Hoi An Old Town – Dawn to Dusk

Today we decided to experience old town in the early morning so we were up at 5:00 a.m. to meet up with Fred from Travel Photography Workshop. We thought having a professional photographer as our guide would be informative and interesting. Fred is Canadian, has lived in Vietnam for 13 years, and speaks fluent Vietnamese. He has such a special way of interacting with the locals which made it even more enjoyable. Fred made changes to our camera settings to make it simpler for us, while at the same time taking advantage of key features of our cameras. As we wandered through old town he gave us so many great ideas for the composition of our pictures. Since it had rained during the night, there were many puddles and we now know how to use puddles to create an interesting picture. We’ll have lots of opportunity to practice what we learned over the next few months.

When the sun sets, the streets of Hoi An’ old town transform into a vibrant display of traditional lanterns and lit candles floating down Thu Bon River. There are so many restaurants to chose from – our favourite restaurant so far is Morning Glory. After dinner we enjoy the night life before we head back to our hotel – last night we listened to a younger couple perform at one of the local restaurants.

Before dinner tonight, we went to the Lune Performing Center to see the AO Show – the name ‘A O’ means ‘village and city’ which is the story line of the show. The work songs were in Vietnamese and the story was acted out using a mix of acrobatic acts and contemporary dance. The high energy group of youth (probably 16 – 18 years old) made it very entertaining. It was a perfect way to end the day.

Tomorrow we head out with Mr Phu at 8:30 a.m. so it’s time to pack the essentials: padded underwear, monkey bum powder, pee style, pillow, cameras and a change of clothes. Monkey bum here we come!