Hoi An Things to Do

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Hoi An most famous landmark variously known as the Pagoda Bridge, the Faraway People's Bridge and popularly known as the Japanese Covered Bridge (Cau Nhat Ban). Its popular name reflects a long-standing belief that it was built by the Japanese although no documentary evidence exists to support this. It was built in the 16th century, perhaps even earlier. On its north side, there is a pagoda, Japanese in style, for the protection of sailors. Statues represent 2 dogs at the west end and 2 monkeys at the east; it is said that the bridge was begun in the year of the monkey and finished in the year of the dog. Scholars have pointed out that this would mean a 2 years period of construction, an inordinately long time for such a small bridge and maintain that the 2 animals represent points of the compass, WSW (monkey) and NW (dog). Father Benigne Vachet, a missionary who lived in Hoi An between 1673 and 1683, noted in his memoirs that the bridge was the haunt of beggars and fortune tellers hoping to benefit from the stream of people crossing over it.

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The bridge was built by the Japanese trading community in the early 17th Century to link them with the Chinese quarter on the other side of a small stream. (It has been rebuilt--it's not all original.)

There are guardians at both ends of the bridge—One side has a pair of dog gods; the other end has a pair of monkey gods. There's also a shrine in the center of the bridge.

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For those who can not sleep at five in the morning. At this time the fishermen bring the fish spoil of the night to a small pier at the end of the local market. Commotion, shouting, sights, and especially the smells - impressive. one can walk and take a lot of pictures.

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We recommend Hoi An Buffalo Travel if you are looking to arrange some activities.

We organised two trips. The first was a car and driver to take us to Da Nang and surrounding areas. We visited Marble Mountain - what a climb, it is certainly not for the faint hearted, but the views and temples make it worthwhile. After leaving Marble Mountain we went to the Cam Museum to look at Cam artifacts, it was interesting and doesn't take long to view. We followed this my a trip to a shopping centre (only about 12 stores) in comparison to western standards very minimal and not alot of selection. the next few hours were spent at China Beach lazying on a sunbed watching the world go by, without only one or two others around. It was lovely and peaceful.

our second trip was by far the best, Vu - the owner of Buffalo Travel arranged for a car to collect us from our hotel and drive us to the Pottery Village, after a guided tour and an attempt at making a pot be then boarded a charter boat for a trip down Hoi An River. Our captain was Yen, and he was fantastic and made the trip so enjoyable. We stopped off at the Carpentry Village and visited a couple of local families making wonderful timber pieces - one family was even making boomerangs for export to Australia!

We continued our journey down the river and past the Hoi An markets. We observed fishermen at work and finally met Vu at his family village to enjoy lunch with his family. This was brilliant, the hospitality was generous and warm and it was wonderful to be immersed in local culture. Vu's family were very welcoming and prepared a wonderful feast for us to enjoy.

We loved the whole day and it has to be one of the best memories we will take home of our trip to Hoi An. So if you are ever in Hoi An and looking for something to do, the please speak to Vu.

My Son is indeed very beautiful and a big thank you to all staff for making our stay here a wonderful one. We booked a trip to My Son and cooking class with Cinnamon Cruise. The cruise was very relaxing and the guide was very professional and knowkledgeable. The cooking class has been fabulous and it was very nice to visit a local market . The trip was spectacular for exceeded our expectation. We will definitely tell more people to take this.

My Son is indeed very beautiful and a big thank you to all staff for making our stay here a wonderful one. We booked a trip to My Son and cooking class with Cinnamon Cruise. The cruise was very relaxing and the guide was very professional and knowkledgeable. The cooking class has been fabulous and it was very nice to visit a local market . The trip was spectacular for exceeded our expectation. We will definitely tell more people to take this.

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Cam Kim Island is located about 2km southwest of Hoi An and can be visited by taking a ferry from the pier just to the east of the market along Bach Dang. Departures are frequent - a lot of people live on the island and this is their only way to and from Hoi An town. I came here as part of a day tour I did which involved taking in the temples at My Son in the morning and visiting the island in the afternoon. Once you get off the pier on Cam Kim Island, a few hundred metres along the pier road, you'll start to see wood-carving shops, with artisans at work and merchandise on display. You'll also see boatbuilding using traditional methods.

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My Son (pronounced Mee Sun) is a Hindu temple complex, located in the village of Duy Phú, 69km southwest of Da Nang. It comprises many Champa temples, in a valley roughly two kilometres wide, surrounded by two mountain ranges. It was the site of religious ceremony of kings of the Champa dynasty, and was also a burial place of Champa royals and national heroes between the 4th and 14th centuries. The temple complex is one of the foremost temple complexes of Hinduism in South East Asia and is the foremost heritage site of this nature in Vietnam. As of 1999, My Son has been selected by UNESCO as a world heritage listed site as a foremost evidence of Asian civilisation which is now extinct.

Altogether there are around 70 temples and tombs here which were studied, in 1899, by Henri Parmentier. He classified them into 14 groups, including 10 principal groups each consisting of multiple temples. For purposes of identification, he assigned a letter to each of these principal groups: A, A', B, C, D, E, F, G, H, K. Within each group, he assigned numbers to the edifices comprising it. Thus "My Son E1" refers to the edifice at My Son belonging to group "E" that has been assigned the number "1." All of the temples and tombs are pretty small and in various states of repair and condition due to neglect and after the Americans carpet-bombed the region in August 1969. Although they're not as impressive as the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, they're still well worthy of a visit from Hoi An. I came here as part of a day tour from Hoi An which also included taking a boat back to Hoi An, lunch and a visit to Cam Kim Island which cost 110,000 VND with Sinh Cafe. More info and photos can be found on my My Son page below:

Admission: 60,000 VND