Hoi An

• Tweet

• Tweet

We loved Hoi An. It’s a special place – old, crumbling, charming.It’s full of colonial and Chinese buildings lining the tiny streets, set against the pretty river that flows through the small town.

Every building is a delight. We would recommend steering clear of the expensive cyclos and hiring a push bike to amble leisurely around the beautiful streets. A ride to the nearby beach was well worth it.

A Perfect Fit

Hoi An is busy with markets, temples, art galleries – and clothes tailors. Literally hundreds of them, dominating the town. Hoi An is famous for its tailoring, where you can pick up perfect-fitting clothes at crazy prices. We bought a suit, 3 shirts, 2 winter coats and a pair of leather boots. All of that came to less than $250 and some months later, we can report the clothes haven’t fallen apart yet, they’re decent quality. Check out the video to see the clothes tailoring in action!

Cheapest Beer Yet! 🙂

For beer drinkers & foodies Hoi An is noteworthy also – most restaurants will serve you a ‘Fresh Beer’ – a glass of home-brew (or La Rue, a mid-strength but decent beer). It costs about 10p. After a hard day being measured up for all your clothes (or as long as you can resist the temptation, we made it to 3pm most days…) it’s a great slurp. You can also sample some of the traditional dishes, such as White Rose – shrimp encased in rice paper – as well as the local spring rolls.

If you like clothes shopping and want to transform your wardrobe, it’s worth buying a plane ticket to Vietnam and getting yourself to Hoi An – you won’t regret it.

Click an image to launch larger pics and photo captions

• Safari – Lake Manze Camp, Selous Photo Round-Up
• Zanzibar – Sunshine of Matemwe & Slave history of Stone Town
• Safari at Lake Manze Camp, Selous
• Where to spend 10 days in Malaysia?
• Peking Duck
• The Terracotta Warriors – Xian, China