Hoʻopuka ʻia: 11.11.2017
Actually, this was supposed to be a great article with super beautiful photos. Hoi An is an absolute dream city, exactly the way Jonas and I love it, with a cozy old town, many small cafes and restaurants right on the river, and colorful lanterns hanging everywhere. Especially in the evenings, you can feel the charming charm of the city. That's exactly how I imagined it, but everything turned out differently.
We arrived in the city at noon and were so exhausted that we spent a few hours in the hostel. By the way, it was the first time we stayed in a hostel with a pool (because I begged for it and really wanted to have a pool). However, it was not my plan for the whole city and our room to turn into a pool.
Our room was beautiful with self-built wooden furniture, a small balcony, and an amazing bathroom with a glass wall.
Fortunately, we managed to motivate ourselves on the first evening and walked into the city, and it was definitely worth it. Colorful lanterns hang everywhere, women sell candles that you can let float on the river, or you can directly book a "river cruise" and admire the old town from the water.... But we can do all that tomorrow too! Unfortunately, we were wrong.
We strolled around the obligatory night market, treated ourselves to a "shock ice cream" (highly recommended!!), and had a leisurely meal. Just as we were leaving the restaurant, it started.... the RAIN!!! We didn't even realize when it stopped in the following days.
It rained continuously during the night and a storm swept through the streets. Unfortunately, the window above our bed was leaky, and after a short time, half of our room was underwater, and we had to sleep with our heads at the foot end, otherwise I could have washed my hair in bed at night.
We thought that a little rain couldn't bother us the next morning and walked through the puddles to a cat café. Of course, it was closed! When we trudged back to the hostel soaking wet, the rest of the day consisted of eating and playing cards.
The "little" rain had turned into a typhoon, which was not as harmless as we found out the next day. The strongest typhoon in the last 16 years and already some casualties. And we weren't even in the center of the storm and only got the outskirts of it.
When we went to the old town again the next day, we could hardly believe our eyes. There was water everywhere on the streets, the river had completely overflowed, and most of the houses were several meters underwater. The locals were driving small boats through the streets because in some places, the water was up to their bellies. Later in the hostel, the owner told us that her house was completely underwater and in some houses, you can now only see the roofs... We didn't expect to experience something like this live. Despite everything, the people were very calm and still in a good mood =)
We had to change our plans because our next stop, "Nha Trang", was right in the center of the typhoon. So we took a flight directly to Ho Chi Minh City in the south!