Hoi An

We arrived in Hoi An last night, which was a spectacular introduction to a city known for its lanterns.

Hoi An is a charming little old trading port town that has an interesting blend of architectures and cuisines. This is the Japanese covered bridge joining the old Japanese quarter with the Chinese neighborhood.

The central part of town is lined with tons of shops selling made-to-order silk and leather goods, coffee and tea, and all kinds of souvenirs and trinkets.

We had the absolute best Banh Mi at a little shop called Banh Mi Phuong. Pork + Pate + a fried egg FTW.

We spent the late afternoon on An Bang Beach at Soul Kitchen, drinking cocktails and vegging out.

We had to be careful not to have *too* many cocktails, since we still had to scoot to dinner...

Yet again, we were rewarded with some absolutely stunning views of the sunset on our ride back to town.

Seriously, does it get any better than this?

On our way to dinner, we saw tons of locals chowing down on these skewers being sold on the side of the road. Naturally we had to stop and eat a couple.

After dinner, we took a walk along the river and came across these stunning lantern displays.

Across the lake, we saw what looked like a pretty big outdoor concert happening, complete with a massive stage and a laser light show. When we got there, it turned out to be dozens of tiny, 5-ish-year-old Vietnamese children in wild costumes dancing to English and Vietnamese pop music. Of particular note was the number where the little boys were paired up dancing with the little girls to the Venga Boys "Boom Boom Boom Boom". Supremely weird, hilarious, and pretty much the highlight of the whole trip so far.