The weather in Vietnam hasn’t been to kind to us lately. Although it’s coming into the dry season, we’ve had some really heavy rain. Our accommodation in Hoi An was on Cam Lam island, a quieter area away from the old town, but the heavy rain had flooded some of the roads. As our minibus wouldn’t drive onto Cam Lam island we plodded through the puddles to our accommodation. I’ve never seen my feet dirtier! Homestays are popular in the area and we stayed with the lovely Ni at Coconut Garden. We had a beautiful room with a balcony looking out over the coconut trees and water palms and Ni had two bikes for us to use so that we could get into the old town without getting our feet wet!
The old town is a beautiful area next to the river with coffee shops, restaurants and more tailors than you could ever need! Hoi An is known for its fantastic food, great tailoring and beautiful silk products. The market has some food stalls, with each one having a particular specialty. We tried Cau Lau (noodles and pork) and Banh xeo (rice pancakes) and they were so good, we headed back the next day to the same stall for more! The laid back pace of the old town and multiple stops for Vietnamese coffee were just what we needed after a few busy months of travelling! We had a ticket that allows you access to some heritage sights in the town and it included a traditional folk show which was great, apart from the multiple go pros on sticks that obscured our view. I wonder how many people will actually ever watch back the footage they record!
We certainly got great use out of the bikes we had and cycled to An Bang beach to check out the coast. It’s a very popular area in the summer time with a beach that stretches up the coast to Danang. It was a windy, cloudy day and the sea didn’t look that inviting! Just as we set of from the beach to cycle to the nearby coconut groves, the heavens opened. We were completely drenched within a matter of minutes and headed back to our lovely accommodation for a warm drink to make us feel better 🙂 That evening, as the weather dried up, we headed to a bar by the river and had a cocktail, looking out at the candle lanterns floating on the river and hanging lanterns in the streets. A quick stop to a doughnut stall before we cycled home was a must!
On our last day in Hoi An, the sun came out and Ni was keen for us to see the old town in the sunshine. We hopped on our bikes and had a lovely morning passing through the bustling streets with the fair weather vendors. We couldn’t leave Hoi An without some coffee, so we picked up some lovely ‘Weasel No.1’ coffee from An Phu roastery and a neat little filter too.
With the sun shining, we were sad to leave Hoi An and Ni’s relaxing homestay, but we were off to Danang to see what was on offer there!
-F xx
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