Nha Trang to Hoi An

The Japanese Bridge built in 1600's by local Japanese merchants to honor their emperor
Waterfront in Hoi An


Champa dance demonstration

Lantern making is a tradition here. Would love to bring some home with me but too early in the trip to start acquiring things like that.

I departed Nha Trang bound for Hoi An on the "sleeping bus" which was about a 10 hour ride. I had only seen the Vietnamese sleeper buses through the windows and I always felt they looked quite comfy, certainly better than those I had experienced in Laos. The entire bus was configured with lower and upper bunks designed to accommodate Asian size bodies, now over sized westerners, but I scrunched in, snuggled under the blanket they provided, donned my well used eye shades (my gratitude to the inventor) and actually slept fairly well. Two or three times during the night the bus stopped and the co-drivers got out, opened the motor compartment, fiddled around and then resumed the trip. Each time that happened I thought, "Oh, no! This is gonna be bad.", but we arrived in Hoi An right on schedule at 6 AM. Interesting to me was the policy when boarding the bus all passengers were given plastic bags for shoes so you walked barefooted from the door of the bus to your bunk.

I found a hotel close by the bus stop which will also be my departure point when I leave here, and after a short rest set out to explore Hoi An. This is an ancient city dating back to the second century. It was the principle port for international trade in this part of Asia from around 1200 until the mid 1800's. Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Persian, Indonesian, Portuguese, French, British and American ships called here and traded in silk, porcelain, paper, sugar, pepper, lacquer, mother of pearl, sulphur and lead. Fortunately by cooperation on both sides this city was not damaged in the war.