QUESTION: would you be okay if you got stuck in Hoi An?
ANSWER: yes yes yes
WHY?: because there is so much to do – shopping, snorkeling, cooking lessons, beach, parasailing, meeting amazing locals, riding bicycles, hiring scooters, playing pool, painting classes, making lanterns, visiting Buddhist temples, photography lessons, donating to amazing charities…the list goes on and on! Can you tell we just LOVE it here?
Did I mention beach parasailing? Yes we all had a go and it was ace! I was chicken at first, but after watching everyone else, including the English guys, go up successfully and happily, I decided to go with 6 year old Quinn. Our take off was a little rough but once up there you felt just like a bird. It was so quiet and peaceful all the way up there. When the boat turned around it shut down its motor and we floated down into he sea and then it started back up again and up we went into the sky. Lots of fun.
PS we have discovered on this trip that both Billie and Dacey are absolute dare-devils. Thy went up parasailing together!
We went to Cua Dai beach for the day, about 4km from Hoi An town centre. Some of us got bitten by jelly fish in the water but some ice fixed that up. We hired bikes and had a ball. Billie and Dacey sit on the back seat of our bikes while the others ride on their own bike. The roads are for bikes, motorbikes, cars, trucks, buses and pedestrians. And amazingly, it works (somehow). I’m sure there are many road accidents but we have yet to see one.
The beach is where Steve and I came to 13 years ago on our honeymoon adventure throughout South East Asia. The beach has transformed into a commercial reality of beach chairs (hundreds of them) and big hotels hugging the coastline. None of this was here 13 years ago. All there was was big shady palm trees and a quiet beach with women carrying around their fresh seafood and cooking it for you on the beach sand with coals. Most ex-pats here say the biggest growth has been in the last 5 years. This place is taking off. We enjoyed a lovely lunch of fresh prawn spring rolls while sitting on our chairs at the beach.
Back to our hotel pool for more swimming (without the jelly fish) and the kids from Australia and England watched a movie together while Steve and took a stroll out to Dingo Deli for some couple time.
PS we have just had a meeting with Kianh Foundation charity founder Jackie at the Dingo Deli. She has created a day centre for Vietnamese kids with down syndrome and cerebral palsy. Amazing woman from the UK and now living here with her adopted son who has a disability also. They are in need of teaching assistants for their classes and always need money to pay (and keep staff that they have trained up). Stay tuned we will update you further. You can check out her website at www.kianh.org.uk. Wonderful work Jackie.
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