Hoi An

New Year's Day we flew to Da Nang and were shuttled to Hoi An by car with a guy the must have driven in the Indie 500! The vehicles we passed, all of them, were just a blur. We kept our fingers crossed so nobody would try to cross in front of us. Sadly we didn't get a chance to see and enjoy much of the coast for the 22 km we raced to get to Hoi An.
We were overwhelmingly greeted by the staff at our hotel. Or room is wonderful with a bed the size of a football field! The balcony, however, will only fit half of one of us. LOL There is also a small courtyard with a pool. After checking in and despite of the looming evening darkness we decided to check out some of the town. With our "not so detailed map" in hand and directions from the staff off we went. The first corner took us down a dark street, sending Marie's spider senses a tingling! No worries though, we soon encountered street lights and a lot of shops, all lit up, full of clothes or shoes. We located the Ngu Y restaurant, yes another from Lonely Planet, and enjoyed a wonderful Hot Pot of seafood and sautéed Bok Choy.
On the way back to the hotel Marie snapped a few photos of the wonderful lit lanterns hanging, for sale, in the shops. Hoi An is popular for the lanterns, silks and fabrics, and tailors that will make or copy virtually anything for you. Of course, with our not so detailed map, our sense of direction was compromised, and we had to stop several times to get directions on how to get back to our street. Still was fun!
Here, also, is one more photo of the mass congestion New Year's Eve by our hotel in Ho Chi Minh.