Heaven in Hoi An

Beautiful beaches in the Cham Islands, near Hoi An

I'll say it once and then leave it at that: my arrival in Saigon from Cambodia was a disaster, leaving me phoneless and $50 poorer. But things got significantly better!

Vietnamese lanterns in the streets of Hoi An

My Saigon guesthouse was a huge help, and I was relieved that the person receiving me that evening spoke English natively! I went to my room and decompressed that first evening, and then set out on a walking adventure the next day. I had no idea that Saigon, also known as Ho Chi Minh City, is the biggest in Vietnam! Blissfully ignorant, I dipped my toes in the insane traffic there, jaywalking through seas of motorbikes the way locals do. I made it out unscathed and only learned afterward that this was quite a feat!

I saw the river, the market and the electronics shopping plaza in Saigon but had already booked my train to Danang, a city up the coast, for later that afternoon. I bought my requisite Asian snacks and got myself aboard for an overnight sleeper train. It was my first! The "hard sleeper" was no different in comfort than the "soft sleeper" I would experience later, but it certainly was interesting to sleep in the middle bunk with five other passengers in the compartment.

At Danang, I caught a cab to the nearby beach town of Hoi An, where I stayed at the Huy Hoang Garden Hotel — this paradise nearly rivaled the Vdara resort where I stayed in Chiang Mai! I rented a $1.50 bicycle every day for the three days I spent there, and it was great to be back on wheels. I felt very grateful that I'd had the practice on a bike in Berkeley, because I certainly couldn't have navigated the motorbikes (fewer though they were) and lazy pedestrian tourists without some cycling chops.

My cycling took me to the beach, an artisan craft workshop for folks with disabilities, a custom tailor (2 suits for $140 total! A total steal!), and countless restaurants for tasty local food. On my third day, I reserved a tour of the nearby Cham Islands, complete with complimentary lunch and a snorkeling adventure.

The tiny jellyfish that stung me
were smaller than half the size of these starfish

The day trip was my favorite part of Hoi An! I'm so glad I got to go, and that I met some cool Aussies and a French guy on the minibus ride to the port. We saw the local town, which operates without electricity during the day and survives on generator power at night (it shuts off at 11 p.m.!!). We tramped through rice fields and took a speedboat to the beach where we splashed around before boarding the boat again and jumping off of it into the clear blue sea with our snorkel gear. The water wasn't as fish-populated as the waters in Hawaii I saw, but there was some coral and in fact a few jellyfish, which stung me. They were the tiniest of pinprick stings, but they annoyed me enough that I got out of the water after a few minutes. I sat on the boat with the others and joyfully held some starfish collected by a more daring snorkeler. (We threw them back of course.)

After the snorkeling, we boated back to the beach where a beautiful lunch was laid out for us to gobble down. I barely remember what we had, but it was delicious seafood! Then we lounged on the beach some more and I felt vaguely guilty for having such a lazy holiday, but it passed quickly. :) At 1:30 it was time to head back to Hoi An, where I freshened up and biked to pick up my suits. They seriously took over my suitcase (no pun intended), and I wish I hadn't packed so many unnecessary things to begin with!!

In the evening I met up with the group I met on the day trip, and we had a veritable smorgasbord of Hoi An cuisine for dinner, costing only about $8 per person! I finally got to try the "white rose" dumplings I had wanted since my arrival in Hoi An. (At another restaurant I asked for them but got completely the wrong thing...)

French-Aussie-Aussie-American