Hoi An Day 1, Seeing Every Corner of Old Town and Capturing the Beauty

To recap my time here, the first day we had our breakfast at the hotel, provided for free which was a new luxury to us. I had fruit with peanut butter toast, a glimpse of home I hadn't yet felt, and some tea. We wanted to spend the first day touring the Old Town, the main attraction area of the city. It spans a few blocks and surrounds the river. It is the place to go and spend your day. The best part about it is within Old Town everything is walking distance away and no cars are allowed so you can walk with ease, only having to worry about bikes when crossing roads, which coming from Bangkok and HCMC is such a relief to finally walk with some peace. We stopped at a coffee shop first, we didn’t get much sleep the night before because our already late flight got delayed a few hours so we didn’t pull into our hotel until around 3am. We slept until 9am but still needed the caffeine boost to get some fuel in our veins and power through another day of sightseeing. We spent a good amount of time working at the cafe, Izzy having a lot of school work to do while here, finishing up her study abroad assignment, the start of a summer class, and the beginning of a TA job. So we are spending time in cafes for another reason besides just our obsession with the drinks and its atmosphere. 

It was the cutest cafe ever, called Memories, and it had a second level with the best views of the city and of course we had a photo moment. The whole day was perfect for a photographer and we both were determined to capture the beauty of this town to the best of our abilities. It was gorgeous seeing all the lanterns draping across the streets and the flowers lining the buildings, and the vibrant colors that define this city. Here are some pictures to see exactly what I mean. 

We really enjoyed walking around the city, which we did for a while, staying until night time. We grabbed lunch at this local vegan cafe, trying pho and cao lau, two meals that we had on our list. We also stopped for a refreshing smoothie after some time walking and it was a nice break from the heat and the AC kept us cool. Our smoothie place had a rooftop undiscovered by its occupants, except for us. We got to enjoy the sunset on this roof and see Hoi An from above and in the comfort of solo company. We wanted to experience the second half of the city so we stayed a bit into the night to enjoy its liveliness, but we soon were too tired to continue on, and a full day in the city was plenty. Before we left, we grabbed some dinner at Met, a vegan restaurant where we shared tofu curry and white rose dumplings, and the dumplings were to die for, another Vietnamese dish that has me convinced it is beyond what one could imagine.

One encounter that stuck with me all day was chatting with some Vietnamese kids. While I was ring shopping, I felt a light tap on my backpack. I wasn't entirely sure if I even felt something so I continued my shopping until I felt it again and turned around in pure curiosity to see who was eagerly seeking my attention. When I saw three adorable children circle me up with a sheet of paper filled of questions attached to a clipboard and a pencil in hand, I knew this would be the cutest thing I'd ever do. A teacher was recording us, my guess was to see how the students did with their pronunciation and understanding of my answers. As they asked me basic questions such as what my name is, where I was from, and all of my favorites, I knelt down to better hear them and answered as clearly as I could. I got a lot more questions than I expected, from being asked if I liked kids to what animal I was most scared of. Two girls switched off asking me questions, and for each one I got, my smile grew bigger and my heart exploded once more. Being a language learner myself along with loving to teach and help others, I would have spent my whole afternoon answering their questions. They were so adorable, they made my day, and I hope in some way I made theirs. They asked for a photo together and I happily obliged, Izzy snagged a photo as well and I am so grateful she did. Here is the photo she got, to show you all the cutest I experienced and the sweetness to hear them practice English and my heart feeling so happy I could help in that way. Again, another reason Hoi An will go down in the books as a top city of mine.