Hoi An

Here's a collection of nice shots from a recent trip to Hoi An. The courtyard below is nice.

Here's a jug and a sign. Maybe not the best place for said sign.

Here are some mini hot air ballons. Them seem to be quite popular in Hoi An.

Marble mountain is a 20 minute motorbike drive from Hoi An on the road to Da Nang. It has a lot of marble shops around the bottom where Saigon hotels undoubtedly buy their rearing lions for the lobby. More importantly, it has a temple complex enshrined with trees and inside caves which is well worth exploring.

In this picture, the smoke from burning incense creates a surreal scene.

Here you can see the other half placing her insence sticks in front of an impressive Buddha statue.

Heading back to Hoi An, a trip on the river reveals local boat taxis are small but frequent, this being a common site.

Upon arrival in Hoi An expectations were high, what with the UNESCO world heritage blah, and guide books petrified of bad-mouthing the place. However, during our first stroll through the old town, my partner turned and quipped with an eyebrow raise that I would have been proud of, 'This is like Pham Ngu Lao' (PNL is the backpacker nest of Saigon). Well, I couldn't disagree. The old houses were beautiful, until they opened up the front and turned them into DVD shops. The town caters for tourists in a mind boggling capacity -- huge groups of big nosed European tourists (I can say that because I am one myself) speaking a language I couldn't put a finger on (possibly Greek) kind of ruined the atmosphere. I can't begin to imagine what this little place would have looked like before the onslaught began. Fear not though, slowly but surely we were won over, as we became normalised to the tourist pollution and took a stroll down the riverside in the evening eventually stopping at one of the many outdoor cafes for a glass of wine. Very peaceful and relaxing. However, it was easy to spot the mid-morning timewasters in the cafes, lounging around as if they were Parisian artists during WW2. Hoi An though is pretty....