Vietnam 5D 4N family trip - Part 3 finale Hoi An.

This is the finale part of my family trip in Central part of Vietnam (23/8 - 27/8), click here to view part 1 (Da Nang) and part 2 (Hue). This is last part of my family trip, we stayed a night in Hoi An (26/8 - 27/8).

Hello everybody, today blog post is about the ancient port city of Hoi An in Vietnam...

Japanese covered bridge

Hoi An is an old port city situated in Quang Nam Province of Vietnam (South-Central part), south of Da Nang province. Besides, it is located roughly an hour driving distance from hustling and bustling city of Da Nang as well. Therefore, many tourists flocked to Hoi An due to it is ancient city as well as UNESCO world heritage site and proximity from Da Nang international airport.

Hot weather of Hoi An.

As we all know, "Hoi An" name was derived from Chinese meaning of "Gathering" for "Hoi" and "Peace and Tranquil" for "An". Hence, it's known as peaceful place for gathering for the traders and merchants back then. In the ancient period, many merchants from the far east (China and Japan) as well as from Malacca, India, Europe and Arab Peninsula sailed to Hoi An for trading as it is the naturally made harbour and located in halfway of the journey to the east from the west (much like what was in Malacca port of Malacca Sultanate). However, the harbour for trading was no longer welcoming for merchants since Nguyen Dynasty reigned as the emperor of Nguyen Dynasty closed its country from Foreign influence in the late 18th century and early 19th century. The only port for foreign merchants to do trading was relocated to nearby Da Nang during that time or even to the Malay Peninsula for trading. Therefore, Hoi An's economy activities were in stagnant and its strategic port status was fading way. In this day, Hoi An is only regarded as an UNESCO world heritage site.

Where to visit in Hoi An:

1. Hoi An Old Town

Nightview of Hoi An

Slik made cloth in process

Wood craving

Slik making in process

Hoi An old town was the place where the merchants from east and west met and mingled together to do business. Due to many Chinese merchants visited this place in the past few centuries, therefore many building and shop lots there were constructed with a strong feature of Chinese style especially from Guangzhou, Fujian, Foo Chow and Hainan. These old shop lots were now used for tourism business purpose. For instances, there one would be able to see lots of shop lots for tailors, souvenirs shops, art galleries, restaurants and cafes. Furthermore, there are also some attraction in the old town such as Chinese Assembly Halls, Guan Yin Temple and Japanese covered bridge. However, there are required for tourists to have an entrance ticket to visit Hoi An old town. The entrance fee is about 120000VND which is mandatory for the tourists to enter there and that ticket valid for accessing 5 out of 22 heritage sites there (Rusty Compass, 2017).

Chinese assembly hall

Japanese covered bridge

Japanese covered bridge had proven there was presence of Japanese community living in Hoi An in the ancient times. The bridge was built in zen style and was used to connecting Japanese community quarters with Chinese community quarters across the small stream as a gesture for peaceful living (Trip Savvy, 2019).

2. Basket Boat Ride
Basket boat ride service is available at halfway from Da Nang to Hoi An. We went for Basket Boat Ride when we are departing from Da Nang city halfway to Hoi An on 26th August evening...

Looks like in Malaysia's fishing village...

The basket boat tour was in 45 minutes or an hour tour on the estuary of river. The tickets for basket boat tour had included in the travel package, therefore I didn't know about the exact price of that tour. Each of the boats were able to accommodate maximum 3 person. Each boat will have a well experienced boat paddler which they were really good in balancing the round basket boat while paddling it with strength. That tour brought us to traverse across the nipah palm forest of the estuary as well as stopping at 2 spots on the river to watch some performances. After these performances, they would asked tips from each of the boats. Therefore, be prepared with enough spare money there after watching their performance on the river. The paddler was also pro in spinning the boat in speed, which was making me to be so dizzy after the spinning. How could they done to spin the basket boat? Well, tour guide of my family trip told me that the paddlers used all their leg strength to spin the boat while balancing the boat. It was fascinating...

Me on the boat

Alright, that all about my family's trip in Centre Vietnam for 5 days and 4 nights. I hope you all are enjoy reading my blog post. See you guys in the next blog post, bye...