Go back to Sa Pa Day 2.
Go back to Vietnam. Ancient Town in Hoi An.
Once back in Hanoi, we headed directly for the airport and a short flight south to Da Nang in central Vietnam; a very rainy Da Nang. It seemed that our good weather luck had ended and we found ourselves driving south to Hoi An in an increasing downpour. Old Quarter of Hoi An turned out to be an incredible tourist trap – charming architecture but otherwise holy shit! A food tour of local eateries and street food vendors the following day improved our perceptions a bit but not that much. We were however approaching our tolerance limit of non-climbing travel: Sapa with its hiking was reasonably fun but now we were getting bored but at least the weather had dried up some. More heavy rain the following day however and so we hired a car to take us north to Hue for more tourist stuff to kill off the remaining day in central Vietnam.
Photos
Repacking at Hanoi airport in the morning as we’re hoping to leave the climbing gear behind in storage (Nov. 2018).
Da Nang-bound (Nov. 2018).
Welcome to the rainy Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
And a very very touristy Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
Hoi An Ancient Town (Nov. 2018).
A lamp vendor (Nov. 2018).
Our hotel in Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
Strolling through Hoi An Ancient Town (Nov. 2018).
Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
Charming Ancient Town in Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
Day market in Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
Inside the day market (Nov. 2018).
Getting some mangosteen (out of season unfortunately; Nov. 2018).
Ginger and duku…perhaps (Nov. 2018).
Outside of the day market in Ancient Town (Nov. 2018).
Buying some durian…also out of season and not terribly good (Nov. 2018).
Steamed buns mobile in Ancient Town (Nov. 2018).
Pretty OK (Nov. 2018).
On the way to find our scooter tour outfit the following morning (Nov. 2018).
A short bus ride to our scooter tour (Nov. 2018).
Let’s ride!
On the streets of Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
We got a rice cake baking demonstration on the tour (Nov 2018).
Our two guides and Shirley in Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
Lantern building operation – looked like a family affair in a residential house (Nov. 2018).
Streets of Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
Hoi An port (Nov. 2018).
Hoi An port (Nov. 2018).
A farmer and his puppy (Nov. 2018).
Show off (Nov. 2018).
On the way to the beach outside of Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
A stormy beach near to Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
Starting our street food tour in the afternoon (Nov. 2018).
The start of the street food tour. This is the White Rose restaurant – only one of its kind in the country. The women here are hand rolling some very unique and very tasty dumplings (Nov. 2018).
The finished product. Very delicate and one of the culinary highlights of the trip (Nov. 2018).
Next stop on the tour was a tiny family run place (attached to their sleeping area; Nov. 2018).
There’s a rice cake underneath it all. Just OK in our opinion and we forget the name of the dish (Nov. 2018).
Black sesame sweet soup (look at that deep black color!) vendor on the streets of Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
A popular place especially with drive-by customers (Nov. 2018).
Bustling streets of Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
A pretty good banh mi place in Hoi An (Nov. 2018).
The food tour continues. Walk 300 meters, pig out, repeat (Nov. 2018).
Good coffee (Nov. 2018).
Inside the coffee (and tea) shop (Nov. 2018).
The octagonal Phuoc Duyen tower at Thien Mu Pagoda in Hue the following day (Nov. 2018).
Thien Mu Pagoda grounds in Hue (Nov. 2018).
Thien Mu Pagoda grounds with its impressive bonsai trees (Nov. 2018).
Our Hue guide, Thuy, and Shirley admiring a bonsai on the grounds of Thien Mu Pagoda (Nov. 2018).
Aston Martin motorcar that carried the monk Thich Quang Duc (to his self immolation). Grounds of the Thien Mu Pagoda (Nov. 2018).
Thien Mu Pagoda with Thuy (Nov. 2018).
Thien Mu Pagoda grounds (Nov. 2018).
Khai Dinh’s tomb in Hue (Nov. 2018).
Khai Dinh’s tomb grounds (Nov. 2018).
Khai Dinh’s tomb grounds (Nov. 2018).
Rainy Hue (Nov. 2018).
An excellent lunch with our guide (Nov. 2018).
Yeah, it was very good (Nov. 2018).
Hue’s Citadel or Kinh Thanh – an entry way into an area covering more than 1000 acres (Nov. 2018).
Thuy and Shirley admiring the pond (Nov. 2018).
Kinh Thanh grounds (Nov. 2018).
Kinh Thanh grounds in Hue (Nov. 2018).
A coffee stop at a roadside place on the long drive back to Da Nang airport (Nov. 2018).
