Hoi An Night Market and Teh Dar Show ~ Day Five ~ Vietnam July 2019

[DisneyDaffodil]

Index

We all woke around 8am. I had slept a little better that night, but it still wasn’t a comfortable night’s sleep. We all got ready and went to breakfast. We enjoyed eating breakfast, drinking coffee and looking out over the river.

Here’s my two plates from breakfast that morning!

After breakfast we went back to our room to gather our things before heading to reception to get the shuttle bus to the beach. We went down onto the beach and got sun loungers to wait for Ian and Claudia.

Today was the hottest day we had in Vietnam. Once we got onto the beach, at around 9:30am the heat really hit us. It was a heavy, humid heat and Georgia and I were both finding it hard to breathe and feeling a little sick with it. We tried to wait it out under the umbrellas but it wasn’t any cooler in the shade. I felt upset as I wanted to spend the day on the beach with Ian and Claudia but the heat was really too much for us and we didn’t want it to make us sick, so we had to head back to the hotel before Ian and Claudia arrived. We messaged Ian to let them know, and they were both very understanding as it was an extremely hot day.
We ordered a Grab back to the hotel, which arrived quickly, and took us back. When we arrived back, we all sat inside near the bar and drank a big bottle of water to hydrate, while cooling down in the air conditioning. I started to feel better pretty quickly. I took a little longer to feel better again but I also didn’t take too long. We decided to spend some time by the pool in the shade, as we didn’t want to go back to our room really. I thought that going in the pool would be great to cool down, so after leaving the bags and towels with Mum and Dad on the sun loungers, I dived into the pool. This was so nice and refreshing after the heat of the beach and I felt loads better.
I read on the sun lounger in the shade for a while, but also was tempted by the pool soon and joined Georgia in there. Before long, Rob also joined us in the pool and we enjoyed a few hours playing ball, swimming and relaxing in the water. This pool was so pretty, as it was like an infinity pool, where you could see out over the edge to the river. The pool was also a really nice temperature, warm from the sun.

Me in the pool!

We started feeling a little hungry around lunch time and saw a sign outside the hotel’s restaurant for their meal deal. It was for a main course, salad, dessert and drinks for around £11 per person. We decided this would be good for lunch so got out of the pool, dried off and went to the restaurant (which was directly next to the pool).

The main course was either a pizza or a sandwich (the sandwich also came with fries). I had the ham and mushroom pizza.

I had the chicken club sandwich.

And Rob had a steak baguette.

These were all really tasty and large portions too. Rob and I had a beer included with our meal and we also shared Georgia’s included beer (as I only wanted water anyway). We then had ice cream for dessert. I had chocolate and vanilla, I had chocolate and coconut and Rob had coconut and vanilla. All of them came with a wafer and cornflakes underneath. Neither Rob or I really liked the cornflake addition, or understood why it was there but I absolutely loved it. The ice cream melted and tasted really good with the cornflakes! I don’t know why more places don’t serve cornflakes and ice cream!

The service for lunch was really good and we were all very full after lunch. We spent some more time relaxing around the pool and then went back to the room around 3pm. Back in the room, I started to feel a little unwell, probably a combination of the heat earlier plus a large lunch. I wasn’t certain if I was going to be able to go out that evening, but after resting for a while I felt well enough to go out. I really did want to go see the show in Hoi An that night and spend more time with Ian and Claudia as we hadn’t seen them all day. I didn’t eat anything while out that evening, as I didn’t want to make myself unwell but other than that, I felt ok.
We all got ready to go out to Hoi An that evening and then went down to reception around 5pm to catch the shuttle bus we had booked to the Old Town. We met Ian and Claudia at the hotel where the shuttle bus dropped us off and walked together into the town. They checked how I was feeling, as I had told them that I hadn’t been well and that the heat had affected me today. I told them I was ok, but had needed to relax. They’d spent the day on the beach and really enjoyed it.
We walked into the old town towards the Hoi An Lune Centre, which is where the performance we were going to see was. If you didn’t read yesterdays report, we had booked the evening before to see a performance at the theatre by Lune Production called Teh Dar, which was a mixture of acrobatics, dance and storytelling; which we were really looking forward to.
We went up to the front of the theatre and Claudia told them our name and we then paid around £24 each (although we paid for all the tickets) for tickets to see the show. The girl from the restaurant the night before was there and she recognised us and thanked us for coming. We were then offered free cups of iced tea while we waited for the performance to start.
We waited outside and looked at the theatre, which was very beautiful despite being quite small. I took photos of the outside of the building which was made of wood.

We went into the theatre when the doors opened. The theatre was quite small and it wasn’t that full either, which we thought was quite disappointing as the production was large and very professional (and in the UK probably would have had a larger audience). Ian and Claudia didn’t really know what the production was about, although they’d read it covered the topic of an ancient Vietnamese battle. As none of us had any idea of the history behind it, we thought it may have been confusing and harder to follow.
However, the performance was beautiful and we mostly managed to interpret the story (as it was told through dance, acrobatics and physical theatre rather than words). The performers had so much energy and the skilled acrobatics and things such as throwing balls to each other and using large sticks within their dance routines were incredible. I really, really enjoyed seeing this show and was so glad that we had. We had seen ‘circus’ skill based shows in the UK and I’d enjoyed them, but not thought they were amazing whereas this show was much more impressive. The skills seemed very different to the ones we’d seen before and it all seemed to flow together better, as well as telling a story. We weren’t allowed to take photos during the performance but after the show, the cast went outside of the theatre and sang and posed.

We stopped to take some photos around that area, of the river with the boats and lanterns, the sign for Teh Dar (the show we had just seen) and of the theatre itself. This was one of the highlights of the trip for us, as it was so relaxing and this was the time when we really began to love being in Hoi An.

We strolled away from the theatre, through the Old Town. It was less crowded there this evening and it had a nice atmosphere to it, that was completely different from what we’d experienced the night before. While strolling, we came to the night market and decided to walk through here. The night market had been something we’d not expected to like before travelling to Vietnam, as we thought it would be too loud, busy and the sellers would be pushy. However, we experienced the complete opposite. Nobody pushed to sell, although they’d call out to the general crowd about what they were selling but it added to the atmosphere. There were so many different food stalls, selling the most weird and delicious looking foods (and some very strange foods that did not look so delicious such as frogs and insects on sticks) It was really cool to see the culture and the different foods in the market. (Excuse the bad photos, Georgia didn't take any and I only took a few as I was walking)

Before travelling to Vietnam, I had wanted to buy one of the lanterns from Hoi An, as I’d thought they were very beautiful. We did wonder if they’d be expensive, as they’re a very touristy item and an attraction of the town. However, we wandered around the market, seeing lots of stalls selling these. I found a pink lantern with flowers and traditional boats and person on it that I really loved (at like the 50 millionth stall we’d looked at haha) We did wonder if we’d have to barter for the lantern, which we weren’t looking forward to as we all hate it, but the lantern was only around £6, which was far cheaper than we’d expected and were more than willing to pay. Here’s a photo of the lantern back at home and photos I took of the stall after buying my lantern (the stallholders do not like you to take photos unless you are buying a lantern, which I think is a fair rule)

We continued to walk around the market looking at the chopsticks for sale on each stall (as I really wanted to buy a pack of chopsticks on the trip but I was looking for a particular colour which seemed to be hard to find) I was very interested in the ice cream rolls that they were selling at many stalls there, as I had never tried them and a friend of mine had said that they were her favourite dessert. Ian suggested that we tried them, so we went to the nearest stall and I had the oreo ice cream rolls (which cost about £1) It was awesome to watch him making the ice cream rolls!

These tasted delicious. I tried a little bit of Georgia’s but if my stomach had been better I would have had one of my own too as they were so good.

At this point, Ian and Claudia told us that they were starving and wanted to get food soon, as it was getting late. We stopped at a little restaurant at the edge of the market for them and Rob to order food (as neither Georgia or I were feeling very hungry).

Ian and Claudia ordered an assortment of Vietnamese dishes including morning glory (and lots of other things that honestly we don’t remember. We tried a little bit of some of them, but as neither of us were hungry we can’t remember if they were tasty or what their names were )

Rob had a portion of fish and chips, as they had some Western dishes such as this on their menu. This was one of the nicest fish and chips we’ve had in a long time. The fish was white and fresh and the batter wasn’t too greasy or heavy. I was feeling a little peckish so stole some of Dad’s chips and he offered me some of the fish. In the UK I don’t eat fish from a chip shop, as I don’t like it, but I tried some of Dad’s and thought it was delicious. Dad gave me some more (as his portion was big enough to share) and so I had a mini version of Dad’s fish and chips.

I really didn’t eat much as my stomach wasn’t great but the food was great and everyone enjoyed the meal and sitting around and chatting. This meal again came to around £20 for all of us, including drinks. I spent a lot of the time watching the lizards on the walls in the restaurant and using the free wifi to message my friends at home, which was nice as I only usually had wifi in the hotel.
After the meal and drinks, we decided to go back to our hotel. We ordered a Grab car back to our hotel. We walked back to our room, changed into our night clothes and went to bed. On my least favourite bed in the world (for the last time)
The next day we explored the temples, historic buildings and museums of Hoi An Ancient Town and flew back to Ho Chi Minh.

[stockport1965]

Can you see me crying as I read? Still absolutely gutted we decided to cancel...as it turns out, 18 cases in Vietnam was nothing! I was just so worried about being quarantined there.

Your trip report is fantastic...

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by stockport1965

Can you see me crying as I read? Still absolutely gutted we decided to cancel...as it turns out, 18 cases in Vietnam was nothing! I was just so worried about being quarantined there.

Your trip report is fantastic...

See more...

I did think of you as I posted today 😢 At least you still have the trip to look forward to next year, and maybe we will have finished this report for you to read by then 😀 Our son has said they have dealt with it very well there, along with the fact that the heat there seems to slow the virus down

I hope the report continues to get you excited about the trip. This was the only day we found the heat unbearable as Hoi An was hotter than Ho Chi Minh, but it was lovely to have a chilled day by the pool and we then had a wonderful evening. I do think the probiotics we took before and during the trip helped our stomachs cope well, but the heat did cause a bit of discomfort that morning and after lunch. I was very disappointed to miss out on the ice cream rolls that evening 😀

[Melbatb]

What a shame the heat got to you but you still managed to fit a lot in around the relaxing!

The lantern is lovely - such a pretty colour.

I love the night markets! So interesting to see different things!

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

What a shame the heat got to you but you still managed to fit a lot in around the relaxing!

The lantern is lovely - such a pretty colour.

I love the night markets! So interesting to see different things!

See more...

As soon as we reached the beach I found it difficult to breathe, it did worry me but thankfully I felt better back at the pool. My stomach was a little unsettled that evening too but the theatre show was a great way to relax in air conditioning.

The night market was full of wonderful sights, sounds and smells. Some of the food on offer was definitely a lot different from the hot dogs and burgers we get at our markets but it was so interesting to see it all.

Georgia’s lantern is hanging in her bedroom here now, and looks lovely. It’s a beautiful reminder of the trip

[Goldia]

That kind of oppressive heat is hard to deal with, it seems like you made the right decision to return to your hotel and relax in the air con. The pool area looks lovely, it looked like Georgia was the only one in the water.

A lovely evening, although still very hot I'm sure. The lanterns do look very pretty.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Goldia

That kind of oppressive heat is hard to deal with, it seems like you made the right decision to return to your hotel and relax in the air con. The pool area looks lovely, it looked like Georgia was the only one in the water.

A lovely evening, although still very hot I'm sure. The lanterns do look very pretty.

See more...

I felt a little sad as we left the beach so had a little less time with Ian, but it was the right decision as we felt better for the restful day (and spent lots of time with him in the following days too)

The pool was very quiet, the hotel wasn’t large yet it had two pool areas so it was never overcrowded.

The evenings were still very warm, but it became dark around 6pm which did make the heat more comfortable.

[CrispyA]

I can imagine the heat and humidity being hard work. The night market looks fun and I love the lantern!

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by CrispyA

I can imagine the heat and humidity being hard work. The night market looks fun and I love the lantern!

See more...

Ian has said since we’ve returned that he felt we coped well with the temperatures, I think he had worried about it before we went, but it was really tough that day.

I didn’t think we would like the night market before we went. I imagined it to be dirty and overpowering but it really wasn’t. Some of the food wasn’t things we would eat, but all the stallholders took pride in their produce and it all looked well cooked and fresh (even the frogs 😢 ) and the market had a lovely, friendly atmosphere. We really loved the country and hope to return some day

[justacey]

I've just read your latest report and again, it's very detailed and brings back great memories.