July 29th, 2017
oh, I think I like this place!
Hoi An is just my speed. I think I’ve found my Vietnamese oasis.
We are staying at this really nice hotel that Richie arranged for us. Sometimes they book customers here apparently. I can see why. The building is lovely, there is a great pool, and the staff are very friendly. So I have to say the service industry in Vietnam has a few things nailed, and desk staff at hotels are consistently amongst the best we’ve experienced anywhere. Other than Night one at that airport hotel, we’ve been blown away by the quality of the service in Vietnam. Kiddos to them 👍
We got settled in and decided to head out to the Old City. Pretty much everywhere we go that has an Old City or Old Quarter, they end up being my favorite part. This one is no exception. You have to buy a $6 ticket per person to get in, but it is hood for the duration of our stay. And it’s mostly a walking city, pedal bikes allowed plus motorcycles for a couple small windows of time per day (to get goods in and out I presume) so it’s really much quieter, safer and more peaceful than a regular city street. It is a Unesco World Heritage site. So a very well preserved ancient city. There are several different sites to visit within the city that are included in the price of the entry ticket, museum, old houses, temples and bridge. There is a heavy Chinese influence but you can see French and other Asian influences as well. Of course there is plenty of food, shopping and local markets too. So what is not to love!
We had lunch (and I must confess to pizza- but it was mediocre at best-so won’t be falling for that again) then we spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering around and taking in the sights. We did find ourselves back at the hotel pool by 5ish to cool off and reset before heading out for supper. The highlight food wise of the day was supper. We saw a sign for a Thai restaurant in our afternoon wandering as. And Vanna is really missing Thai food, so we decided to give it a try. We made our way back for supper and ordered so much food I’m sure they couldn’t believe it. But everything looked so good. It was actually really good and while not cheap by Thai pricing, it was Certainly reasonable and got the cravings taken care of. I had massaman curry and troy had pad Thai and we shared some chicken wings.
Bellies full, we head back to hotel to call it a night and rest up as we have a full day in Hoi An to look forward to the next day 😉
