Hoi An, Vietnam

After our experiences on the singing night bus, we decided to take the train up to Hoi An, Vietnam. It was another overnight trip - we caught the train at 8:30pm and settled into the bunks in our small cabin. A much more pleasant journey than the bus! It was still pretty basic - thin mattresses, a window that didn't quite close (until Devlin messed with it), and a pretty sketchy toilet down the hall... but it was still a step up from the bus. No cockroaches and less noise, just the click-clack rattle of the train passing over the tracks.

Hoi An does not have a train station. To get there, we arrived at the train station in Danang and barged past the taxi drivers, who wanted $25+ for a ride. We found a mini bus driver, Mr. Dong, who would take $15; we learned from him that the taxis were forced to charge a higher rate because of their company rules. Mr. Dong dropped us off in Hoi An, and after an hour of walking around and asking for room prices, we found a $20 room at the Hop Yen Hotel on Ba Trieu road.

We spent a lovely week in the town. Hoi An stretches along the Thu Bon river, and it is also only a 3 km bike ride to the beach. It's a UNESCO town, with many historically-preserved buildings and streets, and it had a sweet laid-back character that was a breath of fresh air after the bustle of Nha Trang and our days of hectic travel.

Hoi An is known for being a city of tailors and lantern-makers, and it does not disappoint. The town went from under 100 tailors a couple decades ago, to a bustling 600+. Tailors line every street, with occasional souvenir shops squished in between them, and above them hang myriad strings of lanterns.

Inside the Hoi An cloth market - a warehouse filled
with bolts of cloth and tailors competing for
tourist business

The first couple of nights we were there was the end of the Chinese New Year holiday week, and the town was full of people celebrating. We saw a game of Vietnamese bingo - Ba Choi - being played with exuberance on the parts of both players and performers, and a game of "hit the pot". Gorgeous light sculptures lined one side of the river, all reflecting the theme of the new Year of the Snake, and the outgoing year of the Dragon.

We spent the rest of our time in Hoi An relaxing and enjoying the place. We biked a couple times to the beach, Devlin ate beef papaya salad every day, and we bartered hard for good prices on our souvenirs. And we ate some truly delicious Indian food at Ganesh, the only Indian place in town.

At the end of our time there, it was also time to part ways with our travel friend, Lynnea, who was heading back home to Oregon. We called up Mr. Dong for our ride to the airport in Danang, and up we flew to Hanoi, the capitol of Vietnam. We camped out in the airport to wait for our evening flight to Bangkok, Thailand, and said our goodbyes to Lynnea, who was spending a day in the capitol. And then, off we flew to Thailand and our final destination, Chiang Mai!