We are back!! Hoi An and Annam House

We are back in Vietnam for a short trip to visit the family on our way home from New Zealand. We arrived on Saturday evening 17 th February and after a leisurely Sunday and a BBQ with friends we repacked to leave to fly to Danang in Central Vietnam on Monday morning. Andrew and Amanda had booked a house  near Ang Bang beach. It is ideal for the five of us, just 2mins 5secs (😉) walk to the beach, a nice garden and verandah to chill out in.

Since our arrival we have spent time on the beach surfing the waves and swimming, walking  to some of their favourite places to eat and have coffee and last evening we visited the World Heritage Site town of Hoi An. We were there two years ago but not during the Lunar New Year holiday!  The historic streets were filled with a mass of people, mainly Vietnamese and Chinese on holiday. The street were hung with even more lanterns and New Year greetings 

Happy New Year in Vietnamese 

We had a little walk around, but it was too busy for me! We ate the Morning Glory Restaurant then walked to a quieter part of town to another restaurant for our dessert, after which we battled the crowds, back over the Japanese Bridge to the taxi ranks.

The town centre is pedestrianised so  it was here that we met the traffic once again. It was unimaginable, taxis, motorbikes and scooters everywhere! It took Andrew about 15-20 mins to find a taxi which would take us home! They just weren’t interested, and quoted 2-4 times the metered rate. Eventually he found a young honest driver who agreed to take us, and on the meter. Needless to say we gave him a very good tip!  The traffic was unbelievable! Crossroads controlled by traffic lights were choc a bloc with scooters. We say a couple haggling with a taxi driver and the other smaller taxis and scooters etc were driving up the pavement around them, going the wrong way !!! Our driver kept dodging down side streets to avoid the jams.

The Lunar New Year is called TeT here. Houses display a kumquat tree at their front door, decorated with ‘lucky money’ envelopes and lit with fairy lights at night. The national flag is  hung outside most houses or along the streets along with red and gold banners. Some villages have a huge TeT bamboo pole to ward off evil spirits. The whole country is even more colourful than usual.

Display on a roundabout near Andrew and Amanda’s in Hanoi

Kumquat tree outside a local house here Central Vietnam 



TeT pole in the village

Village school yard decorated for the holiday 

To be continued!