Souvik & I met in Hoi An over the weekend – with a major operation of exchanging his dirty laundry from last week for fresh starched shirts. With many of the schools closing for the summer, there was a deluge of local tourists in Hoi An, but we managed to find a great place to stay: Windbell Homestay Villa. A gem for the price of pebbles! Nice and spacious room, well done bathroom, even a small pool, and simple, but delicious breakfast. With bicycles to ride into town that was a couple of km away, we really had the best of both worlds.

What’s a visit to Hoi An without shopping? We did plenty of the usual – shoes, lanterns, even a few paintings. And great meals. Balanced by a nice countryside cycling tour with Heaven & Earth tours. Cycling in the sun to visit sites of boat making, ice factory, brick factory, mats & basket boats, all through the beautiful countryside, mixed with some boat adventures, and finally settling to have a hearty lunch under a mango tree…. the pace was leisurely, but the heat was not.

A fitting ‘nostalgia’ visit to my favourite place in Vietnam!