city of lanterns

Hội An - going into the old town needed a ticket. one price to visit 5 historical places. the ticket came with 5 tabs. walking through the japanese covered bridge took 1 tab. next an old chinese house, not much to look at, took another tab. Then a chinese community hall which was like a temple. another tab. so I have 2 more tabs left for latter. The old town had narrow streets lined with restaurants and shops. I've looked and looked but could not find anything interesting to buy. The houses on the other side of the Thu Bon river were very picturesque and exactly as they're shown on the photos and postcards. Very pretty. Went back to the hotel to change room and the 2nd floor room had a balcony that faced a balcony of the building right next door. the 2 balconies were literally next to each other and one could climb over easily. That was the best they could give me since our group rate did not cover any better rooms. Others in the group had balconies that faced the wall of the adjacent building. so I guess mine wasnt too bad. I've decided to go for the bicycle ride this time which was a mistake. We first had to cross some heavy traffic streets to get to the outskirts. that wasnt entirely bad but a bit on the dangerous side. when we got to the rice paddies with absolutely no cover, it started to rain. it poured so hard we're all drenched. We stopped at a store to get ponchos but what's the use. We're already soaked. My quads were beginning to ache when we finally made it to riverside to get on the round boats. these boats are completely round so 3 people would sit on 1 bench across the middle of the boat. the boat drivers were very skilled as they pulled banana leafs off the trees by the river and made us jewellery to wear, rings, necklaces, bracelets and even earings and glasses. the boat driver paddled us through small tributaries of the river, with vegetation all around. the ride was short but very pleasant. After that we cycled upstream and boarded a boat to bring us back to the old town. it was early evening now and all the lanterns were lite and people out on the streets in the old town walking by the river.The bridges and buildings were lite by colorful lanterns. I quite enjoyed the night time in Hội An. We dined at an expensive bar restaurant and I had fried tofu with lemongrass and giant tiger prawns. They were good but not excellent. on TV we saw vietnam winning the semi final shoot out for the AFC cup. Everyone yelled. The walk back to the hotel was again quiet. tonight I had a good nite sleep as i was tired after the effortful bicycle ride and the hallway was quite. really love this town. I'm finally enjoying vietnam.

Hội An photos: