Hoi An

Hoi An is a beautiful little city on the north-east coast of Vietnam. It is one of the few places that was not bombed in Vietnam's many wars, so many of the buildings here date back to the late 19th century and are a rare example of the old Chinese, Japanese, and French style architecture. The city has also held on to many cultural traditions, including lining the city streets with bright, colorful lanterns on the night of every full moon.

Lanterns on display

A popular activity for tourists in Hoi An is getting clothes custom tailored for a relatively cheap price. Hundreds of tailor shops line the streets and the competition drives down the prices. A good-quality men's suit can be made overnight for $50-70. Leslie and I were tempted to get some clothes made, but we know so little about cloth and stitching quality, and we don't really need anything, so after much debating we ended up opting out. But I still had fun walking by the shops and looking at the motley of silk dresses that were on display.

Birthday Desserts!

We actually spent most of our time in Hoi An at the beach. It is so hot during the day that we couldn't really get ourselves to do much else. There are two beaches about 2 miles away from the city, Cao Dai and An Bahn. They are equally beautiful and relaxing. And the ocean is as warm as bath water! Leslie and I spent over 2 hours each day soaking in the salty water, until our fingers and toes wrinkled up like prunes.

Another highlight of Hoi An was Coral Club's bakery. It made some of the most delicious desserts Leslie has ever tasted! They reminded me a lot of the fancy cakes and torts one can get in Germany. We ended up stopping by the bakery multiple times, and tried chocolate mousse cake, mango cheesecake, passion fruit mousse and chocolate cake, and black forest cake. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Store front displays of dresses

Overall, Hoi An was a nice, relaxing break from the jam-packed schedule we have made for ourselves in Vietnam.

Sporting our fresh new haircuts!