Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Hoi An, Vietnam

Just a bit south of Hue is the city of Hoi An… a smaller city on the Thu Bon river.  We stopped for a few nights to explore a quaint, more traditional Vietnamese city. 

We did a walking tour of Old Town… it was nice to just wander around and not worry about hitting any “must see” tourist destinations.

IMG_8678 

IMG_0446

Women in southeast Asia consider light skin to be very beautiful (unlike most westerners who want to look tan!).  It’s incredible to see women covered from head to toe in clothing… especially in 100+ degree heat!

IMG_0428 

 

We stopped for lunch and tried a couple traditional Hoi An dishes.

Cao Lau… sort of like a Vietnamese vermicelli

IMG_8629

White Rose… shrimp dumplings

IMG_8630

IMG_8636

 

Hoi An is famous for its many tailors and clothes shops.  You can either buy clothes off the rack or pick your fabric and style, get measured, and have a tailor-made outfit ready in about 12 hours.  Scott had a suit made for $60!  I bought a couple cute sundresses for $5 each.

IMG_8648 

 

Japanese Covered Bridge… built in 1593.

IMG_0412 

IMG_0408 

 

IMG_0432 

 

We still haven’t quite gotten used to seeing a Communist flag flying alongside the flag of Vietnam

IMG_0444 

 

Dozens of coils of incense burning in one of the temples.

IMG_0461 

IMG_0467

IMG_0469 

 

With our Vietnam visa expiring in about 5 days, we didn’t want to spend an entire day travelling (a 15 hour bus ride) to Ho Chi Minh city.  We found a cheap flight on one of the many low-cost airlines in this area.

IMG_8730

2 comments:

  1. An acquaintance of mine owns a handbag shop in Colorado. She travels to Vietnam multiple times a year to buy her bags. They're super cute and way cheap. Sounds like the two of you made out like bandits with your clothing purchases. Way to go!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are right Jen, I would go nuts shopping. Sigh! A woman thing.

    ReplyDelete