The Road to Hoi An

We took a private car to Hoi An which is about 4 hours south of Hue. It was a great relaxing drive. Our driver, Trai was so nice and knowledgeable about the area and Vietnam in general. We took the Hai Van pass which is a really pretty way of driving through the mountains. At the top you have great views of Lang Co Beach and Danang. After passing Danang, we had lunch on China Beach (known as My Khe beach to the locals). It was a really long stretch of beautiful white sand. You can see construction going on for miles. New hotels are coming up everywhere. While it's good for the economy we couldn't help but think how different this place will be a couple years from now....totally built up.

We got to Hoi An early afternoon and were so pleasantly surprised by our hotel, Ha An. It was so cute and our room overlooked the garden with a balcony. I think this was my favorite hotel in Vietnam. The staff were wonderful, our room had fresh flowers, rose petals scattered everywhere, and the breakfast was AMAZING! Seriously 10 kinds of fruit, 10 kinds of pastries, pho, eggs any way you like, cheeses and meats, olives, vegetables, bacon, sausage, desserts - tiramisu, cheesecake, etc. It went on forever! Really it was like Sunday brunch at a fancy 5 star resort....oh and did I mention the hotel was $55/night! :)

Hoi An is a quaint little town set on the Thu Bon River. It used to be an international trading port and you can still see the Chinese, European, and Japanese style in the architecture. It's a pretty small town and you can walk through the main areas pretty quickly. There are tons of restaurants and bars and cool buildings/architecture on the river. It's fun to just walk around. Our favorite restaurant by far was Morning Glory. It was upscale-ish, Vietnamese street food. I loved that the waiter explained how to eat everything so were getting all the right spices and tastes together. I really wish we would have taken a cooking class - really I could eat green papaya salad every day!

Hoi An is also known for great tailor-made clothing. If we had more time and had the ability to carry stuff I would have gone crazy. I did get two dresses and a shirt but it was so ridiculously hot I didn't feel like getting more made. Darsh scored though and got a fly suit for $195!! I have no idea how but they finished the suit in 8 1/2 hours and he only had 2 fittings. And the suit fits perfectly! :)

Hoi An was one of our favorite cities in Vietnam. The people are lovely - vendors weren't as pushy and the streets were easier to walk though (because it's less crowded). We felt like it was a small, quaint, resort-like town with really laid-back people. We just walked through the town, window-shopped, hung out at art galleries, and ate. In my opinion, Hoi An is a must-do for any trip to Vietnam. :)