Hội An - the most beautiful city in Vietnam

... oh yes, both during the day and at night!
We were drawn to the sea again. This time, however, we wanted to have a longer-lasting vacation feeling and not just for one day. We were thinking of: a beautiful and clean sandy beach, less hustle and bustle at the location, beautiful sights, etc. So we stayed for four nights.
Originally, after Halong Bay, we had planned to stay in the "big city" Da Nang. It is only about half an hour away from Hội An (an hour by local bus, as we later found out). The two cities are also connected by the longest and most beautiful beach in Vietnam.
However, we received a tip from a nice fellow traveler, Volker (thank you, Volker!), on CatBa Island to visit Hội An instead. Because of the "nice lamps", he said. And he was right! But the lamps were not the only thing that impressed us.
More on that later.

We actually got on a night bus again - the only reasonable option for us. We expected an 18-hour journey, but we ended up traveling for a good 24 hours because we went through villages and there are no continuous expressways in Vietnam. So there is no exact information on how fast you will be at a certain place. The journey was otherwise okay because we had proper beds.

We felt right at home in our accommodation, located between Hội An city center and the beach.
Besides the location, another plus point for us was that we could borrow bikes (although very old but suitable!) for free.
We took advantage of this offer and went straight to the beach as soon as we arrived.
We passed by beautiful cafes - it should be emphasized that the Vietnamese really have a knack for cute and trendy cafes (see also the report on Hanoi).

"Where is the coconut, where is the coconut? Who stole the coconut?" (Attention earworm!)
After a refreshing swim in the South China Sea, we went in search of drinkable coconuts.

Good to know: As we learned, not every fresh-looking coconut is still edible. You should shake the nuts first, and if you can still hear a "splashing sound", then there is probably still something to drink. If not, then the coconut water has evaporated.

Fortunately, after a few turns left and right, we found a nut on a tree in a side street opposite the houses of local Vietnamese people. Getting it down from its safe place in the sun was not that easy: Max took a branch from a neighboring dried coconut palm and poked until it fell into his arms. It was no longer connected to the tree, but the water inside was still splashing. Yay and off we go home with it! (by the way: We started referring to our respective accommodations as our 'home' very early on our trip. This is always our retreat).

Although we went home, we did not do so without attracting a few unfriendly looks from the local people standing on the roadside. Coconut thieves! By the way, the water was warm, but otherwise it tasted as expected: super delicious!

On the second day, we took a scooter to the city center of Hội An, which was the only city that was not destroyed during the Vietnam War. We strolled comfortably through the "Ancient Town", consisting of many beautiful old (and mostly yellow) houses, influenced by foreign cultures. Hội An used to be the most important port in Southeast Asia, and many Chinese and Japanese trading families settled here.

Not only the houses are a feast for the eyes, but also the Thu Bon River and its colorful boats.

As we walked along the riverbank, we came across a fruit farmer who was carrying a bamboo pole with two baskets full of fruit. She invited us to also carry her load - of course, not without trying to sell her produce to us afterwards. We didn't miss this opportunity and were amazed: this woman was really tough! Even Max found it difficult and Nadine could hardly hold the load on her shoulders for a minute. Impressive!

On the evening of the second day, we followed Volker's tip and explored the streets of Hội An illuminated by colorful lanterns at night.
The atmosphere was so beautiful and completely different from during the day.

For the third day, we decided to spend a whole day at the beach and we went to the famous An Bang Beach. It looked almost the same as our "home beach" (if there is a home mountain, there can also be a home beach, right?). The only difference was that there were some beach chairs and cute round boats everywhere. From there, we also had a better view of Da Nang's skyscrapers.

Day four or "day of lack of motivation" was approaching! We simply didn't know what to do and even if we did, we just didn't feel like it. Not even the beach and the sea. At first, we were a bit annoyed. But we quickly realized that it was actually normal and okay: After all, almost half of our 3-month travel time was already behind us.
So we spent the whole morning talking about our trip so far and our impressions: whether we would choose the same routes again, what we would recommend to other travelers, what impressed us the most, where we would like to go back in the future, and much more. Of course, we talk about all these things on many other occasions, but this morning was especially suitable. We will report on this in our feedback at the end of the trip.
We also searched the internet for information about "travel fatigue" and the experiences of other travelers/backpackers. Many advised taking a one-week "break" and doing nothing. But that was not an option for us because we wanted to see something of the places we visit. So, instead of wasting the whole day in our room, we decided to just hop on the scooter and drive off. And "drive off" is not an exaggeration: Sometimes we drove at 90 km/h towards nowhere.

The "nowhere" turned out to be a beach far away from tourist areas. This fact was somehow cool, but also not: Cool because there was no one there apart from us; not cool because there was all the trash that was washed up by the sea. Most likely, many other beaches would look like this if the trash was not removed.
When we wanted to go back, we noticed a lonely, run-down house. It didn't look inhabited, so "why not take a look?" On tiptoes, we explored the interior. But when we peeked into the backyard, a grunting pig looked at us. Yes, silly us: looking uninhabited is not the same as being uninhabited in Vietnam. We made a run for it.
On the way back, we stopped for food - which wouldn't have been worth mentioning if there hadn't been a small plate with yellow-green chili peppers on our table.
"Come on, let's share one," said Max.
"Yes, okay, then we'll be disinfected in case the food doesn't agree with us," said Nadine. It was the spiciest experience (besides getting to know each other - hehe) we have ever had. The only relief came from a hot tea, which the hosts of the restaurant kindly brought us when they noticed our faces and our wild waving movements.
We ended the evening at a less crowded beach nearby. It was a beautiful day - without any plans.

The departure day had arrived, and we still had the whole day to do something. But the desire for sightseeing and experiencing something had not completely returned. So we decided to simply go to Da Nang and stroll around. As loyal fans of this blog already know, this means for us: going out to eat and looking for interesting and unknown products in the supermarket.

After a nice and relaxing time in Central Vietnam, we continued to the "center of chaotic hustle and bustle", Ho Chi Minh City.
Unfortunately, we had to choose a flight (we know, our ecological footprint is not exactly small this year), as the other option would have been a 24-hour bus ride.
With at least one hour of delay - our regular departure time would have been late at 23:05 - we flew to the south of Vietnam.
And this planned abnormality was not to be the only one ...