Beneath the Peak

While we were in Danang, we took a 25-minute ride on the hotel shuttle to Hoi An. Hoi An’s old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is definitely worth a look. The Japanese bridge pictured above is one of the main attractions.

Hoi An has a burgeoning art scene. Conservatively, I’d estimate that there are 30 galleries selling everything from tourist tat to large oil paintings priced at over US$1,000. There was also a great deal of abstract art, something that we didn’t see on a trip to Hanoi three years ago. Credit cards, especially Visa, appeared to be widely accepted although we didn’t use any.

There are many tourist-friendly restaurants in the old town. We stopped at the Hai Scout Café, which is affiliated with the WWF and enjoyed a filling, tasty lunch for about 300,000 dong (US$20) for six. That included a couple of Larue beers, a century-old brand that has recently been resurrected.

For more on tourism in Vietnam, see here and here.