Christmas Lanterns

We're back from a wonderful Christmas trip to Viet Nam. As usual, hundreds of photos to sort through and inspiration to absorb before leaving in a few weeks on another three-week trip (Thailand and Laos).

We stayed in a great little hotel in a great little town called Hoi An. Hoi An is another World Heritage designated site and is really interesting. It used to be a major trading port hundreds of years ago and Chinese and Japanese traders used to go there, then get stuck  and have to stay for several months until the winds changed. Eventually they set up permanent residence to look out for their interests, so there is an interesting mix of old Chinese and Japanese influenced architecture, which fortunately has survived wars and tear downs and such.

As a heritage site now, it offers some protection as well as lots of tourist dollars because it is definitely a tourist down. It is so interesting to walk through the streets and alleys. Great food - not good food - GREAT food. As well as the town and its river to amuse, a fifteen minute bike ride away is the beach, so there's that great mix of beach stuff, bars and restaurants, shopping, culture vulture stuff and general walk-around wonderfulness.

In the oh so small world department, the first morning we were there, I was pouring my coffee at the breakfast terrace beside the pool when I was approached by a gal I went to school with at Royal Roads several years ago, staying at the same hotel. What a surprise and a delight! She is now living in Dubai and we hung out a bit with her and her traveling companion during our stay, including getting together for Christmas dinner under the stars by the river.

After Christmas dinner we all went for a stroll over the river bridge, on this warm, beautiful night under the stars. We turned the corner to this amazing sight:

Hoi An is known for its silk lanterns and here were thousands in these open air stall shops, all lit up in the night. We ran over to take pictures. Or so we thought. They were so beautiful we bought a few. Well, actually between the 5 of us we bought about 50. As usual had to buy another suitcase to cart it all home.