Hoi An continued. Day 3 (Sat)

Started the day with a leisurely breakfast at our accommodation below (the 3 story white building) and a stroll into town.

  

The tide was out but as we found later on, when a high tide comes in, parts of the 'Old Town' are inundated.
  

Cars and big motor-bikes (?) are banned from the old town for parts of the day and all evening, so it was very pleasant. You still have to dodge push bikes and some scooters but they don't do much damage.
   

There is a Japanese footbridge over a canal which is a museum also. We crossed over, several times.
  

There were times when it was quiet with no one around.

  

There were many pagodas, temples, prayer houses and communal houses around the town. Buddhism is the dominant religion in Vietnam. There was occasional evidence of Catholicism, but they are mostly further south around Ho Ch Minh. There were pockets of Hinduism as well.

Kate had organised some tourist deal where you can enter several of these places so we checked them out.

  

They are very old as you can see. Some are in better condition on the outside than others, but all were very well kept inside.
  

More bonsai but not as well manicured.
  

Their 'altars' or shrines were very colourful, ornate and 'busy', but obviously very beautiful and meaningful to the people.

We ventured to the outdoor market. Not sure I can recall being in such a noisy, action-packed, bustling space before.

  

Scooters and bikes pushed through constantly, along with the obligatory horn and bell ringing, telling you to get out of the way. Add to that the sellers and hawkers trying to get you to look at or buy their wares... and you have chaos, but in an organised sort of way.

This old lady with the traditional carry device was difficult to photograph openly, otherwise she wanted money. But we managed!
  

Why were all these people, mostly 'westerners', lined up outside this tawdry, run-down shop frontage?? Well, Kate did her research too and read the same travel blogs and guide books as the others in the long queue. Here you get the "World's best Banh My", which I heard one vocal westerner (Yes, OK, he was from the US) in the line summarise.... "Oh, so it's a Subway!"   Well, to be fair, it is a filled bread roll, but it's streets ahead of anything tried before, including Subway. Very light, crusty bread (baked next door) with fillings of your choice but very nice sauces and flavours. Yes! Well worth the lineup and the wait.
  

The awning was rather tired and tawdry but the food wasn't.

  

One of our visits was to an old home which has survived 8 generations.

Because of frequent flooding, most timber posts were sitting on stone bases.

Frequently there were little ramps up to elevated shops so the traders and shop assistants could store their scooters out the back.

Some ramps were more permanent and fixed.

 

We visited numerous temples, shrines and prayer houses.
 

There were communal houses also, which apparently catered for any 'denomination' who needed a quiet prayerful space.

The temples and pagodas mostly had 3 shrines at the front.

 

Apparently the street trading is illegal, because we witnessed the obligatory police raid where the hapless trader initially had all her wares confiscated, but the good-will was obvious as the police drove away with just her 'tables' and stool in the back, while she hurried away carrying her re-possessed wares.

There were numerous bars and coffee shops along the waterfront (and elsewhere) to sit and have a leisurely drink.
 

Business for the waterfront taxis can be quiet.

Kate's research skills came to the fore again. This time, dinner was at 'Morning Glory', a noted restaurant in Hoi An. Extremely pleasant meal - again very cheap by our standards but probably fairly expensive in local terms.

and our beer of choice was a cheap local product called Larue. The French influence is obvious.