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    • All Balot Bohol Boracay Cebu city El Nido Malapascua Manila Palawan Panglao Port Barton San Fernando
      El Nido

      El Nido and the Bacuit Bay

      March 26, 2009

      Port Barton

      Port Barton and the Pagdanan Bay

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      Palawan

      Coco Loco island and resort

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      Coco Loco island and resort

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Vincent Vanderveken.com

Take some time to see the world a bit before you leave it

Hoi An

The ancient town of Hoi An

by Vincent August 21, 2010
by Vincent August 21, 2010 0 comment

Looking for a place to relax a few days in between visiting Vietnam’s two biggest cities, Saigon and Hanoi, Hoi An ended up being just the ideal country town retreat I was looking for.

Vietnamese boat

One of the few Vietnamese cities to have largely escaped the ravages of wars, Hoi an is a remarkably well preserved example of what a Southeast Asian trading port dating from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century looked like. While all serious shipping business has long been transferred to Da Nang, the silence that now prevails in the city is not the least of the charms.

Throughout the town, numerous congregation halls (picture below) can be visited. For centuries this is where the large Chinese expats community has been gathering to socialize and hold meetings. Each of them is named after the home region of their members, such as Hokien, Cantonese, Fujian etc.

At it’s core, the Old Town, whose streets are too narrow for the passage of modern vehicles were a much welcomed change from the rush hour traffic in Ho Chi Minh City..

Most of the buildings that have been restored or maintained close to their original form include assembly halls, private houses, bridges, family chapels, communal houses, temples and pagodas.

And wandering through Hoi An’s endless rows of ancient low roofed merchants houses covered in fading, pale yellow worn paint and decorated of silk lanterns makes for a very pleasant experience.

While the ancient town is free to visit and wander around If you want to go a bit further and enter inside the various types of historical sites you will need to purchase a 75,000 VND or 5$ ticket.

Hoi An is however definitely a tourist town and just about every business caters to it so expect no shortage of tailors, art boutiques, restaurants, bars, etc. On the upside things are relaxed and touts are much less aggressive than in other town of the tourist circuit.

All in all well worth the visit and if you need a little break from Hoi An there’s quite a few sights in the region you can easily visit like a trip to Marble Mountains or the My Son Sanctuary and if you need to cool down from the heat the Cua Dai Beach is only 4KM away.

Arrived in Hoi An
Ancient Town
Fishing in the Thu Bon River
Chinese meeting hall
Hoi an restaurant
Vietnamese boat
Streets of Hoi An
On the banks of the Thu Bon River
Kids returning from school
Water buffalo taking a break
Old Japanese covered bridge
Old Japanese covered bridge
Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls
Vietnamese girl portrait
Art gallery
Streets of old Hoi An
Hoi An market
Working on some canvas
Inside a meeting hall
Vietnamese Propaganda
Trinkets of sale
Vietnamese snacks
Streets of Hoi An's old town
Art boutique seeling paintings
Older Vietnamese woman portrait
Arch leading to one of the meeting halls
interior of meeting hall
Breakfast time
Colorful dragons
Opening shop in Hanoi
Again the Ying
And the Yang..
And the Yang
The Ying

AsiaHoi AnpopularSoutheast AsiaVietnam
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Make sure to take some time to see the world a bit before you leave it

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