Hoi’An Heritage Festival – amazing, unexpected, insightful. I was lucky to be in Hoi’An at the same time as the Heritage Festival. I had not booked a hostel before and head to Sunflower Hotel, which is the backpacker paradise. Unfortunately no more beds available so I was left to find another place to stay. I turned out to be great in Memories Homestay. Staff was very friendly and helpfull and their own restaurant across the street had the most amazing food on offer. I admit trying the Italian pasta, which was well good.
On the first day we walked to the beach, which is about 45 minutes away on foot. The beach and hotel share the same street so it is easy to find your way around. It is a sandy beach lined with palm trees and restaurants underneath. Though we got advised not to try the sea food, for unknown reasons – maybe it’s imported? Instead we found the yummiest fresh toasted sandwiches filled with salad and meat for only 10’000 dong (0.30€). After the beach we headed back to the hotel to venture out again to the old town.
The Heritage Festival was in full swing when we arrived. Locals were selling lanterns and people buy one to have them floating on the river. We were lucky to catch a glimpse of the water puppet show, which we managed to see the next day in full length. Lots of stalls exhibited local products, demonstrated their crafting skills and bands played music. At one stall a man was drawing Chinese characters. I was very keen to get a poster, too.
The following day we returned to the Festival in the evening. We tried our best in claypot-smashing but failed miserably. The aim of this traditional game is to walk up to a claypot hanging above ground and hit it with a stick. Sounds easy. What makes it hard is you have to do it blindfolded.It was fun to watch and nice to see that some locals actually managed to break the claypot.
On Monday I got up early to join the tour to My Son Temple. This temple was built by the Cham minority people and is similar and smaller than Ankor Wat in Cambodia. We had an English speaking guide that was trying hard to be funny. He provided us with some insightful information though. It was incredible to see the brick-work and and stone carvings. Also some steles with sanscrit writing stood around. Lots of the buildings have been destroyed during the Vietnam War. Bombshell and craters can be seen on this sacred site next to temples.
After the visit to My Son Temple we took a boat and went to an Island to see local craftsmen. Most of them specialise in wood carving and boat-making. Some shops had some delicate and complex objects that were carved out of wood on display. Next to the shops we could see how the carving is done. Pretty impressive. The picture below shows inlays for wood carvings.
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