Update 27

Hoi An-the ancient city and the major trading center of the beginning in the 15th century. Looking at the topography you can see why. Several rivers merge here only to split up & repeat that pattern several times all the way to the China Sea. It attracted both Chinese & Japanese merchants and were welcomed by the Vietnamese. The ornate covered Japanese Bridge is known as the Friendship Bridge for good reason. It is being renovated currently so that what we got to see. These three cultures also merged & the buildings reflect all 3…along with French who colonized it. We arrived in Hoi An at 5:30 a.m. & went right to our hotel. Our taxi driver phoned the hotel owner who quickly came to unlock the door & show us our room. I'm sure we woke him up but he warmly welcomed us & even invited us to breakfast. Rog took a shower & then headed for the breakfast buffet. I showered and headed for the bed. At 8, I was up & ready to go check out Hoi An. The old buildings are crammed with restaurants and clothing & souvenir shops. Streets were buzzing with motorcycles, bicycles, rickshaws, cars, busses & vendors…mixed in were gobs of tourist. Our first stop was the Museum of Folk Culture which was a good history lesson. We then checked out the 7th generation home of the beloved Tan Ky family. It was getting hot so we headed back to our hotel, ate a snack & hit the beach. We were surprised to see so many people there. Our hotel had bikes available so Rog decided take spin around the area. I opted to stay on the beach. Around 5, we walked to a nearby place for another delicious shrimp dinner. I think we're addicted. The Canadian couple, Jean & Colette Rouat that we'd met earlier happened to be there too so we visited some more. Their son volunteered to serve in Ukraine war. When he left there, he was so devasted by the deaths & misery…especially of kids that he decided to join the bomb detectors in Cambodia to hopefully spare some pain there. We'd visited the center that worked along side him. Jean & Colette were both proud & anxious for their son and had come to visit him. Before we parted, they gave us the name of the guide in Sapa they highly recommended. Sapa is pretty far north but we hope to get there. It had been a long day so bed by 9. Up for breakfast & both of us went on a bike ride before our 10 o'clock pick up that took us to a place where we got into one of those round basket boats. It felt like a Disney ride as we were on a slow moving tributary and surrounded by lots of other boats. Pictures bumper boats. Our paddler was fun as he sang to us, took multiple pictures of us & twirled us around. He had a great laugh. He gave us a little fishing pole & pulled us close to the reeds so Rog could catch a crab. Good time. We came back to our hotel to cool off & have more beach time. Headed back to town to catch a traditional dance & music performance and tour the Assembly Hall of the Fujian & check out the Confucius Temple. Both ancient & impressive. Found a good place for Rog to get Hoi An noodles & I got a delicious chicken stir fry. As soon as it got dark, the lantern show began. Boats with lighted lanterns & tourist filled the river. Many tourist bought small paper boats with a lighted candle in it and let them float down the river. All the bridges & business were covered with bright lights too. What an array of colors!! Then several drummers started up & 3 dragons danced into the crowd & then into a restaurant ( that evidently was reserved for several tour groups). We squeezed our way out of the mass & booked a Grab back to our hotel. We'll be off for Da Nang tomorrow.