HOI AN Old Town

What we end up saving from places is what we lived while in them.

Actually, we didn't know almost anything about this vietnamese city. Is for that reason that it surprised us!

After spent the day in Hue, we took a bus to Hoi An. When we arrived, we found a lot of people offering their hostels to us. So, you are not going to have any problema to find accomodation! You don't have even to look for it! They will go to you! 

As I said before, Hoi An was an excellent suprise for me. I'm going to tell you a bit more of this amazing city.

About 25km southeast of Da Nang, the ancient town of Hoi An nestles on the Banks of the Thu Bon River. Originally a seaport in the Champa Kingdom, by the 15th century it has become a coastal Vietnamese town under the Tran Dinasty. At the beginning of the 16th century, the Portuguese came to explore the coast of Hoi An, Then came the Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, British and French.

Hoi An appeared in Western travelogues in the 17th and 18th centuries as Faifo or Hai Po. For several centuries Hoi An was one of the most important trading ports in Southeast Asia. By the beginning of the 19th century the mouth of the Thu Bon silted up an another port was built as the mouth of the Han River. Thenceforth Da Nang (a city a Little bit more to the north of Hoi An) replace Hoi An as the centre of trade.

In the early 1980's, UNESCO and the Polish government funded a  restoration programme to classify and safeguard Hoi An's old quarters and historic monuments. Hoi An was designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1999.

We spent around 5 days in this city (one of them we went to My Son, but I will tell you about it later...). 

We just were walking, enjoying its quietly atmosphere, taking a ride by bicycle, going to the beach, eating, drinking, eating more!
What an amazing city to eat!!

Actually we planned to be there for 3 days or at least 4. But we spent one day more because of the weather. We wanted to go to the beach but it just started rainning at the momento we arrived to the beach.

And that is the way we spent the days in Hoi An, with a lot of smiles from the people and from us!

As I told you before, one of those 5 days, we went to visit My Son.

The valley of My Son, nestled under Cat's Tooth Mountain, was chosen as a religious sanctuary by King Bhadravarman I, and from the fourth century, many temples and towers were built in this área. These ruins are all that remains of the ancient religious capital of Amaravati, the greatest of the Cham states. 

During the Second Indochina War (1954-75), the Viet Cong based themselves in the temples, using them as  bunkers. American B52s bombed them thoroughly, leaving only a small vestige of what was once a magnificent ancient city. Traces of around 70 temples and related structures may still be found at My Son, though only about 20 are still in good condition.

So, after this sad and crazy information about the history of those champa temples, I will show to you what is still surviving.