Selling chickens

Hoi An was definitely one of my favourite places in Vietnam. A beautifully preserved old quarter, not too busy and amazing countryside just outside the city. Hoi An is a city in Vietnam that has a very well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century, surrounding it the modern day markets continue to operate selling fruit, vegetables and a variety of live and dead animals. Above locals haggle to sell chickens.

Chickens for sale

Pigs at market

Fruit and vegetables for sale in Hoi An, Vietnam

Picking oranges in Hoi An, Vietnam

Street seller

Local food market

Temple in the Old Quarter

Scooter laden with clothes and bags

Farmer carries carries his ducks to market on his motorbike along a small path in the countryside – Hoi An, Vietnam

Ducks block the way of cyclists

Local in countryside arond Hoi An

Fishing

Local farming couple

Local farming couple surronded by their farm

Fishing

Fishing

Person rides a water buffalo in Hoi An, Vietnam

Local standing on a water buffalo in Hoi An, Vietnam

Sun setting over grave yard, Hoi An, Vietnam

River cruise at sunset in Hoi An, Vietnam

River cruise at sunset in Hoi An, Vietnam

Streets of Hoi An

Water front night scenes in Hoi An, Vietnam

Water front night scenes in Hoi An, Vietnam

Cycling at night in Hoi AnHoi

Sleeper trains are one of the cheap, interesting ways to get around Vietnam. I had read a lot of horror stories about them being dirty and disgusting but my experience was that they were certainly noisy and bumpy, but clean and safe. However some other people in the next carriage had a major cock roach infestation to the point they couldn’t sleep, so I guess there is an element of luck in which carriage you get!

We got on the train at around 3pm so we saw quite a bit of the countryside as the sun was setting. Each carriage has 2 bunk beds, which I forgot to get a photo of.. But you get clean sheets and a thin mattress and air conditioning which sometime works so well you are freezing cold, and sometimes doesn’t work at all..

I opened one of the windows to watch the countryside pass, the trains don’t move particularly fast, but often posts or trees would be very close to the train so the occasional duck back inside the carriage was needed.

Over the years I have been on quite a few tourist boat trips, so I wasn’t expecting too much form this one, but it turned out to be both fun and educational. We started off by crossing the bay to a nearby island where we walked through the back streets visiting the local houses and a hospital. The locals collect rain water as there is no fresh water pipe to the main land and transporting it over in bulk is very expensive.

This kid was hauling water up from a well with great gusto alongside his brother.

After crossing the island we had a short ride with a local in a bamboo boat. These tiny boats are only big enough for 3 or so people and are really quite amazing! They are weaved from bamboo and then covered in various water buffalo feces until water tight.

Me taking a dive in, thanks Nak for the photo

The group having a swim

After a great day we headed back to shore, taking in the approaching city scape and cable car across to the amusement park.

In Asia the number of temples can sometimes be overwhelming but with not much else to do we went to see a few in Nha Trang. This temple was quite different to the others being built from brick, and for some reason completely invaded by bus loads of Russian tourists…

The city seems to be a getaway for rich Russians and has a reasonable beach, though I was happy not to spend any more time there.

This was the second temple we visited that day, not sure what to say other than it had some pretty sizeable Buddha statues!

Having left the village huts we were staying in we got a boat nearby to travel up river to the floating markets. People from around the whole Mekong Delta bring their produce here by boat and sell it on the river.

There were amazing colours and textures all along the river banks, the buildings looking like they were slowly being absorbed back into the river itself. Many people used to live on the river itself, fishing to eat. However in the last 10 or so years over fishing and catching fish which are pregnant has led to a significant drop in fish stocks and thus a change in life for these people. The government is trying to tackle the issues, but the problem continues.