi An is by motorcycle tour. Sarah and I can handle scooters, but unfortunately, neither of us can safely operate a motorcycle. Luckily for us, there are several tours in Hoi An that provide drivers so all you have to do is hold on from the back seat. We decided on a tour that goes off-road on motorcycles suitable for challenging terrain run by Hoi An Motorbike Adventures.

The tour lasted about four hours and took us down dirt roads, along canals, across a floating bridge, through rice fields, and over a massive newly constructed bridge that provided a great aerial view of fishing boats bringing their catch into the harbor.

Sarah’s driver was named Luke and I was paired with Mr. Chin. I was told Mr. Chin would be best for me – the biggest one in the group – because he hauls more than a thousand pounds of fish on the back of his motorcycle from the harbor into Hoi An’s markets every morning. Mr. Chin didn’t speak English, so for most of the ride, I was distracted by thinking about how I’m going to deliver my “do I smell better than the fish?” joke at the end of the ride.

Sadly, my hilarious joke opportunity never presented itself. However, at the end of the ride I did end up feeling obliged to double tip Sarah’s driver Luke since I’m pretty sure she may have been cutting off his oxygen supply for four hours.

Um, what about the coffee?

Sarah and I can’t believe we’ve gotten through three posts on Vietnam without commenting on Vietnamese coffee. It’s really good. Like really, really good.

But it’s also very strong, which I learned the hard way when I decided on a second cup of iced Vietnamese coffee at a café one morning and within minutes was looking around the room for the closest defibrillator.

Vietnam is actually the second largest coffee-producing country in the world, trailing only Brazil. We were told that most people don’t know this (we didn’t) because the government doesn’t do a good job promoting its brand like many other large coffee-producing countries.

Most Vietnamese drink their coffee with condensed milk and sugar, but Sarah and I both like our coffee black so only had it the real Vietnamese way a few times. It was really good but we were careful not to fall into the habit of drinking condensed milk for breakfast every morning.

We felt pretty settled in Hoi An after just a week. We joined a great gym down the street called Superfit, and were actually using it every day. We found ourselves in a nice little routine, which we were craving after the last several weeks of traveling. Every day we discovered something new we liked about Hoi An and were already talking about how we wish we had more than 10 days left here!