Hoi An, Vietnam

 Hoi An was a picture perfect postcard. It was everything you would expect an UNESCO World Heritage, small Asian town would be. It is set a few kilometers east of the ocean and is surrounded by rice fields. All the homes and shops are old protected buildings and the river separates the town with old bridges and gas lamps. It was quite peaceful and beautiful. It also was a complete change of pace to the busy HCMC.

Hoi An became one of my favorite cities I've visited whilst travelling. Hoi An was just what everyone needed after a few days of waking up early and site seeing. Just being in Hoi An was sightseeing as the entire Old Quarter is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The first day we went to Reaching Out, which is a coffee and tea house in the Old Quarter that is run by deaf Vietnamese. It is a place that employs the hearing impaired and is a way for them to work and have a good quality of life. Needless to say the place was peaceful, but we also were served traditional coffee and cookies. It was super relaxing.

our coffee tasting

The food in Hoi An was also excellent. We went to so many different restaurants to try many different types of food. Everything was excellent and my friends, who are not vegetarian, loved everything they ordered as well. In Hoi An we found beer for 4000 VND which was only $0.18/glass!!! At night we would spend most of our time bar hopping asking for “fresh beer” which is the equivalent to a home brew. It was great!

roof top dining

One day we rented bikes and rode to the beach through the paddy and rice fields. It really was so beautiful we had to get off our bikes a few times to take photographs, which of course won’t even be able to depict correctly how amazing it was. The ocean was not the prettiest, but it was still fun jumping in the waves and sleeping on the beach. Again, the theme of Hoi An, was that it was so peaceful! The beach had hardly anyone around except the four of us; it was great.

on the way to the beach

Ironically, the one night out we had in Vietnam was little Hoi An. We found some random bar to play pool in and they let my husband dj for the night; his dream came true! It was hilarious as an old couple clearly lived upstairs and let their son have a bar down stairs as we saw his parents come up and down a few times! Later in the night someone on a motorbike told us that there was a club in Hoi An, so the four of us hopped onto motorbike taxis and away we went! Well, it probably was the deadest club we had ever seen. As it was near 3 am we didn't feel guilty leaving after a few drinks, as what did we expect in a sleepy town?

DJ Vision !

So basically, Hoi An has everything you would want while travelling to Asia. Beautiful scenery, a beach, cheap beer, world renown food, and if you want to go out you can! It really was a beautiful place and one of my favorite places I've been to on my travels. 

having fun in town !