Hoi An Things to Do

Probably the most important sights for those of you who are interested in Hoi An's architecture. Houses declared as UNESCO world heritage sites are found all over the old town. Among them are nine types:

*houses and shops
*wells
*family chapels
*pagodas
*Vietnamese and Chinese temples
*bridges
*communal buildings
*assembly halls of Chinese congregations
*tombs

While walking through the streets (especially Duong Tran Phu) of Hoi An will give you a good overview about the structures of the buildings, you might want to learn more by entering them. For that, you will have to purchase a tour pass for $5 that gives you access to some (not all!) of the buildings. It is moreover useful to have your guidebook handy so that you can read all about what you see. For a quick overview, however, seeing the buildings from the outside is enough. As many of them nowadays house souvenir shops, you can visit them for free.

Whether you want it or not, you'll sooner or later end up at Hoi An's riverside promenade anyway. The street is called Bach Dang, and in my opinion is one of the best places to just stroll around. However, this can be quite exhausting because literally everybody will address you to a) come into their restaurant, b) take a one-hour boat ride or c) look into their shop. If you're brave enough to ignore all this, you'll have a good time. And why not walk around first, and then treat yourself to some delicacies in a restaurant at the riverside or enjoy the breeze and the view while being rowed on the river?
In case you just want to be left alone, try the following: Just turn left immediately before Cam Nam Bridge and go down some steps. To your left, there's a newly built, completely tourist- and vendor-free promenade that the locals like to use for a little walk or a game of soccer. Though you don't have all the charme of the other side, you still see several points of interest, e.g. how a typical Hoi An house and garden looks like.

Hoi An's market is typically Vietnamese: It's narrow, full of people, similarly smelling like fish and bananas and everything but hygienic... In one word: It's an experience! Starting at the elsewhere mentioned Banana Split Cafe which sits conveniently at one edge of the market, you'll come by several souvenir stalls first. Vendors, mostly women, will address you immediately: "Siiiiir, look into my s'op please!" If you do that, don't wonder if you come out packed with souvenirs that you don't really need... Interestingly, everything from a food stall to an airconditioned store counts as a "s'op" in Hoi An. Well, back to the market. Having survived this tour de force, you're entering the real market with its numerous fruit and meat vendors. Protected from sun and rain by a shabby roof which hardly lets any light in, dozens of women try selling everything from eggs to crabs, from dragonfruit to beef, from herbs to ducklings... It's great to be in the middle of all this hustle and bustle, and photo opportunities are manifold.

Albeit all the traders are used to tourists walking through the market, respect their wish not to be photographed if they don't want to. Or at least do it from further away when they don't recognize it.

You'll need 5-10 minutes to cross the market, depending on how much time you actually spend looking at the stalls. In case you're exhausted after that, a stop at one of the beautiful riverside restaurants might be a good idea. Their row starts where the market ends.

I dearly wanted to do a cooking school whilst in Hoi An but ran out of time.
But for the benefit of other travellers, I do want to tell you about Red Bridge. It seems to be the best of many cooking schools here.
They have various half & full day cooking tours. All include a visit to the markets to learn about all of the ingredients that will be used in the cooking lesson later. You then board the Red Bridge boat for a cruise along the Hoi An River to the cooking school's location. They have a swimming pool there that you are free to use after the cooking tour has finished and they provide towels & showers.
Prices in March'08 were US$18 for half day, US$30 for a full day, and they also run an evening class for US$10.

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It's great to visit the central market in Hoi An to see how the locals live and shop. There are lots of things to buy such as dry goods, fish, fruit, vegetables and household goods and you can get some great photos.

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We decided to watch a traditional music and dance performance one evening at one of the old houses in Hoi An. Cost was 50,000 dong and the show lasted for about an hour. Our show started at 9pm, but I'm sure there were other performance times earlier. There were live musicians playing traditional instruments while the dancers performed several different traditional dances for the audience.

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Take a bike ride to the beach at Hoi An to do some sunbathing. Bikes must be left in the covered parking area before the beach for a small fee. Police will stop you if you try to cycle beyond the boundary point.

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My husband and I hired bicycles for $2 a day and rode into the countryside surrounding Hoi An. We also saw a small pottery village at Thanh Ha where the potters wheel is powered by foot. We took some photos and the lady potter sold us some of the things she had made. This place has been making pottery items for 450 years.