4th to 7th February, 2025
You might be asking ‘why Hoi An, John?’. Well, we came here 8 years ago on our tour of Vietnam and I loved the Old Town, which is wonderfully vibrant, colourful, a bit crowded and full of lovely old buildings and oodles of Vietnamese culture. It is also near the sea, which is also nice.
It was formerly known as Faifoo and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The old town dates back to the 15th Century and is a good example of a South-East Asian trading port, with all the different influences that can produce, such as the Japanese Bridge (see below). There was a Japanese settlement here in the 16th and 17th Century. Inevitably the Portuguese were here in the 16th century as well and the Chinese were also involved. At one point it was a big trading port especially for spices, but silt and the emergence of Da Nang just a bit further north meant its glorify days were over. It was sort of ‘rediscovered’ in the 1990s.
On Saturday evening we took a Grab (Asian Uber taxi firm) with Duoc our driver, who got very excited when we told him he was our first Grab ride. As it is Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, first anything is always seen as good luck for the rest of the year. He deposited us as close to the old town as possible and we set off. Well, imagine setting off for central London on New Year’s Eve. It was heaving, mostly with smartly dressed locals promenading the streets, eating, taking the almost statutory boat trips and setting themselves and each other up for selfies and posed photos.
I have tried to whittle the number of photos down a bit… Note that it is a festival of LANTERNS!
There are, inevitably, some quite high-end shops in the Old Town and we dropped in on a few, one of which was a VERY vibrant and colourful dress shop, which lended itself excellently to some photos…
OK, night was falling, the streets were, if anything getting more crowded, Val’s feet were beginning to ache and wheelchairs are a challenge, so, a few photos later, we got a taxi home.
Right, that had better be it, though don’t think that you won’t be seeing a lantern or two more in the future.
Mr Benn's Blog 
Wonderful photos John – I thoroughly enjoyed them all and your blog definitely cheered me up. It is cold, a high of 4 degrees, wet, dull and gloomy – a far cry from the warm and colourful conditions you are enjoying. You can be assured you are not missing a thing! The adjectives pertain not only to the weather, they describe life as it is lived here, and the general state of the country. Not much news to regale you with; I am distracting myself with watching the England vs. France 6 nations match and the horrible conditions they are playing under are making the encounter a good one. The second half has just started at it is 7-7 at present. The pitch is wet and slippery and the ball is greasy. Enjoy every minute of your trip! I am surprised not to see photos of your hotel room?? Love to you both – have fun!!
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