Hoi An old town, Vietnam

Hoi An old town

Hoi An old town was, after Hanoi and the amazing Halong bay, this was our third lovely place to visit in Vietnam!

So first of all - it was hot!!

We were coming from Danang and it was hot there as well but there is a big difference between lying on the beach or by the swimming pool and a walk through a city with a bit if any chance for a patch of shadow plus - packed with tourists like us. Really, really hot!

Lucky enough Hoi An old town is literally packed with coffee houses and small eateries, bars and those lovely “afternoon tea” places so we had plenty opportunities to stop, cool down and replenish.

Hoi An is known as a trading port for more than 400 years already and it was once the most important trade port on the East Vietnam Sea. At that time Portuguese Chinese and English all came buy for business and some the Japanese - even settle.

As a result the city was getting reach - the rumours are it still is - and skilled, and some of those skills are still to be found here today as various crafts: tailoring, cooking, painting.

We were not in the buying mode, so it was just window-shopping for us. But the shops were actually very good, offering surprisingly good quality goods, from handicraft and art to silk, leather and clothes.

The place is nicely preserved and still has its ancient charm; no cars no bike policy also helps !

We left the town in the evening feeling apologetic and nostalgic and sorry: this outstandingly beautiful place deserve more then one afternoon!

Ha Long Bay Vietnam

Ha Long Bay Vietnam, what a marvellous place

Hạ Long Bay is amazing: around 500 million years old, more than 1500 km2, with tiny, foresty limestone islets of an astonishing number of 2000. 

And the core of the bay they are dense: think an area of 300 km2 with a high density of around 800 islets! So yes, is spectacular! 

And as I was recently reading - people used to live in this area of Vietnam tens of thousands years ago! However, nowadays there are only few hundreds left, living in floating house gathered in small fishing villages. They will probably move all out of Halong Bay and on the mainland soon - the life in the bay being as it is pretty tough considering drinking water, electricity, schools, food.

If you visit Vietnam you must pay a visit; there are multiple tour companies offering everything from transportation to the bay from wherever you are and back - to nice tours of the bay for 1,2,3 days or maybe even longer. We came from Hanoi and went for a 2 days/one night.
That means actually no more then 24 for our on the boat and on the bay since the trip itself is around 8 hours both ways.

So as you can see it is serene and marvellous and absolutely must see if you are around, somewhere in Asia!