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I
came to Danang to stay at the five
star Furama Resort, set in tropical
gardens strung along the soft white
sand of Non Nuoc Beach. After a day
of relaxing by one of its pools and tast-
ing some delicacies of northern Italy,
I take the advice of Hiep, the resort’s
guide, and sign up to visit Hoi An by
boat – a new experience which makes
use of the picturesque Hoai River.
We depart Furama in a private
car complete with wifi and reach the
boat in just 20 minutes. Soon I can see
charming Hoi An, its boats anchored
along the promenade and an endless
range of deep green coconut trees
swaying in the wind. Hoi An is known
for the Bridge pagoda, its many ancient
houses and its bygone boom period as
part of the silk road in the 16th century.
I’m familiar with all this, but Hiep offers
a fresh perspective on this famous land.
He tells me that due to chang-
ing conditions and policy restrictions in
19th century, Hoi An’s once thriving sta-
tus as a trading port began to fade. The
traditional craft villages, such as Thanh
Ha pottery village, Tra Que vegetable
village, Kim Bong carpentry village and
Phuoc Kieu bronze casting village, were
no longer prosperous.
Despite this, the local’s enthusiasm
has helped preserve the traditional vil-
lages. Our boat glides down a shallow
canal to reach one of them, the Ban
Thach mat making village. On seeing
the procedures of making a mat, I un-
derstand how hard a craft it is. Each
couple, who collect, dry, dye and weave
sedges by hand, can make two mats
per day.
Leaving the mat making village,
we head to the mangroves where peo-
ple fish, stopping en route at a small
restaurant for lunch. Hoi An is famous
for its cuisine and I choose white rose
– or
banh bao vac
(a type of shrimp
dumpling) - it has a delicious fla-
vour and is beautifully presented in the
form, as the name suggests, of white
rose petals. It is made from rice pow-
der which has been filtered many times
and spicy, sweet shrimp paired with
sweet chilli sauce. The most famous
dish of Hoi An however, is
Cao Lau
,
a dish of noodles, pork and greens.
The rice used to make the noodles is
soaked in the old well of Ba Le together
with wood ash. The ash comes from
burned wood taken from Cham Island,
which is nearly 20km away.
The resulting yellow noodles are
at once crunchy and soft and have a
wonderful fragrance. Bean sprouts,
basil, mint, young chards, chrysan-
themum leaves and a special kind of
sauce combine to make this one of
Vietnam’s classics.
Satisfied, we make our way to
Kim Bong carpentry village. Here, the
wooden houses are built by local crafts-
men who also carve, cut and shape
wood into tiny jewelry boxes, buffalos
or huge statues.
Later, after travelling on small,
peaceful roads, we arrive at Thanh
Ha pottery village under a big canopy
of old trees. An 80 year old woman is
making a small jar from clay. She of-
fers me the chance to try, but after 20
minutes of hard work, I resign myself
to failure and leave with a decidedly
misshaped cup.
On the way back to Furama Resort,
cup in hand, I enjoy some green bean
cake – another local specialty - and
contemplate the flocks of white storks
flying to their nests. I find myself ab-
solutely at peace in this most tranquil
of lands.
A new take on Hoi An
Ngoc Thanh
sees another side of Hoi An, travelling
by boat as part of an all-new tour from the nearby
town of Danang