HOI AN the city of a thousand lanterns

As mentioned in the previous report, we arrive in Hoi An before sunrise. We walk to our hotel and hope that someone is already awake. After a short wait, we hear the first sounds. At 6 a.m. we are lucky and they even let us sleep for a few hours in a quiet place with a sofa. Since we can't check into our room until noon, we go to the city for breakfast. As we sit there, tired from the journey, we suddenly spot our Polish friends on the promenade. So great, they also arrived here this morning. We chat with them over coffee and agree to have dinner together the next day.

In the afternoon, we stroll through the beautiful old town. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage. We can understand why. All the houses are decorated with lanterns of all colors. And it's not just the lanterns that give off a magnificent flair, but also the beautiful facades. We can't get enough of the sight. In a handmade shop, we can go to the upper floor of the building and see the great interior design. We really like it here. The old town is car-free and only open to bicycles and pedestrians during peak hours.

Before dinner, we stumble upon a local bingo game by chance. Two people are singing the drawn cards/names in Vietnamese at the front, and the sitting participants who bought a bingo card raise their hand as soon as they discover the symbol on their card and receive a flag. Once they have all three, they win. We watch the spectacle for a while.

The city is beautifully illuminated in the evening. There are many boats on the river, also with lanterns, and many people set small paper lanterns on the water. According to the locals, this brings good luck.

The next day, we rent bicycles. We don't really need them in the city since everything is within walking distance, but we want to go to the sea later. It's about 4 km away.

But first, back to the city. To enter some houses and pagodas, we need a city ticket. With that, we can visit 5 attractions. We quickly realize that the entrances to the buildings no longer impress us as much as the handmade shop yesterday. But the city is just so great to walk through. A Japanese bridge, which we enter, is dedicated to the collaboration of the two countries, the Dragon Bridge.

Now we make our way towards the sea. Along the way, we see beautiful landscapes. Of course, rice fields must not be missing. The first beach doesn't convince us that much, so we drive a bit further. There we find a great peaceful spot. Not everywhere are hotels and crowded beaches. Justin finds the water a bit chilly, but it's still a great hour of cooling off.

In the evening, we meet the Polish couple, Paulina and Piotr. Dinner is super entertaining. We tell each other about our experiences and chat about our homes. We both enjoy the great company and realize that it's good to talk about it with someone else. Otherwise, we usually just write about it.

They are staying in Hoi An for one more day, while we will continue tomorrow. Maybe we'll meet again in Hanoi. We'll see.

We enjoy the beautiful city once again the next morning before continuing to Danang by bus.