The day after our arrival in Hoi An, we began volunteer teaching at the school. But we also began exploring Hoi An, and we found it to be a very quaint and colorful town. If it wasn’t for all the tourists, it would have an almost fairytale atmosphere about it.

In Old Town we came to the iconic Japanese Bridge, built in 1593 (back in the days when the town was a major port for traders) to connect the Japanese district with the Chinese district. This handsome wooden structure is not very big and stretches across a very narrow spur of water, but it looks so striking that it somehow appears bigger than it really is.

Lots of vendors were strolling around, some of them wearing the traditional conical shaped hats and carrying their goods in baskets suspended from other end of a pole balanced across the shoulder.

The bicycle rickshaws were also thick; and of course the passengers were pretty much all tourists. The drivers did not have horns on their rickshaws; instead, whenever they would approach someone and wanted to announce themselves, they would just say, “Beep beep!” We wonder if horns are banned in the interest of keeping the noise down. In any case, the first time we heard them do this we thought it was hilarious.

At one point we browsed in the marketplace (passing by vendors who annoyingly called out “Buy something?”), and Dennis ended up buying a pair of shorts. It was at a cramped little stall with no fitting rooms as such, so he had to just duck behind an outstretched piece of cloth to try them on. That’s pretty much standard procedure in these parts.

We also stopped in a chocolate shop and bought two bars of chocolate. It’s been an unwavering mission of ours to buy a native chocolate bar in every country we visit, and we wouldn’t dare be derelict in this duty.

The river was full of quaint boats, many of them carrying (mostly tourist) passengers. They also carried something else: colorful lanterns. At night when these were lit, along with others hanging from trees or displayed elsewhere in the streets, the effect truly was an enchanting atmosphere.

This was Halloween night. And although there were no fireworks, costumes or trick-or-treaters, the scene was festive and downright otherworldly.

10/31/2024