14th Feb: Valentine´s Day and Tet in Hoi An, Vietnam

The next day was officially our ‘walking tour’ day which basically meant picking some sites off the Lonely Planet guide and walking around Hoi An to see a bit more of it in order and try to appreciate why it was given the UNESCO stamp.
It was surprisingly quiet for Chinese New Year – back in KL I’m used to the loud drums and cheers coming from big crowds as some groups performed the traditional lion dance. However, in Hoi An this clearly wasn’t the case and if anything it was quieter than ever!
Nonetheless, we enjoyed some breakfast in a rather trendy looking cafe for croissants and coffee, and then set about on our walking tour.
We started off at a Japanese bridge near the river across to a lovely street full of shops on either side, where I bought a pretty bag at a bargain price thanks to Leon the negotiator! We then quietly admired some of the temples in town, most of which had messages hanging from the ceilings dedicated to loved ones who had died as well as those who are still living, as is the norm during Chinese New Year. We then wandered down the market, which again was fairly empty and quiet, before crossing the bridge to an island that is mainly full of houses and a few hotels. We wanted to stroll down the river bank but unfortunately the stench of the sewerage by the bridge prevented us from doing so, and instead we crossed back onto the mainland and headed near the market for lunch. We couldn’t find a seafood restaurant that featured in the Lonely Planet (oh how much we hate but love this guide book at the same time) so instead settled for one of the few places that was open and funnily enough only had tourists in it! It seems that all the locals had gone back to be with their families, or perhaps to another part of town that we just didn´t know about...
After lunch we meandered back to our hotel to chill out before a Valentine´s dinner in a beautiful restaurant aptly called the Secret Garden, set in a very romantice courtyard and with amazing food at decent prices, given the high quality of the food. We decided to brave it and tried a bottle of Vietnamese red wine from Dalat which was interesting (let´s say it´s not what we´re used to!) but after a while it was much easier to gulp down. Dinner consisted of a beef curry and fish dish with rice, both amazing and left us wanting more as always. Once our meal had settled down nicely, we strolled over to the river and saw that there was some sort of fun fair going on and given it was free entry, we made our way there to soak up the atmosphere. If I remember correctly, we tried our hand at a ´wheel of fortune´type game but sadly lost our one dollar, oh well. We sat by the waterside with other people and just watched the floating candles in the water, which people were buying and letting go, as a sort of good luck ritual for the new year. When we left the fair, Leon and I both bought our own floating candles to let go in the river, and thankfully neither of us fell in, nor did our candles go out (like some others did!)
All the candles in the water made for a beautiful sight and even though it wasn´t a crazy party that we were expecting, we both had a really memorable and enjoyable Tet in Vietnam.