Hoi An
There’s no getting away from the fact that Hoi An is a touristy place. But it feels somehow more authentic than other touristy places. It’s hard to say exactly why, but I think one big help is that all of the little shops set up in the beautiful UNESCO world heritage town centre (tiny alleys between buildings all painted yellow) actually sell genuinely nice things. Hoi An is famous for its tailor shops, who will tailor your clothes overnight for a remarkably cheap price (I had 2 shirts made for less than £30), and the shop fronts are filled with colourful suits, dressed and shirts. Other shops sell Vietnamese coffee or paintings, and even those selling souvenirs seem to sell things that are work looking at. I really enjoyed just wandering and getting lost in a beauty of the town and the riverfront, stopping for coffee or food, or once a massage to treat myself. At night, the riverfront turns in to a serene spectacle as boats take colourful lanterns out to be placed on the water as wishes for the future.
The food scene is also excellent, with several specialities that originate in Hot An and are rarely found elsewhere. Cao Lau (thick noodles with Chinese style pork, greens, and a tiny bit of broth in the bottom) and banh xeo (crispy rice flour pancake, filled with pork and prawns, wrapped with greens in rice paper) were consistently delicious, and the many banh mi I ate were all among the best so far. I paid for a cooking class one afternoon, and learned to make banh xeo as well as pork spring rolls, chicken and banana leaf salad and claypot fish, before being taken out and spun around on the water in a traditional fisherman’s basket.
I also have to mention the hostel I stayed in - SnapStay. It’s really up there with the best I’ve stayed in. Clean with excellent facilities, but more importantly with a very naturally social energy, which just makes everyone want to do things together. I can’t think of a hostel where I’ve slept less - but only because the company was so good I couldn’t bare to go to bed. There were some difficult goodbyes to Hoi An, SnapStay and all the new friends I’d made. Happy memories.