A cool day out! That is how I could summarise my second day here. Today I saw the beach here (endless) and enjoyed the town even more, seeing some of the local sights here, as for example:
- the museum of arts and porcellain
- a historic house (over 200 years old) with the founder’s family still living there
- Fujian Chinese Congregation Hall
- Japanese Covered Bridge
- one of the numerous woodcarving shops
And again, I met people trying to receive money for nothing and other people being just the very opposite. You have everything here 🙂
Imagine sitting on a roof top terrace, having nice warm weather, the sun is shining and you enjoy the view while enjoying the breakfast. Do you have the picture? Great! That’s how my day started 😉
The rest of the day I nearly completely spent on the bike I borrowed from the hotel. They even pumped up my tyres, though only after some initial „hesitation“. Next I made it for the beach, which should be very nice. And indeed, it’s kilometers of sandy beaches, endless waves and also endless rows of palm trees covering the beaches. And the nice thing about it: It was Monday (I think it was Monday, I lost a bit track of time here) and hardly anybody was there, just me and a few crabs. Interestingly enough, when I wanted to take the first possibility to go/drive to the beach, two guys stopped me 50 m in front of the cove and said, I couldn`t go to the beach by bicycle, but I could park it there. The cost: „only“ 5000 Dong. I said „too expensive“, turned around and the price immediately dropped to 2000 – which I could hear only very faintly any more, since I already made my way to some other place. Folks, rip off somebody else 😉
I guess I spent the next two hours or so cycling along the beach, at least until I got lost completely and had to ask for the way back at one of the hotels there. The people there were really nice and explained the way back to Hoi An in perfect English – maybe because it was one of the 5 star resorts around here.
And then – Hoi An itself again. I liked the place a lot, although of course it is pure tourism, being one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. ALL the houses either contain now a shop, a tailor, a hotel or a pub/café/restaurant. But why not? I guess it`s not that different at other places, is it? And at least they put much emphasis on maintaining the old houses and keep the place architecture-wise as it is – at least in the old part of town.
At the end of the day I finally ended up buying two tailor-made shirts and a piece of woodcarving that now I have to carry around 🙂 Sending it home would cost more than the piece itself did cost.