Hoi An - in the rain!

The Hoi An area has one of Vietnam's highest rainfalls, and we fully believe it the next day when we wake to steady rain.

Our day begins with a visit to Hoi An's pagoda the Phuoc Kien (Fukien) Assembly Hall at 46 Tran Phu Street, memorable for one thing. Inside there are many 'chandeliers' of red incense spirals which families can buy to light then let them smoulder there for months, taking up prayers to heaven on behalf of their departed relatives. There is a philanthropic angle to this temple too, we realise, when we see bags of rice which have been brought here as donations to disaster victims or for the poor.

From here we walk (or rather slosh) into the old town with its beautifully preserved old houses, tiny laneways creating a maze that have us all lost at one time or another later that day when we take some free time to explore.

To begin with we walk together as a group, though, passing streets full of tailor shops that offer to measure, sew, fit and deliver jackets and dresses, suits and virtually anything we want within 24 hours. Vietnamese fabrics, silks and woven goods, are truly beautiful and the workmanship is fast and good. A few in our group succumbed and added to their wardrobes before the day was out.

Although the old town of Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage site, it has kept up with the times. The clothes are fashionable, and the bars and cafes are hip and popular. Of course there are endless streets of shops selling lacquer goods, toys, souvenirs and jewellery to keep up with the hordes of tourists, but the quality is high, and the prices low.

Occasionally a narrow street leads to an arched bridge and more twisting streets and shops. The good thing is that although there is much to buy, the vendors are respectful and "No, thank you" is all you need to say.

When we see Tam Tam restaurant in Tran Phu street, I decide to see for myself the place mentioned in the Lonely Planet World Food Vietnam book I had brought with me. Or rather think is mentioned. This one is really Tam Tam Jardin, though. We order a Vietnamese coffee but it is not a patch on the HCMC one, even though the restaurant is dry and cosy.

We escape the rain at one point to see a silk showroom, climbing ladder-steep stairs to an upstairs room where cages holding silkworms and various stages of silk production are on view. Most of the women in the group can hardly stand still long enough to listen to the shop's presenter, as the racks of clothing in glowing colours is so tempting. Downstairs, young girls bend low over screens holding fabric which they are stitching with silk threads as fine as hair. 

Lunch at Viettown Restaurant, was developed, according to the brochure, as a miniature of Hoi An Ancient Town, and designed in the style of the originals. From the upstairs windows we look out on the roofs of surrounding buildings with their famous curved tiles arranged in a Yin Yang style.

Upstairs, the dishes come swiftly: green papaya salad with shrimps and prawn crackers, then Hoi An traditional spring rolls in lacy wrappers much like the Greek kataifi pastry. Grilled squid with a very mild satay sauce arrive soon after, then meltingly tender caramelised pork which has been baked in a clay pot, along with vegetables and rice. Interestingly dessert is not fruit, but delicious little individual banana cakes. Downstairs we explore a series of rooms holding silks, handcrafts, an art gallery, and of course a tailor! 

By now the rain is teeming down so going back to the hotel seems the only option and we don't re-emerge until it is time to catch the free shuttle bus from the resort back into the city. We've been told of some good restaurants there, and we want to see some of the bars.

The bus drops us at the far end of town near the Central Markets, but they are dark and closed so we walk on in the dim light, dodging motorbikes that zoom at us without warning.

The bars turn out to be quite trendy - Q Bar, White Marble Wine Bar, especially - with some with blackboard menus featuring Australian wines. Then in Nguyen Thai Hoc after passing several Italian restaurants, at 106, we locate Morning Glory, a restaurant we'd had highly recommended to us. It's actually opposite the main Tam Tam Café , the one we'd thought we'd been at earlier in the day. 

Morning Glory is famous for being a street food restaurant and cooking school owned by local cookery legend Trinh Diem Vy. The menu's description tempts us to begin with white rose rice flour dumplings filled with shrimp, but I am keen to follow it up with banh xeo the local crispy pancake, known as happy crepes. By now we are on an eating roll, ordering Hoi An chicken rice and bun cha, grilled meatballs with cold rice noodles. Somehow Hoi An pho, a soup with papaya pickles, and a pomelo salad with chicken, prawns and chilli jam find their way onto our overcrowded table and into our groaning bellies. In Vietnam, two particularly well known varieties of pomelo are cultivated - one called b??i N?m Roi in the Trà Ôn district of Vinh Long Province of the Mekong Delta region, and one called b??i da xanh in Ben Tre Province.

It is all just so good, and we are amazed by how the chefs just keep feeding such a packed restaurant with the huge variety of wonderful dishes - all this amongst the potted plants, and with a soothing background of cool jazz.

Hardly able to move, but knowing we have to make the hotel shuttle bus on time for the return journey, we finally waddle off, along the darkened and now quieter streets, past shops pulling down the shutters and closing up for the day. At last.