Far East Travels Video Podcast

The ancient Unesco World Heritage site of Hoi An, Vietnam is high on almost everyone's list of places to visit during their stay. So it goes that the place is crowded, actually over run with tourists, especially in the summer months! So how does one enjoy the quieter charms of this beautifully preserved town filled with wonderfully mixed architectural styles of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, British and French colonial? Wake up early like I did, on my recent visit. At 6am it's still possible to feel like you are truly in an ancient port town with merchant houses and quiet streets. The t-shirt stalls and tailor shops are boarded up so it's easy to imagine a different time with gorgeous facades and historic buildings that can be viewed with a ancient town book of tickets starting as early as 7am. The temples are some of my favorite sites to visit this early in the morning with usually only local people worshipping before their work day begins. It's also wonderfully pleasurable to just stroll up and down the streets, without the calls of "please come in and buy something from me". You can visit the morning market where you'll find the most activity in town, with usually only local people shopping, including restaurants and cafes buying their supplies of herbs, vegetables, fruit, meat and fish for the day. By 8:30 the tour groups start to arrive to begin their cooking school class and introduction to the vast array of fresh produce and other ingredients that go into some of the best dishes of Vietnam. Please join me for an early morning walk in the wonderfully atmospheric town of Hoi An, Vietnam-the latest Far East Adventure Travel Best of "Live" Podcast.