Lantern shop in the town center

Hoi An is one of the loveliest, charming places you can imagine. This small town with its 100 000 inhabitants is situated along the coastline in the middle of Vietnam. The name Hoi An means peaceful gathering. Even if there are lots of tourists visiting Hoi An from all over the world it still manages somehow to remain charming and relaxed. The small, narrow walking streets, the river and riverboats, the cyclos (bicycle tuk-tuk), the lanterns and the smiling and lovely people all make you feel relaxed and peaceful. Our two week’s stay consisted of swimming, easy riding (bicycles), late breakfasts by the river, exploring the city center and its surrounding areas, visiting different restaurants eating good food, getting tailored clothing, reading books, good conversations, getting to know some locals,  and visiting My Son Sanctuary, Da Nang and Hué by motorbikes. We absolutely adored this wonderful place on earth – a place we would definitely visit again… On our trip in Hoi An we were lucky enough to run into friendly Catherine, Lucy and Paul (from Ireland) who we met earlier in Halong Bay and Régine and Philippe (from France). Thanks for some lovely time spent together! Hope to see you again soon!

Evening outside our hotel – Ylang Garden…

In town – the river flowed over its banks in rainy season

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Hanoi (old town center) by night

Hanoi seemed like a very energetic city with friendly and hardworking people. They all seemed to know how to be a salesman but , in our opinion, few knew how to follow the traffic rules!!! We had to be very careful walking in the streets (as the pavements were chock full of parked motorbikes we were nearly unable to use them for walking). The motorbikes and electrical bikes were all over the streets – on the left side, on the right side, in the middle of, in addition to being on the inside of us and on the outside of us… 🙂 Still we managed somehow to maneuver us safely across the old town which was teeming with life. We all loved our stay in Hanoi from day one and had some really nice eating experiences there as Hanoi people seem to be very good at cocking… Yummy! We also did some sightseeing in the old town of Hanoi which was interesting. Lastly we had a marvellous trip to Halong Bay at the northeast coast of Vietnam meeting some very friendly and loving people from Ireland, Germany, Singapore, the Philippines and Canada that we hope to stay in touch with for a long time. The natural gem Halong Bay with its thousands of isles, limestone pillars, pearl farms, emerald water and the Dau Go Cave gave us the goosebumps because of its stunning beauty. Other great things we experienced on this trip was kayak paddling during sunset, to practice Tai Chi during sunrise and how to make Vietnamese spring rolls (superyummy :-)) before we ate them. Luna Noor had her best experience ever on this “worldwide family tour” getting to know Susan from Canada who was very patient talking English with her for hours… She got over her fear of talking English after those precious hours. Thank you sooo much, Susan! I think you have made a friend for life in Luna Noor… 🙂

Dau Go Cave in Halong Bay

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