Hoi An; the tailors capital of the world
After five busy days in Ho Chi Minh City, we flew towards the center to Hoi An. This coastal city is located in the central part of the country and has about 120.000 citizens. So nice and quiet! We stayed here for another five days and did… nothing.
Da Nang
For €20 you already have a one-way ticket from Ho Chi Minh to Hoi An. The budget airlines Jetstar and Vietjet Air will take you to the tailoring town in one hour and 20 minutes. This is the easiest option, as the bus takes about 20 hours. By plane, you arrive in the city of Da Nang and from there you can easily book a taxi or Grab to Hoi An. Da Nang is also a nice city to visit for a day!
Handelscentrum
Hoi An behoort sinds 1999 tot de Werelderfgoed lijst van UNESCO. Dit heeft als voornaamste reden dat de stad gezien wordt als een voorbeeld van een Zuidoost-Aziatische handelshaven uit de 15e tot 19e eeuw. Hoi An was in die tijd een belangrijk centrum voor de handel. Daarnaast kun je nu nog steeds de mengeling van lokale en buitenlandse invloeden zien. Een voorbeeld hiervan is de Japanse brug die in de 17e is gebouwd om de Japanse gemeenschap te verbinden met de Chinese wijk. De brug laat zien hoe groot de impact van de Japanners in deze regio is geweest.
Kleermakers
Hoi An wordt gezien als de kleermakershoofdstad van de wereld en dat is meteen duidelijk wanneer je de binnenstad bezoekt. Overal waar je kijkt, vind je kledingwinkels. Jurken, pakken, matchende outfits met je geliefde, schoenen alles kunnen ze voor je maken. Ooit was dit een stad met een aantal kleermakers die hun kwaliteiten doorgeven van generatie op generatie. Nu heeft Hoi An meer dan 500 winkels die kleding aanbieden in elke prijscategorie. Het is belangrijk om hier eerst goed onderzoek naar te doen, voordat je een winkel binnenstapt en je voor je het doorhebt een pak hebt gekocht.
Temperature
What immediately strikes you as soon as you land is the temperature difference. In Ho Chi Minh, it’s hot all year round! It’s about 30 degrees, and it cools down a bit in the evening. In Hoi An and the other big city of Hanoi, they have a bit more the four seasons. So during this ‘winter’ it is less crowded with tourists, compared to the summer. The weather was lovely, every day around 25 degrees. It’s nice for a change that you are not immediately drenched when you walk outside for ten minutes.
Car free
Although there are still a lot of tourists walking around in Hoi An, it has a much more relaxed atmosphere compared to Ho Chi Minh. For example, the city center of Hoi An is car and scooter free. This is not all day long, but from about five o’clock scooters are not allowed to drive into the streets. Cars are forbidden, I don’t see how cars have to maneuver through those small streets anyway. Because of this, you don’t have to look around frantically all the time to make sure you don’t get hit by a scooter. You can walk around freely, without needing a mask against the exhaust fumes.
Hoi An; the tailors capital of the world
After five busy days in Ho Chi Minh City, we flew towards the center to Hoi An. This coastal city is located in the central part of the country and has about 120.000 citizens. So nice and quiet! We stayed here for another five days and did… nothing.
Da Nang
For €20 you already have a one-way ticket from Ho Chi Minh to Hoi An. The budget airlines Jetstar and Vietjet Air will take you to the tailoring town in one hour and 20 minutes. This is the easiest option, as the bus takes about 20 hours. By plane, you arrive in the city of Da Nang and from there you can easily book a taxi or Grab to Hoi An. Da Nang is also a nice city to visit for a day!
Temperature
What immediately strikes you as soon as you land is the temperature difference. In Ho Chi Minh, it’s hot all year round! It’s about 30 degrees, and it cools down a bit in the evening. In Hoi An and the other big city of Hanoi, they have a bit more the four seasons. So during this ‘winter’ it is less crowded with tourists, compared to the summer. The weather was lovely, every day around 25 degrees. It’s nice for a change that you are not immediately drenched when you walk outside for ten minutes.
Car free
Although there are still a lot of tourists walking around in Hoi An, it has a much more relaxed atmosphere compared to Ho Chi Minh. For example, the city center of Hoi An is car and scooter free. This is not all day long, but from about five o’clock scooters are not allowed to drive into the streets. Cars are forbidden, I don’t see how cars have to maneuver through those small streets anyway. Because of this, you don’t have to look around frantically all the time to make sure you don’t get hit by a scooter. You can walk around freely, without needing a mask against the exhaust fumes.
Japanese bridge
Hoi An has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1999. The main reason for this is that the city is seen as a perfect example of a Southeast Asian trading town from the 15th to 19th centuries. At that time, Hoi An was an important center for trade. Besides, you can still see the mixture of local and foreign influences today. An example of this is the Japanese bridge built in the 17th century to connect the Japanese community with the Chinese quarter. The bridge shows how enormous the impact of the Japanese in this region has been.
Tailors
Hoi An is seen as the tailoring capital of the world and that is immediately obvious when you visit the city center. Everywhere you look, you’ll find clothes shops. Dresses, suits, matching outfits with your lover and shoes, they can make anything for you. Once upon a time, this was a city with several tailors who passed on their qualities from generation to generation. Now Hoi An has over 500 stores offering clothes in every price category. It is important to do some good research on this before you step into a shop. Because before you know it, you are paying for a new suit at the counter.
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