Day 5/6 of North Vietnam Trip, Hoi An on January 12/13, 2018

After touring through Thien Mu Pagoda and two tombs of Nguyễn Dynasty emperors, we rode back to downtown Hue. There was just enough time for a quick lunch before hopping onto the 1pm bus to Hoi An that we booked through our hotel earlier.

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The 120km journey from Hue to Hoi An should take 2.5 hours by Google Maps. Plus reasonable breaks, I was expecting to reach Hoi An just before sunset, a time of day that yields the best looking photos in a town famous for its lanterns at night.
However, although the hotel ladies told us it's a "direct" bus, it's anything but. We were wading through rush hour traffic in downtown Da Nang for reasons I don't know why (most ways of getting to Hoi An from Hue would involve connection in Da Nang, the traffic of which we aimed to avoid with a "direct" bus). And unfortunately our driver was stopped and questioned by police in downtown Da Nang for even more puzzling reasons to me.

After we arrived in Hoi An, it was all dark. The lanterns were on, but I no longer had fading natural light of dusk under sunset glow that I preferred.

Back to this ancient town, which had long been a major trading port for merchants from various parts of the world, China and Japan in particular. In early 19th Century Emperor Gia Long gave the French trading rights in the nearby city of Da Nang, thus leading to the decline of trading activities in Hoi An. Thus this little town remained mostly untouched with its unique architecture and craft.
And lanterns, which gracefully decorate its skyline and waterways making it arguably the most instagramable town of Vietnam. How I wished there weren't delays on my way here.

South of Thu Bon River is the Night Market district of Hoi An, where food stands and lantern shops lined the streets.

But perhaps the most surprising aspect to me was that, even at night with all the touristy lanterns lit up, Hoi An wasn't a completely tourist town. By Thu Bon River and under all colorful lantern lights, crowds were cheering rock bands playing Vietnamese pop music, while 50 meters away nannies were dancing in circles, even among periods of rain. Even with huge influx of tourists, this town stayed what it's supposed to be.

Fast forward to the morning of Jan 13, we decided to take a stroll in the town of Hoi An before hopping on a bus back to Da Nang. And it was a huge contrast from last night when the streets were thronging with photo-taking tourists, the town felt inconspicuously tranquil, apart from occasional motorcycles in what was pedestrian-only streets last night.

Quiet but open for business, Pháp Bảo Temple was just like many other sites in the town of Hoi An.

Only in the day, in the absence of enticing lantern lights would I appreciate how uniform buildings here were painted in Vietnam yellow, and how nice it looked.

The town of Hoi An is also famous for various Kongsi's, which were assembly halls built by overseas Chinese from a particular region as social hubs or political entities.

After that we passed Hoi An Market, which was a food market for locals, where floors were literally flooded with sewage. I have long found food markets like this disgusting, so this sort of indicated the end of touristy Hoi An, and we decided to make our way back to hotel.

Hoi An and Da Nang were connected with a public bus that's said to run at 30-minute interval. (Bus No.1 on www.danangbus.vn/roadmap.html) The bus passed portions of bumpy and dusty roads that's obviously under renovation, but apart from that, we arrived in Da Nang without a hassle. End of this post about Hoi An.
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