Hoi An Off The Beaten Path

If you are in a Romantic mood the girl in the picture will take you for a row boat ride in the canal, on Thu Bon river but a more scenic tour is the motorboat ride. We took the ride from the old town back to our hotel. It was sunset and as it went dark, the lady navigating the boat seemed to lost her way, or got confused by the many fishing nets around. Instead of 30-40 minutes it took us more then an hour, but it was pure pleasure

Just 4 km away from downtown Hoi An is Cua Dai Beach. It's a nice stretch of white sand with calm blue ocean water lapping the shore. It's a pleasant respite from town as it gets hot in the mid-afternoon. During weekdays, roaming vendors seem to outnumber beachgoers and it's possible to purchase fresh fruit, massages, or beach toys to help you further indulge yourself on the sand.
There are a few different ways to get to Cua Dai. You can rent a motobike, have a motobike take you there, or you can rent a bicycle. I opted for the third choice and my guesthouse rented a bike to me for 20,000 dong ($1.25) for the day. It was a rickety piece with a basket on the front and I was the object of much jeering on the way to the beach and along my return. It did the trick though and it only took me about 20 minutes one way with Cua Dai being a straight shot out of town. There's a minimal fee for locking motobikes and bicycles at the beach.

1 more image

If you take the tour with the boat coming back from My Son then you'll end up at Kim Bong. This carpentry village is in Cam Kim commune, just on the other side of the river from Hoi An. Most of the architectural projects in Old Hoi An were constructed by the village natives. The furniture being made here is incredible and is available to be exported. Also of note, many of the fishing boats in central Vietnam are constructed here.

Just for beach people. Discover Cham island is great. 8 islands, 135 species of coral, 202 species of fish.
You can join a day trips with scuba dives, snorkelling, sailing.... or join the padi dive courses if you dont know how to dive yet, from 1 day course, 3 days course or even 6 weeks course ( for master course ).
Have fun and fun!

4 more images

65 kms south west of Hoi An is the superb My Son Champa ruins.

It's nowhere near as impressive as Angkor, which so obviously influenced the style, added to which much of the site was destroyed or badly damaged by US mortar fire and B52 bombing in the American War.

But its location is magnificent, in the shadow of Cat's Tooth Mountain and its brooding intensity.

Best way to get here is to simply take the tourist bus from Hoi An. There are several to chose from - and most leave at approx 8am.
It takes approx 75 - 90 minutes, and usually give you just over 2 hours at the site (which is enough time to cover the ruins). Cost is less than US$2 (excluding entry fee).

We took the tour including the river trip back - not worth it. You still take the bus coming back and join the river approx half way between My Son and Hoi An, stopping off at the Thanh Ha pottery village on the way. There's nothing wrong with the trip - just not a particularly attractive stretch of river.

2 more images

You can take a cheap half-day trip out to the My Son Temple ruins out in the jungle. It is worth the trip if you haven't seen many temples, however if you've seen Angkor Wat then these will pale in comparison. That said, it's a relaxing short trip if you want to get out of Hoi An. You can book these trips for cheap (under $5 USD) virtually everywhere - hotels, restaurants and tour booking agencies will all be able to help.

At high tide (about 8 or 9pm) the streets closest to the Thu Bon River flood. This is a great time to come out for a bit of people watching, as small children play in the puddles while their families catch up and chat. The river looks great in the moonlight. We had a wonderful experience coming downstairs from the Banana Leaf Restaurant and being met by a number of curious children. One little boy asked where we were from, and when we said Australian, we were greeted with a chorus of boisterous "G'day Mate!"s! It's a friendly time to have a walk around.

Vietnamese food is both delicious and healthy. I would recommend to anyone that finds it even slightly yummy to look into a cooking class. We went along to Miss Vy's School of Cooking, run through the Cargo Club Restaurant on 107 Nguyen Thai Hoc St. It went for about three hours in the evening and was enjoyed by everyone, even the 70 year old man dragged along by his wife!

The class starts with everyone being served a beer, and then Miss Vy gives brief lecture on the Vietnamese diet. It's interesting to learn how all the different herbs are used both for flavour and health. You get the opportunity to taste and smell the herbs and then it's down to business.

We learnt how to chop vegies properly and then the secret to making a spring roll that doesn't fall apart! We finished up with making a delicious prawn and mango salad. Of course, we got to eat everything and it was delicious!

Everyone got a little cookbook including the recipes we covered and a few more. I'd also recommend having dinner at the Cargo Club while you're there.