WELCOME TO VIETNAM....
after a few months of planning and pre booked accomodation and car transfers, thanks to internet, we finally started our adventure to the land of triangle mat hats, architectural heritage buildings, delicious foods and beautiful bays.....
And so, on Sept 7th ...... away we fly .....with Ida
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| its true, everyone can fly !! |
we are all set... ready ......and GO !
Ancient and peaceful,
Hoi-An is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South east Asian trading port dating from the 15th Century to the 19th Century. It is a
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE center.
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| first thing to do - check out the coffee and the seats.. haha |
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| Yes... very satisfied customers |
Ok, now we can start our walking exploration of HoiAn..
It has attractive architecture, a mix of eras and styles from wooden chinese shop houses and temples to colorful French colonial buildings, ornate Vietnamese tube houses and the iconic Japanese covered bridge with its pagoda.
It is 30km south of Danang. Our transfer (7seater) took only 40min from Danang airport to our Little HoiAn Boutique and Spa hotel in HoiAN.
Hoi-An attractions comprise centuries-old Buddhist temples and pagodas, colonial shophouses and quaint museums that are set within the popular areas of Riverside and Ancient Town. Once a prominent Vietnamese trading port between the 15th and 19th century, this ancient town and riverside of Hoi-An city were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, thanks to its well preserved mix of Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese and French architecture.
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| night view as we walk from Litte HoiAn Boutique Hotel |
during the 2 days we were in HoiAn, walking is the best way of appreciating the heritage of this little city...
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| Viet hand made silk embroidery shop |
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| beautiful facade ... Morning Glory restaurant |
one of the many ornate temples in Hoian...its located in between two shoplots and frontage is so small, its easily missed. Walking only can we discover old ancient HoiAn
no matter old or young, its still the same little seats..
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| End of day... feeling a bit tired... |
along the riverside....
and we did buy a little
piggy, after all....
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| Tan House - one of the oldest heritage house today |
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| Tan House - looking in |
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| inside Tan Ky |
and in the late afternoon, we cycled 2km to the
Thanh Ha Pottery Village down the river...
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| amazing technique - manual, using leg to spin the potter wheel |
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| traditional old kiln for firing the clayworks |
and we had to quickly cycle back to our Hotel before the storm .... dark clouds descending on us as we cycled pass villages and marketplace along the river..
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| gotta beat the rain...another 1km to go ... |
and next day we walked to the morning
HoiAn Cho market - sell all sorts of things from gigantic aloe vera, to fish and vegetable and dried produce as well ie mushrooms, nuts and lots more
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| how much ? |
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| leaving the market empty handed ... |
and heading back to hotel to rest, shower and get ready for dinner...
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| walking back to our familiar bridge to the Hotel |
and at the Night Market.... not many stalls but because it is the Lantern Festival season, there were colorful lanterns of all shapes and sizes....
the next day we took the Hotel free shuttle bus to the famous An Bang Beach. Just 4 kms from the city of HoiAn, An Bang beach is a perfect complement to the sightseeing and tourist bustle of town.
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| you row, I navigate |
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| Peek-a-Boo |
Hoi-An attractions are easily accessible on foot or bicycle, thanks to its pedestrian friendly streets.
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| cycling along the narrow alleyways |
HoiAn has no airport and no train station either. The only way to get there is by road. You can hire a taxi from DaNang which is the nearest city with the International Airport, about 40 minute drive. We arrived from Kuala Lumpur at 11:30am and got our pre arranged transport directly from airport to our Hotel in HoiAn. This was prearranged a few months back thru the internet.
There are many transport services on the internet that offers such taxi services and more or less about the same price. Its either you want purely car and driver (taxi service they call it ) or a package tour.
Our private transport ( 7seater van ) costs us US17 per car from the DaNang Airport to Little HoiAn Boutique Hotel in HoiAn, 30km away.
(Ms Truong from Hoiantransfer.com) And we ended up using Ms Truong transport service for our other transfers as well ie Day trip to Hue from DaNang (US90 per car).
One of HoiAn's attractions is the iconic
covered Japanese Bridge, dates back to the 18th Century and is a beautiful piece of Japanese architecture. The bridge was opened by Nyugen Phuc Chu Lord in 1719 who carved three chinese symbols above the door in commenmoration. The bridge also features 2 dogs and 2 monkeys representing the chinese years in which many of the Japanese emperors were born, along with the fact the the bridge was built in the year of the dog and completed in the year of the monkey.
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| The covered Japanese Bridge |
and at the Night Market.... not many stalls but because it is the Lantern Festival season, there were colorful lanterns of all shapes and sizes....
