Vietnam; Part 5: Hoi An - The Home of Lanterns & Slow Living
- curvychristina
- May 3, 2014
- 8 min read
Historic Hoi An - meaning "peaceful meeting place" - is Vietnam’s most atmospheric and delightful town. Once a major port, it boasts a wonderful riverside setting where traffic almost entirely absent. If you are visiting Vietnam make sure you spend a few evenings in the old town, when it is magically lit up with thousands of lanterns and you can wander about listening to live music or partake in some traditional street games . It is also a great place to get quick tailor-made clothing and oriental silk shirts. Despite being a popular tourist spot with many shops aimed at making you spend your money, the concept of Homestay Villa's (where guests stay in accomodation run by Vietnamese locals, which is also part of the family home) and the vibrant food markets make it a place where you can really connect with the essence of what makes Vietnam tick, and experience a slower pace of life than in the main cities.
History
The city possessed the largest harbour in Southeast Asia in the 1st century and was known as Champa City. Between the seventh and 10th centuries, the Champa people controlled the strategic spice trade and with this came tremendous wealth. It continued to be an important Vietnamese trading centre in the 16th and 17th centuries, where Chinese from various provinces as well as Japanese, Dutch and Indians settled. During this period the town was called Hai Pho or "Seaside Town" in Vietnamese. In the 18th century, Hội An was considered by Chinese and Japanese merchants to be the best destination for trading in all of Southeast Asia, even Asia. Japanese believed the heart of all of Asia (the dragon) lay beneath the earth of Hội An. In the 19th century its fortunes waned as new political regimes took over. In the 1990s, tourism boomed and transformed the local economy. Now it is known for being an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port and Its buildings reflect the various influences, that have combined to produce this unique heritage site. Hoi An is once again a cosmopolitan melting pot, one of the nation’s most wealthy towns, a culinary mecca and one of Vietnam’s most important tourism centres.
This revival of fortunes has preserved the face of the Old Town and its incredible legacy of tottering Japanese merchant houses, Chinese temples and ancient tea warehouses. Tourism has meant that Lounge bars, boutique hotels, travel agents and a glut of tailor shops are very much part of the scene here now. And yet, down by the market and over on Cam Nam Island you’ll find that tradional life has changed very little.
Shopping for Handmade Clothes & Shoes
Almost every building in the downtown area of Hoi An that isn't a restaurant is a shop selling one of the following: clothes, shoes, souvenirs, bags, or jewellery. These places are pretty much entirely geared to sell to tourists, not Vietnamese. Prices are often inflated compared to the rest of Vietnam because of this, and are quoted in dollars (usually a bad sign), so haggling is advisable. Even so, the sheer range of available styles and the ability to get any clothes custom made for you can make it worthwhile.
Custom suits, shirts and dresses can be made by any shop which displays those items at the front and has large bolts of cloth on shelves on the wall. You can choose the colour and type for every material used, and can dictate every part of the style. Measurements are taken and the specifications are either sent out for fabrication at a factory or workshop outside the city or, more rarely, made in-house. The clothing is usually complete by the next day, though for best results there is then a second (or even third) fitting, when they adjust the suit to more accurately suit your body and tastes. Most shops will keep tailoring it until you are satisfied.
It should be noted, however, that the quality of tailoring and materials, especially for business suits, is NOT comparable to what one can expect from a bespoke tailor in Savile Row, or even the better tailors in Singapore or Hong Kong.
Hoi An has a long tradition of copying and then rapidly making up new garments for travellers. You can bring in a picture of designer clothes that you want copied to any tailor shop and they will try to imitate it. You can often choose the type of fabric and the colour for the copy. You can bargain for a better price, especially if you are getting multiple copies.
Custom clothes will cost more than ready-made in Vietnam, but should not cost anywhere near as much as in North America/Europe/Australia. You should aim for a fair price, with which both you and the shop owner are happy. If you are not happy with the price, you can go to one of the multitude of other stores in the city; if they are not happy, or feel you are being unfair in your negotiations, there is a chance they will not try as hard to make sure you are satisfied with the result.
All the shoe shops in Hoi An will make custom shoes for you. The greatest concentration of shoe stores is along Hoang Dieu street, where there are at least eight (small) stores in a row. You can ask them to make you a style that you see there, or one in a catalogue or picture. You can choose the material, colour and type of base. While some shops may work from conventional sizing, most will simply trace an outline of your foot and take some measurements. As with the custom clothes, the fabrication is usually done a little outside of town, or at least in an area with lower rent costs.
A worrying trend that I noted here, as in other parts of Vietnam, is the use of children to sell tourists trinkets, postcards and newspapers. Don’t be fooled into thinking that the kids actually see the money themselves. One can only hope that if tourists stop buying from the children, their controllers will stop using them – perhaps freeing them to pursue an education instead.
Food & Eating out
Food in Hoi An is, even by high Vietnamese standards, cheap and tasty. In addition to the usual suspects, there are three dishes that Hoi An is particularly famous for:
Cao lầu, a dish of rice noodles which are not quite as slippery as pho and a bit closer in texture to pasta. The secret is the water used to make it, and authentic cao lau uses only water from a special well in the city. The noodles are topped with slices of roast pork, dough fritters, and this being Vietnam, lots of fresh herbs and veggies.
White rose (banh bao vac), a type of shrimp dumpling made from translucent white dough bunched up to look like a rose.
Wonton dumplings ("Hoanh Thanh"), essentially the same as the Chinese kind, served up in soup or deep-fried.
The Central Market is a large building whose interior serves primarily as a place for food vendors. The venors offer food all day starting in the morning. Seating on stools, eating a bowl of Cao Lau with wooden chopsticks, and sipping the ice cold "White Coffee with vinamilk" is an adventure. However, be warned that it is standard procedure for all food vendors to approach you immediately on entrance and try aggressively to have you sit at their stall.
Visit the fresh food produce part of the Market as well and make sure you go early in the day to see and experience everything on offer here - the produce is all mainly home grown by small stallholders & their families.
In Hoi An most Vendors and food stalls shut down at around 22:30. After this time most bars, and restaurants are closing too, with only late night bars open until the early hours.
Homestay Accomodation
Much of the visitor accomodation in Hoi An is what's known as "Homestay". There are also plenty of bigger hotels to choose from too, but booking a "Homestay" place can be a much more intimate experience and will give you a deeper insight into Vietnamese life. Many of the rooms available are part of a tradional family home where guests can stay in rooms or separate acommodation on a small family run homestead. They are usually very good value for money and offer a much more unique way to experience the real magic of Hoi An. The modern hotels outside the Old Town may be plush, and expensive but they can also be very sterile and impersonal compared to a tradional Homestay Villa. At a Homestay Villa you will feel welcomed as "Guest" and live alongside the family in your own separate room or villa.
We stayed at the Windbell Homestay Villa for a few nights and found it really peaceful and relaxing. It was a 10 minute walk from here to the Old Town, and during the day it was great to just relax around the pool or read a book when it was too hot and humid to go out!
I began to really feel the value of experiencing theIr style of "slow living" in the quiet haven of their tranquil gardens, which were full of ripe green vegetables and scented flowers . The food in the restaurant was all prepared by various members of the family, and although it was simple it was very tasty and healthy. Many dishes contained fresh ingredients they had grown themselves or picked that day. During the day the two small children would play in the gardens whilst their grandmother did the washing, and their grandfather tended the plants and harvested the fruits and veg. In the evening, once the guests had eaten, the mother of the family would cook and serve their dinner and they would have their meal in the Dinning Room, whilst we sat on the Verandah of our room or took an early evening dip in the pool after a visit to the old town. The pool was aslo great for early morning workouts and cooling off in the evening. The place was so peaceful and relaxing, I felt I had been totally rejuvenated in my own personal Zen Garden.
The Windbell Homestay has 2 types of accomodation. The Plum Room looks out onto the pool and was a standard double room for 2 and the Areca Room where we stayed is very similar (See Video below). There are also 2 self catering Villa's with their own Kitchens. 1 is a 2 Bedroom Villa with 2 Sitting rooms which is perfect for families with children & 1 has One Bedroom and a sitting room.
As well as a restaurant and swiming pool on site, the Homestay Villa can arrange Bike Hire, Tours and airport transfers.
WATCH A SHORT VIDEO OF OUR ROOM IN THE WINDBELL HOMESTAY VILLA
HANDY HINTS AND TIPS
WARNING: Ticket vendors in Hoi An participate in a scam on tourists. Admission to the cultural attractions is by ticket and the ticket booths are on the side of the road as you enter Old Town. If you want to see the attractions, you buy the tickets here. However, YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY A TICKET TO ENTER OLD TOWN, only to enter the museums, etc. Ticket vendors, many who speak very good English, will tell you that you have to buy a ticket just to go to the shops or restaurants in the Old Town area -- this is absolutely false.
WATCH OUR EXCLUSIVE VIDEO OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF HOI AN
IN THE NEXT PART OF OUR VIETNAM TOUR WE TRAVEL TO THE COASTAL CITY OF DA NANG AND EXPERIENCE THE LUXURY OF THE INTERCONTINENTAL RESORT AND EAT AMAZING FOOD AT THE RESTAURANT SET UP BY WORLD FAMOUS CHEF MICHEL ROUX.....
