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Hoi An
Day 5
Hoi An is a beautiful, ancient city of 120,000. Hoi An means peaceful meeting place. It served as a port for trade with Japan and China, both of which contributed to the architecture and culture.
After a wonderful breakfast of made-to-order omelets and baguettes (while Vietnam kicked out the French, they kept their love of baguettes, sandwiches (Bhan Mi), and pastries), we walked to Hoi An’s Old Town. We purchased admission ticket to the 15th century buildings. The old city and our hike followed the Thu Bon river whose levels vary with the sea tide. Highly recommended.
After a full morning of walking tour, we saddled up on our motorcycles to find a highly recommended seafood restaurant, Quon A Roi, on the coast.
It was about 17 kilometers or 10 miles away, near the ocean, and meant leaving Hoi An and riding through some farm land. That made for an easy, lower stress adventure and gave us more time to get familiar with our bikes.
Sea Snails for Lunch
The seafood is fresh. In fact, it is living in aquariums and tanks along the wall until you order. Of course, we found no English but the picture menus allowed us to point. We had sea snails with lemon grass, steamed shrimp, broiled oysters, clams in lemon grass broth, and Fanta orange drinks. Blood alcohol limits for riding/driving in Vietnam is 0.0% so we never ordered a beer before riding was complete for the day.
Lunch came to 700,000 Vietnamese Dong, or about $28 U.S. It was wonderful. And probably the most expensive meal we encountered in Vietnam.
Our waiter was smitten with my Honda XR150 and had his friends take pictures of him while he posed on it.
After lunch, we rode maybe 1 kilometer to the almost deserted beach. There were a few families with children there, but we otherwise had it to ourselves. I afforded a nice view across the bay to Da Nang in the distance, and further the mountains that make up the famous Hai Van Pass.
We returned to Hoi An’s Lantana Hotel via a different route through rice fields with many water buffalo. The change in route was not so much a choice as Google Maps served up a different set of directions because … well … Vietnam.
Back at the hotel, Don opted to burn off the last of jet lag with a nap. Lauren went out for a 2 hour outing and purchased a massage and full body scrub for the equivalent of $20 U.S. I learned that she is quite amenable to affordable personal care. Neither of us knew that the coming days would offer much less pampering opportunities.
We enjoyed beers at the hotel overlooking the river. A pair of older Irish ladies had noticed our comings and goings. Not shy, they struck up some interesting conversations. They wanted to know about the seafood restaurant. I asked if they brought any Irish whiskey and they just cackled with joy. I took that to mean, yes they did and were not sharing.
As night fell, we walked into Old Town Hoi An, famous for the boats and candle-lit lanterns they launch on the river. We saw tourists from all over, but no apparent Americans. Lauren purchased a Nutella and banana crepe from a street vendor. No dinner for Don. We crashed hard for a good night’s sleep.
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