An Hoi Bridge (also known as Hoi An Lantern Bridge) in Vietnam

In the heritage city of Hoi An in Vietnam, I bet the above bridge is considered the most crowded one as it is the shortest route one can get from the old section to the popular Hội An Night Market, and vice versa. 

In addition, the area was dotted with numerous boats offering visitors the chance to cruise down the river, and release lanterns on the water. This resulted in a beautiful backdrop for those in the middle of the bridge, a chokepoint for people walking across.

There's no street lamp on the bridge and the only illumination came from the "lanterns" fused with the bridge; hence, this bridge is also known as Hoi An Lantern Bridge! 

 

Spanning just 50 meters across the Thu Bon River, I seriously wonder what the maximum load for the footbridge is. I arrived on a Monday and thought it was already quite squeezy; can't imagine the number on a weekend. 

Since I stayed in Hoi An for three nights, there were plenty of opportunities for me to explore An Hoi Bridge in the daytime and the sight in the morning differed from night. Aside from a reduced number of users, it's also opened for motor vehicles! 

To be fair, I was early, like before 8.00 am since I prefer to jog before it gets too warm. Many shops remain closed although you get more crowd nearer to Hoi An Market, where there was a thriving wet market. 

With daylight, and lesser people, I noticed that the bridge had a wooden section right in the middle. That was even more disturbing as the load for wood is likely to be lesser compared to concrete! 

The wooden section was further divided into two sections and with the steel wires holding on to the wooden planks; I am guessing if the middle segment of the bridge has a drawbridge feature. Sadly, I didn't find much info (in English) on the web. 

Maybe I need to take a boat ride and look at the structure, from down under. 

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Location Map

As above.

Click here for my 8 Days' Itinerary to Danang (The City of Bridges) & Hoi An (The City of Lanterns) in Vietnam