9/11/14-
We arrived in Hoi An early in the morning and were quite happy to be in such a beautiful, well-maintained city. Hoi An is, by far, the cleanest, most pleasant town either of us have seen in SE Asia, and a UNESCO World Heritage sight, although we immediately noticed some "big brother" elements to it.
One of the first things we noticed was loudspeakers installed on the powerline poles in the city center. From sometime in the early morning to late at night the speakers played soothing piano music or occasionally soothing Vietnamese music akin to something you might hear playing in nordstrom's, but every hour or so a woman's voice came on, explaining in English and then French that you are not to ride motorbikes down alleys or on sidewalks and Hoi An is a smoke-free city and a few other things that were too fuzzy to make out.
The other thing we noticed was the excessive cuteness that was present on even the small street-vendor signs. It reminded me of a themed town like Leavenworth or Winthrop except this was like Vietnam doing a Disney version of itself. These were nice reminders of the communist thread that runs through this country, despite what free-market capitalism impressions you might get from Saigon.
To its credit, Hoi An is home to some truly beautiful preserved architecture from the 16th and 17th centuries, which families still live in and open their homes to tourists. We visited one whose owner's family had owned the house for over 300 years. The interior was gorgeous black-stained teak with elaborate carvings in every pillar and beam and was in remarkably good condition.
We rented bikes and rode out to the beach, where we found brilliant turquoise water and rows of shady palm trees and only one or two souvenir vendors, who we didn't even find very irritating.
Got in a nice swim and a decent sunburn and rode back to town. On the way we figured out where The Flintstones are currently residing- we found their bench press and dumbbells.
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