The Ancient Town of Hoi An, Vietnam, has a lot to offer to Visitors

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hoi An has a lot to offer to visitors and we enjoyed or time in this beautiful town. There are a lot to do and see in the Hoi An Ancient Town. The following are a few interesting things we have learned about Hoi An:

The city is a physical testament to the cross-cultural exchange that occurred there. Its architecture and street plan reflect a unique blend of indigenous and foreign cultures (principally Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and European) that created this unique settlement for example the Japanese bridges, Chinese assembly halls,

Vietnamese tube houses, and French colonial shophouses all coexisting within a few blocks.

We noticed the iconic mustard-yellow walls seen throughout Hoi An. Not a random choice, the color is traditionally associated with French colonial architecture and royalty in Vietnam.

Now it has become a popular aesthetic colour for tourism. There were so much to discover in the Old Town!

There seemed to be a lot of tailor shops around town; I learned that Hoi An is a "Tailor-Made" Capital. It is world-famous for its hundreds of tailor shops.

One can walk in a tailor shop, choose a design and fabric, and have a custom-made suit or dress ready for him/her in as little as 24 hours at incredibly reasonable prices. I kicked myself for not getting one done for myself!

Hoi An is a great town for strolling around as it is a pedestrian and cyclist's Paradise since the central Ancient Town is largely car-free. We explored the narrow, charming streets on foot while many people did it riding on bicycles, or by cyclos, a bicycle rickshaw.

The Full Moon Lantern Festival - Once a month, on the night of the full moon, the city turns off its electric lights and lets the ancient town be illuminated solely by colorful silk lanterns, candlelight, and floating flowers on the river.

This is a celebration of Hoi An's heritage and a magical experience for visitors. But too bad, we were not there at the right time.

Strolling around in the Hoi An Old City was a like treating our eyes to a feast! I especially loved the area after we crossed the Japanese Bridge; there seemed to be endless array of street vendors and shops selling all kinds of arts and crafts items. We also discovered that in some shops, they would actually exchanged money with you, how about that!

The shops that caught our eyes were the arts stores.

Though unable to paint to save my life, I appreciate and enjoy looking at beautiful artwork and I was delighted finding so many arts shops here in Hoi An.

The iconic Chua Cau (Japanese Covered Bridge) is not perfectly straight. One end is slightly wider than the other, and it has a slight lean. Local legend says the bridge was built to slay a mythical monster (Manmazu), whose head was in India, tail in Japan, and body in Vietnam, which was causing earthquakes.

The bridge was built to "stab" the monster's heart and stop the tremors. Interesting stories, eh? We loved learning about all these interesting stories about the places where we visited! RT, Hoi An, Vietnam