Today, after breakfast by the river, we went to walk around the Old Town, which is full of winding lanes and Chinese-styled shophouses and has UNESCO World Heritage Site status to preserve the culture and heritage of the town.
We first of all walked to the local market to see everyday life in Hoi An - as we walked along the river to get there we must have been asked 10 times if wanted a trip on their boat!
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| Ladies preparing food on the street |
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| Birds for sale! |
There is all different types of architecture in the old town - we visited an old house that had been in the same family for generations, a number of temples and also an assembly hall which was built in 1640.
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| Phuc Kien Assembly Hall |
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| Quan Cong Temple |
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| One of the many temples |
We were flagging in the heat so stopped off at a tea house where the servers are either speech or hearing impaired so, to order, you fill out a little form and, to communicate with them, you point to little blocks with words on them - it was an unusual experience but it worked well. As it was so hot we went for some lime juice along with a selection of little cookies.
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| Stop off for drinks to cool down! |
We carried on looking around the town, and our final stop was the Japanese bridge.
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| Outside the Japanese bridge |
Our last stop in the old town was for lunch and we were looking for one place in particular - it is a little cafe which sells Banh Mi - a vietnamese baguette filled with a variety of ingredients including grilled pork, pate, pickled vegetables, spring onions and chilli amongst other things. This cafe was featured on a show called Anthony Bourdins no reservations where he tours around trying local food and when we saw the programme we decided we both wanted to try it! Now I am quite particular when it comes to sandwiches but this was the most delicious sandwich I have ever tasted! And it only cost 60p too!
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| Banh Mi - Hmmm so delish |
We were wilting in the heat - as I mentioned yesterday this place is HOT! The hotel staff were even saying how hot it was and they recommended we wear our hats and they were right, although we both had the worse hat hair you have ever seen! According to Accuweather it is 88F with a 'real feel' of 104F! In the afternoon we just chilled out - I had a dip in the jacuzzi as soon as I got in and sat in it for a while reading my book but I couldn't get Peter in to join me!
In the evening we walked back in to the old town for dinner and we chose a restaurant that serves the local specialities. We had their taster menu which was 4 courses of the town's specialities - Cao Lau (a noodle dish with pork and herbs), White Rose (steamed shrimp dumplings in the shape of a rose), Pork spring rolls and our favourite Crispy Wontons topped with pork and shrimp in a tomato sauce - what a feast!
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