Siiri
- Dec 26, 2022
- 3 min read

Tailors and great food at Hoi An, Vietnam

We made our way 30 minutes south from Da Nang city centre to Hoi An - a smaller town that has been an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. Especially Hoi An's old town is worth the walk. Beautiful alleyways and many, many tailors and clothes shops. It is very common to get something made in Hoi An - and I did as well. After careful consideration, me and two of my friends decided to get some clothes done in Miên’s, which was a tailor specialised in linen clothes.

During night the Hoi a riverside turns into an amazing sight of multiple lit up lights and boats taking tourists around. Restaurants look amazing and the Nguyen Huang street is transformed into a night market with many great types of street food, clothes and souvenirs. I definitely ate the best food of Vietnam in Hoi An. I fell in love with this street food dish I found only in Da Nang and Hoi A called Bánh Tráng Nuong, crispy rice paper tacos. Inside the rice paper Is vegetables, meat and usually an egg.

Hoi An was also the place where I went out with my friends. We went to Tiger Tiger quite close to our hostel, and enjoyed some drinks and dancing. It was fun, but I don't feel the most comfortable at places that are filled with drunken people, but I wanted to experience a night out once during my trip. After leaving the bar there were many scooters trying to get us to take a ride home.

We weren't living close to the beach at Hoi A but made our way there one evening. The sunset was amazing and everything was so blue. We stayed at the beach for dinner and headed back to the town later.

Our hostel at the town was amazing. It was new, owned by three people - one local and two former backpackers who had got together and opened up a great hostel in a fantastic location right next to the night market. The Imperfect Downtown Hoi An has a pool, delicious breakfast and clean rooms. The owners are amazing and even took us out to eat one night to a restaurant we wouldn't have known to go later.

I wanted to see a little bit more outside of Hoi An so I took a day trip to the Cham Islands. The islands are about 15 kilometres from the harbour and you have to fill out some papers to be allowed to the islands. No plastic is allowed - no plastic bottles or bags. Our day tour included a dinner at the beach and a tour on the island. The small village was beautiful.

The last thing we did was go snorkel. I had my underwater camera with me, but I forgot to take it out of the boat on the first swim. I saw a beautiful bright blue starfish, went to get my camera, but couldn't find the star fish anymore. After taking some pictures I also realised that there was no memory card in the camera, which meant that after 6 pictures or so, its memory was full. But I got a couple of fancy pictures and it was fun to test the camera out.

After the swim the rest of the trip is a bit of a blur to me. I started to develop a horrible migraine and before we had to get on the boat, I took this last picture of me sitting on the beach. I could still smile, as there was no pain and just the sight problems and a bit of dizziness. The way home was long, but I took a pill and tried to sleep leaning against the walls of the boat and the bus and surprisingly the migraine didn't get any worse.