Hoi An ... an anecdote of April

Old Town, Hoi An
Vietnam
April 2017

let us start the entry of 2018 with short stories of the short trips that i managed to accomplish last year. after my umrah trip with the family, the work life started to tick its rat-race mode, and March was busy and demanded me to take a break. i had few commotions with February, as i'd been bugged with pending workload by bosses, on my very first few days as i was back from umrah. that was such a disappointment to listen to words from others quoting my bosses asked them to wait for me back from umrah, despite knowing the urgency of the job.

i decided to plan for breakaway in March, and Hoi An came into the picture as the ticket was quite cheap back then, and i didn't need like the whole week to discover this part of Vietnam. but March was too demanding, with workshops and then outstations, and i had to change my travel date to April 2017. 

and yes. another solo trip this time as none of my friend able to join, despite quoting how much they're interested about it. but it was a good me time too, as i could decide on my own on the itinerary.

i decided to take a photography guided tour...well more or less like a short hands-on workshop, during my Hoi An visit, rather than wandering without plan, and do the tourist things. after googled, and communicated with a few, i booked two workshop sessions in a day - one in the morning, and another one in the afternoon. - more about this later.

anyway, it was short weekend trip.

day 1 - travelling KLIA-Danang-Hoi An and wandering Hoi An

day 2 - morning workshop with Pieter Janssen, afternoon workshop with Etienne Bossot

day 3 - free and easy, Hoi An - Danang - KLIA

right? well. apparently, there are few more attractions that you could visit if you were in Danang or Hoi An itself, but since i decided this would be a free and easy trip, with the photo-workshop thing, 3 days with the schedule above already felt reasonably for me.

day 1

the morning flight to Danang was full and uneventful. with my fobia of flying etc. i kept myself busy with reading, eating and then sleeping. the 2hrs plus journey finally brought me to Danang international airport. i booked an airport transfer from the guesthouse that i'd be staying in Hoi An. i saw the pick-up guy as i exited the arrival hall, but made a short de-tour to buy the local sim card from the kiosk nearby. i needed the internet since i was travelling alone etc.

the guy was surprise to know that i was coming alone. probably what he had in mind was the airport transfer cost is expensive compared to the bus etc. which is more practical since i was a solo traveler. the journey, as far as i recalled was less than an hour and we finally arrived at my guesthouse which located just a stroll away from the old town. well...it is cheaper to book the accommodation that surround the old town, instead of inside the old town.

i was welcomed by a lovely friendly lady which offered me a green tea and a cut of banana, while waiting her registered me. my room was a private room with bathroom and double bed that located at the ground floor of the house. there several types of rooms, with mostly with shared bathroom and toilet. i noted that there were few guests that staying there for a long term etc.

a quick lunch with the meal that i bought during the flight and i was about to take a quick nap, when i heard the phone ringing. the lady, perhaps she is the daughter of the guesthouse's owner, called to ask whether i'd like to join the dinner that night, and it was on the house as the owner plan to cook for all. gulp! nak makan apa nih... hehe.

well...i told her that i'd be joining and specifically told her about vegetarian meal etc.

after a quick nap, i went out to start exploring the old town of Hoi An. the entrance which connected by the small bridge, located around 100metres from my guesthouse, hence the short walk.

i left the guesthouse, with my purple Crumpler camera bag and all my stuff within it. the mission, as usual, was to wander and memo-graph. i came with purpose, as they said. it shouldn't be just another typical tourist visit as i'd seen numerous images of the place that worthy to be replicated.

i arrived at one of the entrances of the old town. i was standing at the end of the bridge accross the river that separated the old town. i realized that my trip was another not-my-kinda breakaway thing as i got tired seeing the tourists group flocking the area and started to enter the place. where do i get my best spot, if every inch of the place lost its solitude to instagramers?

i saw the ticket booth and walked towards it. i was contemplating ' to buy or not to buy'? as i saw people walking bypassing the officer. i asked, and then finally decided to buy, as buying the ticket would actually permit me to enter few attractions within the old town - museum, bridge etc. you can opt not to buy the ticket if you just want to stroll around etc.

i started to explore the old town and it began with the visit to the iconic japanese bridge. an old wooden covered bridge constructed by the japanese community of the area back in 1590s. but i didn't stay long there, to admire and memograph the wonder of this historic architecture. reason being, the place was too crowded visitors, finding their best spots to take selfie etc.

i decided to leave and walked towards the other side, to view the bridge from the bank, hence memo-graph it.

i walked along the many streets of Hoi An old town, making my mandatory stop to take picture where i felt it worth to do etc. and did the typical tourist things like - museum, art galleries and also the souvenir shops. but honestly, i felt restless as the late afternoon there was too crowded, even with groups of tourists that decided to hire the rickshaw to take them strolling along the streets around the old town.

i walked towards the other end of the old town, and gave myself a short tour at the local market there, and see if there's anything worth to memo-graph. after that i walked back to the bridge where i entered the old town. contemplating...either to go back to the room or wait for the sunset. i got plenty of time with nothing to do before the sunset. looked like the old town seemed unable to gauge me with its charms yet.

i went back to the room and went back when it was about to sunset. sadly, nothing spectacular about it. the sky turned out to be gloomy on the other side, hence covering the sun from the scene. i decided to wait near the entrance bridge as i started to see people/visitors lowering their lantern into the river. it'd be nice to see the nice scene of the old town with the lantern etc.

but the bridge was also the favorite spot for everybody to hang out. i had to move around etc. so that they could make their way etc.

as the night fall, more and more lantern being released to the river. the sellers, persistently offering the good price for it, even to me, so that i would buy one to be released. i just let it go as it was not my forte to participate into such.

i got bored as waiting like almost 3 hours since the sunset at 6pm, hoping more and more spectacular things to happen, but it was really not my luck. time flies, and one after another the lantern being released slowly, and its magical moment that had been anticipated by most, slowly faded away. the crowd no longer focusing on the lantern, and walked away for their night activities - the night market, dinner, shows etc.

i walked back to my room, and made  a quick stop at the night market. another typical night market perhaps, and it was lacked of authenticity - not much interesting local products to consider.

it was much more happening back at the guest house. all of the guests already at the table, enjoying the dinner provided by the host etc. i walked passed them and went straight to the room to do my prayer first. it was then in a while, a phone call been made to ask me joining them. that was very nice.

i joined a table in the middle of the house, with 3 other guests and the local staff. two of the them were from the states and on a long holiday/stay there, while another one, a middle age lady from korea/china which i never can't tell, on a solo vacation. the entree was the papaya salad and the main served for me was the vegetarian fried rice. the papaya salad was good, but the fried rice was too bland. the dinner went dry as other than introducing myself to the crowd at my table, everybody ended up continuing their own conversation with each other.

i went back to the room and decided to bid farewell to the night. it would be an early day tomorrow for me.