The journey continued from Ninh Binh to Hoi An. Finally, everyone was healthy again and the adventure could continue!!
As always, it was an exciting bus ride where we were thrown out of a city like in the military ("GET OUT, GET OUT") and after a two-hour break, we arrived in Hoi An. Hoi An, the city of lanterns. Those who know me and Emilie can imagine that we landed directly in kitsch paradise! (Emilie: "sometimes I still can't believe that I'm seeing this with my own eyes!"). Since the journey had drained some energy, we strolled through the city and later rested in the hostel before going to the Full Moon Festival in the evening. It always takes place during the full moon. Unfortunately, it turned out that the atmosphere during the full moon is not much different from any other evening. There were beautiful lanterns and many lights everywhere. Nevertheless, it was beautiful! With a few people from the hostel, we first went to the night market and ate "Vietnamese pizza" (corn tortilla topped with various vegetables and tofu), "ladyfingers" (Asian beans), dragon fruit, skewered potato chips, and of course banana pancakes. In Hoi An, you also have to take a boat ride through the sea of lanterns at least once in your life, which we did right after and enjoyed it very much. As a final activity of the day, we had a few drinks at the popular bar Tiger Tiger 😊
On the next day, it was beach day! Since we wanted to go to the beach and bike tours are quite popular in Hoi An, we combined the two and took a tour to the beach. However, on that day, the waves were incredibly high, so we had to find a suitable spot for swimming and sunbathing. Shortly after, we were lying on the beach and even went into the waves! When we got hungry, we treated ourselves to a delicious lunch at a resort and then went back to Hoi An. After showering and taking a power nap, we sat down for a "Family Dinner" at the hostel where everyone who wanted to could have dinner together. We were really a big group here, talked a lot, and after the subsequent happy hour (with free beer :-D), the alcohol started flowing and the mood became lively. For Anna, it was the perfect end: the receptionist suggested visiting a karaoke bar!! Shortly after, we were all in the karaoke bar, performing all kinds of songs from "Dancing Queen" to "Toxic" late into the night. And all of this, even though we were supposed to be picked up for our cooking class at 8 o'clock the next day... but Anna didn't care about that at the moment :D Afterwards, we went back to Tiger Tiger to continue the party. It is one of the very few clubs in Hoi An that is particularly popular among backpackers. When the party was over, we went home to bed. When the alarm clock rang 4 hours later, we were greeted by a hangover. Nevertheless, we had to pull ourselves together because the cooking class was scheduled. We first went with the chef of the vegetarian restaurant around the corner to the "vegetable village", where the older people of the city grow vast amounts of vegetables and fruits for the city's supply. At the market, we were able to try Vietnamese rolls (Banh Xuon) and fried bananas and learn about the criteria for buying fruits and vegetables. Back at the restaurant, we cooked 5 different typical Vietnamese vegetarian dishes together. For example, a delicious mushroom sauce made from "strawberry mushrooms", a papaya salad, and a vegetable curry. Finally, we had food that could alleviate our hangover. Back at the hostel, we had to recover first because a little later we were going to make lanterns. We both had a lot of fun and were in our element. The people we were able to make lanterns with were really nice! Our helper spoke really good English and learned everything just by working with travelers.
The next day, we could already bring our things to the hotel early in the morning. Because we liked the city so much, we booked another night in a hotel. So we were able to do some more sightseeing and go shopping a bit. Hoi An has many beautiful temples. The Japanese Bridge, which used to connect the Vietnamese part of the city with the Japanese part, was particularly special.
On the last evening in Hoi An, we went to the restaurant of our cooking class chef one more time. We had fried vegetables, pumpkin soup, baked baguette, and a mushroom stew.
On the next day, we concluded our visit to Hoi An with a foot massage and a visit to a very special café. This café was run exclusively by deaf people and was beautiful. Absolute silence prevailed there because speaking was not allowed or only whispered, and orders were placed using pictures and words on building blocks. Beautiful handmade items such as tea sets and others were also sold there. Anna was in heaven. As a final stop, we visited another vegan restaurant run by a super friendly vegan family. It was truly one of the most beautiful restaurants we have ever been to. And the food was amazing too. Here, we also learned a lot about Buddhism. For example, this Buddhist family does not eat animal products for religious reasons (reincarnation as an animal, etc.). We were allowed to write in a book that the family gives to all guests and also look into their personal family book with the family history.
