Entree Kibbles: Day Two of My 8 Days' Trip to Danang (The City of Bridges) & Hoi An (The City of Lanterns) in Vietnam

Sunday, August 04, 2024

Day Two of My 8 Days' Trip to Danang (The City of Bridges) & Hoi An (The City of Lanterns) in Vietnam

Detailed Postings for the Day

What would I be doing on the very first morning in Central Vietnam? Given the time difference with Singapore, I was up at 6.00 am and managed to catch the rise of the beautiful morning sun!

With two and half hours to go before Hoi An Village Experience Cycling Day Tour, I decided to have a jog and compared to the night before, the streets in the ancient town of Hoi An were lot more peaceful without the hordes of tourists blocking my way.

After about a kilometers, I did notice more and more people although its level was still manageable and they appeared to be locals, rather than foreigners.

Turned out I had chanced upon a bustling outdoor wet market! It's right outside the sheltered Cho Hoi An Market but as I had yet to complete my exercise, I guess a slow jog outdoor would be safer than the indoor where it's likely more crowded. p.s. the fruits looked so good!

Wooden boats docked along the Thu Bon river.

Aside from the lanterns that could be found at every building, another thing you would have noticed at this UNESCO world heritage site was the yellow facade for a majority of the buildings!

Those planning for a wedding photoshoot were aware that morning would be the best period for photo-taking! 7am was incredibly early though.

Carpets of Red Flowers; I wondered why no one ever featured about the trees with flowers strewn all over the floor. Most tourists wouldn't notice as the army of street cleaners would have removed them by late morning.

Breakfast time with Alex at the Charm restaurant of La Charm Hoi An Hotel & Spa. As usual, I only took a little since I don't usually have breakfasts, and prefer to better spend my calories on food outside the hotel.

Street outside La Charm Hoi An Hotel, while waiting to be picked up for the Hoi An Village Experience Cycling Day Tour that we signed up the day earlier with the hotel.

In a cab?! Now that seemed fishy....

Fret not, Hoi An Village Experience has a good reputation and we were eventually dropped off at an area slightly more than two kilometers away, where a row of bicycles was awaiting our selection. Our tour group was small; numbering just five adults and one toddler.

Hoang, the perfect tour guide, who regaled us with educational information along with funny jokes; his positive demeanor made the Cycling Day Tour super memorable and was one of our major highlights for the inaugural Central Vietnam trip.

Four components for the half day cycling tour; as the name suggests, cycling is required to get from one place to another and we pedaled next to huge swathes of padi fields, stopping at times for Hoang to share more about the rice and vegetable farming.

Afterwhich, we had an interactive session with Say, the water buffalo and took part in the hard labor of peudo dredging the padi fields and planting the rice plants. You may read more in the post of Water Buffalo Riding and Traditional Farming.

One of the things Hoang shared with us was the "local hotel" blessed with an environment that allowed the "guests" to be covered under the blanket of a million stars! It's a cemetery and one of them was the Cam Thanh Commune Cemetery!

Main reason for signing up for this tour was the numerous social media postings I noticed for the Traditional Bamboo Basket Boat (aka Coconut Boat). Honestly, this was the most boring item, especially with the fishing for crab since I don't have much patience.

Lastly, we made our way to Hoi An Village Experience Cooking School, where we met up with the boss, Mr Cu and embarked on making fresh rice milk and cooking banh xeo! Ended the tour with a nice local lunch!

Back in our comfortable room at La Charm Hoi An Hotel & Spa. Above was the view taken from my room's balcony. The UNESCO world heritage site of Hoi An Old Town is actually further down, explaining why the buildings were not in yellow.

Renting the complimentary bicycles from La Charm Hoi An Hotel, we took to the streets again after taking a shower! Riding a bicycle was stressful with the tourists around, specifically those large groups who were too engrossed in talking among themselves to hear our bells!

The lunch we had for the Cycling Day Tour was sufficient but not filling. Hence, I persuaded Alex to cycle to Madam Khanh - The Banh Mi Queen, where we had one of the most reputable banh mi in Hoi An!

This impressive tree, with intertwining roots, caught our attention right after we exited Madam Khanh. I translated the Vietnamese on the stone plaque and it was said that the tree was more than a hundred years old, commanding a height of 20 meters with a diameter of 4.1 meters. The rest of the translation doesn't quite make sense to me but I think it's called the Da Ken Tree.

Having drinks and snacks at FeFe Roastery!

Avocado Smoothie was terribly good!

Iconic Ancient Gate of Ba Mu Temple; a unique sight that attracted tourists from all over the world. Interestingly, behind the gate wasn't a temple; it's just a pathway next to a school!

Cute dachshund on the street!

I was captivated by the many sea vessels at Tan Phu Giao Handicraft Ships! Given how small my apartment is, I had gotten used to simply soaking in the sights. Almost got the Black Pearl in the bottle!

Sights along the streets of the old town. In addition to visitors who were walking, we, on our bikes, had to be careful with the cyclos, the three-wheeled cycle rickshaws invented by a French in the 1930s, too!

Saw a tout who was showcasing his product, a wooden bird toy that can fly in the sky! It looked fun although it did create some annoyance for the public when the "bird" flew at them or dropped on them! I bought for my niece and nephew for fun; one for 50,000 dong and three for 100,000 dong.

Thu Bon River again; the river promenade was nicer to walk in the morning, late afternoon and night! With the lack of big trees, it was hot. We badly needed another shower!

Relaxing time; at Ni Spa & Massage! Massage was satisfying but I was more blown away by their hospitality; drinks and biscuits before the massage, juice and cut mangoes after the massage, plus a free pouch!

There was this building opposite La Charm Hoi An Hotel & Spa that had a large welcome sight and an entrance skewed towards the upper-class cliente.

It's a casino known as Royal Gaming Club Hoi An and Alex, a casino-lover, persuaded me to go in with him! Turned out it's pretty small with machines instead of tables, and we were the only customers! Alex prefers table games, with the human dealers; hence, we were out in no time.

On our way to the night market, again!

For tour guides, this would be one easy yet cute way to identify your guests at night! Another less "invasive" method was to make them wear glow stick bracelets.

Once again at Nguyen Hoang / Hội An Night Market! Afterwhich, we chilled at the nearby MANGO MANGO. where I had a glass of Vietnamese beer, and took the opportunity to take time-lapsed video!

Enjoying my drink!

Busy waterway alongside the old town, with many small wooden boats illuminated by lanterns and carrying visitors to release the lanterns on water. A pretty sight, no doubt, despite the risk of water pollution.

Found a spot near An Hoi / Hoi An Lantern Bridge for another recording of a time-lapsed! There were stalls selling drinks and you could grab a stool from them after ordering from them. It's just business and I didn't want to sit on the floor!

While Alex helped to look after my DJI Osmo Pocket 2, I took the opportunity to explore the stretch filled with pubs and clubs, and also food stalls that didn't seem to be making much business.

It was all very tempting but you have to note that there were many restaurants and eateries in Hoi An, and most of us would have been too full to stuff in more food! At least that's what I think.

Walking back to Alex.

Here's the time-lapsed video for your viewing pleasure. Given the popularity of vlogs, I know I should have progressed but personally, I prefer the ease of searching within blogs, especially when it comes to reviews.

Back at the old town again. It was not even 9pm but the street was already so quiet. To be fair, it was a Tuesday and I knew that many foreigners would make a day trip to Hoi An, instead of spending one or two nights there.