Hoi An has not lost even one iota of its charm.
There have been many but few changes to this ancient World Heritage site over the past 10 years. I still found myself gasping at just how beautiful and appealing the architecture is in the old town. It also took me a day to realize that most traffic is banned during much of the daytime which is why I could wander so randomly along the picturesque streets. Not surprisingly the old market which haphazardly featured in town years ago has now been contained to a more specific market area and the shops touting all manner of custom tailored clothing have multiplied many times over.
After a couple of days I had started to draw comparisons of Hoi An and Yangshuo. Hoi An reminds me of a well groomed, tame pony whereas Yangshuo is a little more like an unwieldy beast likely to throw you off at any time.
Don’t get me wrong I love both these places. Maybe I have just had a little more time to peel off some of the layers of Yangshuo and would find the same thing in Hoi An if I spent more time there.
