Hội An

Hoi An is a popular tourist town around the central area of Vietnam, south of Da Nang, Hue and the DMZ (historic De-Militarised Zone marking the border between North and South prior to 1975). It's not a big place and is quite relaxed by Vietnamese standards. Worth a couple of days or longer if you like to chill out, but there's really not a lot to do.

We went to Hoi An on the same trip as to nearby Hue, and stayed for a couple of nights at the brand-new "Palm Garden Resort". Being July it was the rainy season, so we didn't see much sun but it was still plenty warm!

The view from the front of our hotel chalet onto the South China Sea. If only it were sunny! At night we could see fishermen going about in their boats with bright fluorescent lights to sniff out their catch.

Street scene in Hoi An town, practically no traffic after the frenzied franticness of HCMC was great!

The market area in Hoi An was close and packed, with plenty of pointy hats!

This is the main site of historical interest in Hoi An; the Japanese covered bridge, with a pagoda built in to it. The bridge is some hundreds of years old.

More market sellers with pointy hats! Gotta love those hats...

The pool at the Palm Garden Resort hotel, one of the poshest hotels I've stayed at. Unfortunately I was bitten by some vicious acquatic insect larvae, which could swim amazingly fast for its size. It chased me round the pool.