(continued from previous post) . . . . . . . . .Hoi An, the 'Old City'. It's unique. It's a living example of architecture from the Middle Ages. The customs and habits of its residents, and its traditional cultural scene, makes this town nothing less than a living museum. The temples, communal houses, pagoda, water well, bridge, market and wharfs, along with other well kept monuments makes this town a charmer from the fist sight you get of it. I know as soon as the bus arrives in town that I will have a good time here.

I checked into my guesthouse around 7:30 a .m., after riding/sleeping on the sleeper bus from Nha Trang for 10 hours. The sleeper busses are strange things. You ride the entire trip without any rest stops of any kind, usually. You take off your shoes before entering the bus. You lay in a narrow bed with a blanket. It's a  'sleeper' bus and that is all you are supposed to do on it. I am impressed with public transportation in Southeast Asia. You can find a way to get about anywhere by some mode of transportation, and it is cheap transport.

I take off exploring this new town. It's quaint and very relaxing. The streets are narrow and cyclos and motodops are always nearby if you want to ride. Hoi An is on the Thu Bon River. It was a trading port as far back as the 1600's. The population of Hoi An today is about 120,000.

This is the only town in Vietnam that has made it through all the turmoil through the centuries intact. It avoided damage during the French and American wars . It has been preserved as it was originally, the wooden buildings sit along narrow lanes along the river. The buildings here are almost all entirely built of wood. They have the traditional Vietnamese design, but there is also a lot of Chinese and Japanese design. The Chinese and Japanese citizens settled here to trade and built their own houses with their own design.

One of the main structures is the Japanese Bridge. It is wooden and was built in 1593. The bridge has a covered roof over it and there is a Wat built into it's side. The bridge construction was started in the year of the monkey and finished in the year of the dog, so - one entrance is guarded by monkeys, the other by dogs. At least this is the story that is told.
 
Each lunar month, on the 14th day, the old town uses the traditional cloth or paper, colored lanterns throughout the town instead of electric lights. No fluorescent lights are allowed and no motorcycles on this day, and televisions and radios cannot be played in the town . No motor vehicles of any kind are allowed on the streets. A lantern made from a simple bamboo fish-trap is the only light the woman sitting in the shop has to work by. She is in traditional dress for this night. It's like a fantasy or time-warp walking along the narrow streets.

This, combined with the narrow streets and 200 year old wooden buildings, give you the experience of what it might have been like in Hoi An 150-200 years ago.

I visit the old town during the day and walk along the river. The boats offer day tours and I receive a lot of attention from the operators as I walk past. The sign says, "No more than 4 vietnamese or 2 foreigners on one boat." Are they insinuating something about us foreigners?

As I walk along, a Vietnamese girl jumps out of a van. She has a bag with her. "I be your girlfriend," she says. "No you won't," I say. "I go with you," she says. I have a lot of men I know in the States . I give her your contact information. So, you might be hearing from someone from Vietnam before long.

 At night the town comes alive with lights and lanterns. The old wooden-front buildings look mysterious in the night lights. The bridges that cross the river are lit up and sellers are selling paper lanterns, with candles inside, that people light and release into the river. I retrace the same steps I took during the day because it all looks so different in the night lights. 

The next morning I contemplate riding a bicycle or walking to the beach. I walk the 4 miles to the beautiful beach. It's a wonderful walk, through small streets and tropical vegetation. I pass rice fields and briefly chat with a few locals along the way.

Hoi An, Vietnam is a great town. The small town feel is something I really enjoy. Tomorrow I will go into the surrounding countryside to explore.