Hoi An

Hoi An was the principal international trading port for Vietnam for centuries before Danang took it over in the last century. You could say its Vietnam's version, smaller albeit, of Kyoto. In its heyday, Japanese, middle eastern, indian, Chinese as well as european traders made ports of call here. Its one of the few places in vietnam that escaped damage from warfare. Imagine narrow streets, teeming with centuries old wooden-framed traditional houses/shops, many of which are lit up with lanterns in the evenings. There are also lots of tailors in town - so you can get jackets, shirts custom made to order for little more than the cost of the materials.

My first day, I took a tour of the Cham ruins nearby (dating from the 6th century). Cham was an ancient group of people that created temple complexes in the style of Angkor Wat (smaller in scale) that were heavily influenced by classical Hindu Indian and Javanese cultures. Unfortunately, most of the complex was heavily bombed by US bombers.

It was nice renting a bike and exploring the town the next day. I discovered that Hoi An was/is a traditional gathering place for the ethnicChinese community in Vietnam, including Fukkienese, Hakka (thats me), Cantonese communities. Its amazing to imagine that somewhere in town, there are people who speak the same dialect as people in my parents home towns back in Taiwan.