My friends
who have made repeat visits to Hoi An, a
designated UNESCO World Heritage site in Vietnam, cannot stop talking about how
much I will enjoy this place.
 |
| Traditional Vietnamese lanterns inside an ancient family home in Hoi An |
They gave me helpful tips and
food recommendations, complete with names and addresses to their favourite
restaurants and places of interest, which I carefully kept for reference. So when our middle sister, Pearly planned a
trip back from the UK, eldest sister, we decided to have a sisters’ trip to an Asian
destination. And I did not hesitate to suggest
Hoi An.
This
destination is high on my must-visit list of destinations because it is a
heritage town that we can explore and enjoy the sites on foot. With this in mind, we selected a suitable
homestay within walking distance of the ancient town, made flight and
accommodation bookings and quickly shared the info with Pearly so that she
could apply for her visa into Vietnam.
While my
sisters and I are good at map-reading, navigating and planning itineraries on our
trips together, those were self-drive adventures in the UK, New Zealand and Australia. For Hoi An, we agreed to start with a guided
tour for a feel of the distance between the ancient town and our homestay, The
Sun, so that we can explore further on our own in the following days there.
Guided
Tour
 |
| My sisters, Ruby, Pearly and I climbing up the numerous steps on Marble Mountain |
Brochures
picked up from the airport and our homestay reception gives us an idea of
popular tours and it didn’t take long for us to decide on a half-day tour to the
Marble Mountains followed by a visit to the ancient town, a river cruise and dinner.
The helpful receptionist made the reservations
for an English-speaking guide on our behalf and tells us to be ready at the
appointed time. With feet shod in
walking shoes, we are waiting at the reception when a young man arrives
promptly and introduced himself as our tour guide, Mr Turtle.
 |
| The ancient town of Hoi An is designated only for walking and cycling |
We are
amused but I guess the Vietnamese version of his name must mean something
auspicious. Too soon we discover that
it’s certainly a catchy name for this keen and energetic guide who kept us
going in our climb up the 158 steps and down 123 steps on the 106-meter high Marble
Mountain. Roughly hewn steps carved out of
rocky limestone and marble without any hand rails can be a challenging climb
but Turtle patiently guided us along. And
each time he wants to give us a brief on a particular cave, pagoda or
sculpture, he will summon us together by calling, “Team Turtle!” and we will
leave the touristy throng to listen to him.
 |
| The ancient Japanese Bridge is a must-visit site! |
Instead
of giving us the usual spiel with information on the sites, Turtle prefers to ask
questions for us to participate interactively with him. Of course their ancient folklore may be
ambiguous but whenever I reply accurately to his quizzing, he will give me a
“high five” slap on my raised palm and commend me as “a very good student!”
To enter
Hoi An ancient town which is designated for only walking and cycling, Turtle
bought our entrance tickets that also entitles us to five ticketed heritage
sites like ancient houses and museums here.
I cannot help admiring the architecture of the shops and houses that
date back to the 16th and 17th centuries which has
distinctly Chinese, Japanese, Dutch and Indian influences, established by
traders who settled in this trading post.
 |
| Freshly baked Banh Mi or French loaves ready to be filled with savoury meats |
The Chinese communal houses and
assembly halls for the various clans established in their adopted country,
strikes a familiar chord because the early Chinese immigrants did the same when
they settled in then Malaya. Guards
posted at the entrances of the covered
Japanese Bridge in the former Japanese quarter,
help
to control tourists at this must-visit
site in Hoi An.
By late afternoon, the smell of freshly
fried fritters from hawker stalls is so tempting that we asked Turtle to buy us
some from his favourite stall. He
obliged and we happily munched them during the relaxing 30-minute cruise on the
Thu Bon River. We pass the market en
route to our dinner destination and we have Turtle’s help to bargain and buy a
comb of bananas. A crowd is already queuing
for their orders for Banh Mi or French
loaves and savouring a variety of delicious meat-filled baguettes divided among
my sisters, is a fitting end to an eventful and exciting tour with Turtle.
Own
Walkabouts
 |
| Pearly found these freshly fried snacks simply irresistible! |
A sketch
map that the homestay created helps to give us an idea of our location in relation
to the ancient town and by now, we are familiar with landmarks in each
direction, particularly the restaurants that we visited more than once.
As we walk along, we stop at shops to check
out the souvenirs for an idea of the prices because the merchandise appears to
be quite similar everywhere. Most of the
traders are tourist oriented and friendly and I enjoy making my choices but I
just refuse to buy anything from shops where they are too pushy.
 |
| Spotted this mobile vendor for brushes, brooms and dusters! |
The heat
increases quite rapidly in the day and to avoid the hottest hours, our strategy
is to linger over lunch and coffee and emerge a little later when the heat is
not so scorching. Following the given
name and address, we find the Morning
Glory, a charming restaurant in the ancient town named after water convolvulus
or kangkong vegetables that serves a
menu of quality street food.
Besides a
platter of stir-fried morning glory, we also savoured Banh Xeo or crispy
pancake, Hoi An Pho or beef noodles and
Goi Tai Heo, a pig ear and cabbage
salad.
The
building directly opposite houses, Reaching
Out, a gift shop and workshop run by artisans with disabilities that
produces a range of exquisite handicrafts.
It has an interesting concept where abled people create products like
ceramics for the artisans in Reaching Out to add white brass borders and
decorations to enhance the finishing of such vessels.
 |
| Women selling ready-to-eat, peeled and shredded fresh greens in the market |
Another
noteworthy handicraft place is Sova Art Hand Embroidery where skilled workers
hand-embroidery amazingly realistic pictures from different shades of
threads. We pause to watch the sewing
girls meticulously matching the threads to create beautiful works of art in
embroidery. The gallery of framed,
painstakingly created artworks, is certainly something to be admired!
The
morning sights and sounds of Central Market, Hoi An’s wet market, is an
eye-opener as we mingle with the locals to see how traders still sell live
poultry by whole birds and eggs are distributed, piled high inside a huge
basket and pushed on a roughly made hand pallet. While most stalls look like those in our
farmer’s market, many traders squat by the road with their goods displayed on
ground sheets. As the Vietnamese diet includes lots
of salads, it’s interesting to see women selling
ready-to-eat, peeled and shredded fresh greens.
Surprising
Perks
Our
flight from Kuala Lumpur to Danang in Vietnam was rather full and when we
disembarked, we saw a group of Indonesian youths wearing uniform dark green
T-shirts. While waiting in the queue at
Immigration, I read the small print on their T-shirts that hinted they are members
of a school music group.
 |
| We saw the SMK IJ Convent choir performing in Hoi An! |
On our
scenic drive into Hoi An, I see large banners and signboards announcing the dates
for the 4th Vietnam International Choir Competition and told my
sisters that my guess is the youths must be here to participate in this
event. Then I wondered if the choir from our alma mater, the Johor Baru HIJ Convent, could also be participating in this
competition held in Hoi An!
It was
almost 24 hours later when I received a reply from the teacher who confirmed
that the school choir was indeed in Hoi An for the competition and scheduled to
perform after 2pm on Thursday! It’s so
uncanny that I should be in the same town in Vietnam with our JB Convent choir!
 |
| Guests arriving at the bridegroom's home in a village about an hour and a half's drive away from Hoi An |
Now one
of the perks of a homestay experience is the privilege to join in the homestay
family’s activities. On arrival, we were
served tea in the lobby while waiting for our room to be ready and we chatted
with To Phuong, the receptionist who
is the family’s daughter. Her mother, Hoi, who is also the housekeeper, joined
us later and as we chatted, we discovered that To Phuong was getting married on
Thursday.
My sisters and I were stunned
when Hoi spontaneously invited us to the wedding and insisted that we join them
as part of the bride’s family in the bridal party who will go to the groom’s hometown
for the wedding banquet!
I will
share our special experience in a Vietnamese wedding in a separate story. That day, my sisters and I were glad that the
bridal party was ferried back to Hoi An before 2pm and the driver dropped us
off at the resort hotel where the choir competition was being held. And we arrived just on time for the JB Convent choir’s performance. Who would
have thought that we should have the privilege to witness the choir’s
performance in Hoi An where we were on holiday?
We couldn’t have planned it better!
Fast
Facts
Visit
website, www.simplyvietnamtravel.com for travel packages with Mr Turtle of
Simply Vietnam Travel. Our triple-share
room with The Sun Homestay includes daily set breakfasts for three. Visit website: www.sunhomestay.com
A version of this was published in The New Straits Times, Life & Times on 30 July 2015
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