Day 6 - Hoian

View of the courtyard and pool at the
Ancient House Resort

Breakfast Buffet

The day started with breakfast buffet at the Ancient House Resort which is similar to a resort, with gardens, pool and accommodation units distributed within the complex. It was our first experience of a South-East Asian style buffet with its range of local fruits, cooked dishes and custom-cooked eggs.

In the courtyard of a Buddhist Temple

Mixture of architectural styles within
a row of buildings

 We had a half-day walking tour of the old town where we saw older style buildings than we'd seen in Hanoi with a mixture of Chinese and European influenced architectural styles, and all low rise within the town centre.

Being a historic city, Hoian has become a tourist trap which has made the local shopkeepers and hawkers are very persistent as they have become dependent on the tourist trade.

A paper dragon sculpture, one
of about 5 floating on the river
depicting animals and
mythological creatures

School student volunteers cleaning up the
city centre

We were struck by a group of school children cleaning the streets. When we spoke to them, they tols us that that it was a clean-up day, done each second Saturday by school student volunteers.

The school had been inspired by the Clean Up Australia campaign, and taken up by Hoian as a way to keep the city clean.

The tour also included a number of shopping stops, of which I’m now becoming quite tired annoyed - sick of the pressure to buy stuff. It was a pleasant relief from that aspect of the city to have a very nice relaxing lunch back at the hotel.

The Pagoda Bridge over the Hoi An River

After lunch, Frances arranged to have some clothes made at one of the many tailoring shops, and we spent the remainder of the afternoon hanging around the pool.

A couple of the very pleasant staff at the
Resort

That evening the hotel had a 'free' BBQ (it was free to attend, but was a little expensive) so we just had the snacks and desert – it's hard not to eat too much as the food is all so good.

The resort served modern Vietnamese food, which still had its origins in traditional cooking styles, but incorporates other Asian and western influences. The outcome was always almost visually and orally stunning. This is contrasted with Vietnamese food in Sydney which has predominantly retained the traditional dishes, mainly from southern Vietnam.