Our final days in Hoi An were spent trying to avoid the ridiculous June heat. You know its hot when even the locals are complaining.
On Saturday afternoon we drove out to Cua Dai beach, 4km from central Hoi An. While its not the whitest sand or clearest water you’ll see in Asia, the beach at Hoi An was gorgeous. Its stretches as far as the eye can see, with palm trees and restaurants lining the sand, and thatched roof huts with sunbeds.
A storm was moving out to sea in the north so the temperature was actually pleasant. Being Saturday afternoon there were people everywhere swimming in the netted areas and playing soccer on the beach.
Of course, being Vietnam there are ladies everywhere with baskets full of snacks and souvenirs. We wandered down to the water to find a good sand castle building place with an old lady following us. She sat down for a chat and even introduced us to her grand daughter playing nearby, never missing an opportunity for a sale when it presented. When Colin mentioned he was going up for a beer she had the peanuts ready and waiting in case he wanted nuts with his beer.
The whole “I’m just resting after a long day and want to chat with you” approach is an interesting sales technique! But we had a nice conversation, met her gorgeous grandaughter, learned a lot about the area we didn’t know … and bought some nuts!
The kids had a lot of fun building sandcastles before it was time to head up to dinner. Fresh seafood, rice and pizzas were all on offer and we stuffed ourselves silly. We were really surprised that the restaurants lining the sand were all the same price for food as restaurants in the main town.
Hoi An town was certainly interesting but we were a little disappointed our tour hadn’t booked us a hotel near the beach for our entire trip. If you’re coming to Hoi An with kids I’d really recommend staying out closer to the beach. It was lovely.
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