Lantern Town- a visit to Hoi An during the evening

After a relaxing afternoon (a much deserved rest after the busy morning with buffalo and basket boats), we arranged for an evening tour of the old quarter of Hoi An. Our guide picked us up at our hotel and we learned that we were the only ones on the tour- BONUS!! We were driven to Hoi An from Danang and were taken to the ancient city where there were tons of shops and the streets were lit with beautiful silk lanterns. Hoi An is considered to be a town that is a mixing pot of several cultures- Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnam. The China Town (in the oldest part of Hoi An) is filled with colorful shops and restaurants. There is also a night market in the newer part of the town. 

We visited the Japanese covered bridge, a beautiful Buddhist temple, and some old traditional homes.  Additionally, we toured the museum which covered a lot about the lifestyle of the Vietnamese people who live in the central region of the country- where Danang and Hoi An are located. We also got the chance to enter the courtyard of a very old home that is inhabited by 6 generations of one family. It was amazing to see how they lived in this house. We got to see their family's temple and their courtyard. 

At this point, it started to rain. Our guide supplied us with rain ponchos and we made our way to the restaurant for the dinner included in the tour. The food that was on the menu was simply amazing. Most of the dishes were to our liking (we did not like the squash with egg sauce and the cassava cake wasn't a favorite) and they were beautiful to look at as well:

Unfortunately, the rain made shopping in the night market not a lot of fun but we were still able to buy a couple things. Our tour guide purchased some lanterns, lit a candle in each one, and released them in to the Hoai River. We each made a wish and released our lanterns into the water.

This tour was incredible as our guide was so knowledgeable and great at sharing the information about Hoi An and Vietnam with us. She also told us about her family to get a better feel for how people in VN live. We learned so much and had a wonderful time despite the soggy weather.