An overnight bus ride put me in a small town right after dawn, I then took my sore body and tired mind to a charming little hotel. Fortunately, they had room available, so as usual I left my bag in the room and headed out for a walk to the town. I had been looking forward to seeing one of the major destinations in Vietnam, the ancient town of Hoi An listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. I was able to walk only a few blocks from my hotel to the old town of Hoi An. I had seen beaches of Hoi An in film clips and in picture on web sites, but I wasn't sure what it would be like frankly, it surprised me.
I walked down quite narrow streets looked up to motorized traffic. The yellow morning, the sun shone brightly upon cobblestone sidewalks as I looked around it tile roofs and carved balustrades. The buildings were up two primary designs: old French colonial with masonry walls and multi paned windows or Chinese with paneled wooden walls, small courtyard and delicate work. The Hoi An Ancient Town ran along our riverfront to an amazing sixteenth-century, Japanese bridge. The old houses, the woodworks, the tile roofs in the dragon planks gateways gave me a question what century was this from. I felt as if I had just stepped into the pages other novel by Pearl S. Buck.
I hurried onto my first stop point that is famous for tailors. Of course not that one I had done my research and brought some pictures. I stopped one tailor, dropped off few ideas then went to another tailor and then another, I had saved up for this and the suits average about 150 dollars apiece. But I think I may have overspent, once the suit is cut, it's too late to ask for money back.
As we know, Hoi An Vietnam came into prominence as an important center for shipping and commerce during the late fifteen hundreds. Merchants for China and Japan settle here and ships from all over the Far East as well as Portugal and the Netherlands sailed up the river to unload their cargoes. By the seventeen hundreds the Chinese merchants considered Hoi An, the best trading spot in all of Southeast Asian. However, when Emperor Gia Long gave the French exclusive trading rights to the nearby port of Da Nang, the bustling center of Hoi An quickly faded into a backboard.
In fact, I wasn't the only one who noticed the time capsule or that Hoi An buildings and streets projected. I saw film crew shooting scenes for awash in nature. But apparently the locals have seen this before and took it in stride. In a way though the town's obscurity was blessing because a great number of the buildings and streets were largely preserved and the old town retains much of its 18th- century charm, if you discount the souvenir shops, the tailors, the restaurants and of course the crowds of tourists.
Source: YouTube.com under Creative Commons
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