Hoi An’s main market flourishes early in the morning before the day’s heat intrudes. Boats arrive by river, bringing passengers with produce to sell, and their bicycles; to join the catch brought in by the fishing boats that have spent the night off the coast.
In this UNESCO world heritage listed ancient town, a magnet for local and overseas tourists, the traditional Vietnamese conical hat – nĂ³n lĂ¡ (leaf hat) -retains pride of place as preferred headgear..
Someone has to make the noodles to go with all this food. Just like using an Italian pasta maker.
Away from the busy market, boats lie waiting for their passengers to arrive later in the day.
Meanwhile, some traders prefer the cool of the evening and a relaxed position.
nomadicpaths 
Great post you have there! Especially I love the way you captured the life in Hoi An. To me, it’s always been my favourite city in Vietnam.
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Thanks for your kind comments. Hoi An is a visual feast, and I’m pleased to have provided a reminder.
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so nice đŸ™‚
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Thanks, Joshi. If only my portraits were as good as yours…
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Nice pics Stuart. Hoi An is a special place.
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Thanks. I keep sneaking looks at my photos as a reminder.
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Interesting thread! Pretty nice shots! Love the last one of the old man.
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I appreciate your comments. Vietnam is very photogenic and the people are delightful. Your agency has some very interesting tours. It’s good to provide out of the way experiences.
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I absolutely love your photos, I hope I will get some similar shots when we’re there in August. What was your favourite place in Vietnam and which one do you think is overrated? I’m trying still trying to work out our route…
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Thank you. Apologies for my very slow response in having overlooked your comment. House renovations are very distracting. My recent trip was the second visit to Vietnam. The first was back in the 1990s – to Hanoi and Halong Bay, both well worth visiting. This time, over a month, it was Hoi An (great vibrant atmosphere, market and architecture), Hue (excellent for history, culture and architecture), Dalat (not so appealing to me. As the guidebooks say, it’s pretty kitsch), Can Tho (Delta country, floating markets, canals, quite different culturally from up north), and HCMC (Saigon), which I really enjoyed contrary to my expectations.
Of course, your own interests will determine what appeals to you. I enjoy wandering around, getting lost, mingling with people going about their everyday lives, sampling the local food, getting out into the country… Speaking of the food, it’s great, and the people are really friendly and helpful.
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Huge thanks for your reply. I have decided on our route now, initially I wanted to include Saigon and the Mekong Delta but decided against it in the end. First of all I thought we wouldn’t have enough time to explore the other places properly and then it would also involve more travel.
We will now visit Hanoi, do a cruise in Bai Tu Long Bay, then spend a week in Hue with a few days on the beach there, followed by Hoi An and the last few days at An Dang beach before returning to Hanoi to fly back. How does the sound to you? I also thought if we really love it in Vietnam we will definitely return and explore some of the other towns and areas.
There were many places that initially sounded quite interesting to me, like Nha Trang and Dalat, but after reading up on them I changed my mind. I want to experience the real, traditional Vietnam and get a feel for the local colour rather than going to a beach side resort that could be pretty much anywhere on the planet. Pretty much like your interests in the country…
Good luck with the house renovations, it can be very time consuming but also very rewarding, especially when everything is finally finished and you can enjoy the end result.
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