Lantern Festival
We had a 2km walk to Hue train station to catch our train to Da Nang. Just as we were leaving we got a message from the bus company that runs the local bus from Da Nang to Hoi An saying that the local bus is not running. We had intended to use this to get straight out of Da Nang to Hoi An as tonight is their famous full moon lantern festival. A mild panic set in as we looked at other options. The cheapest one was 10 times the price! Eventually the panic subsided when we saw the masses of tourists at the train station. Someone would be going to Hoi An for sure so we could share a taxi.
The train was slightly late and it trundled out of the station. It passed small villages, open countryside, hills and beaches. The train travelled along the coast and we had pretty views of the sea.
In Da Nang we negotiated a taxi share with 2 German ladies about our age who were very friendly. We talked about different things from the past and they were great company.
In Da Nang we spotted the famous dragon bridge that breathes fire at the weekends and the huge theme park that contains the famous golden hands bridge.
We were dropped at our homestay where we said goodbye to our car companions. It seemed like we had the homestay all to ourselves so we were upgraded to a balcony room.
A short walk away food was available and we had to try it. It turned out to be school home time and the food was there to tempt the kids and their parents. We had peanut milk, a bahn me and a little saucer of rice powder, peanuts and pork!
Our journey continued towards the river where we stumbled on a beautiful brand new Buddhist temple. We looked inside, spoke to the monks and continued our walk. Eventually we arrived in the centre and it was now dark.
Every full moon in Hoi An a lantern festival is held. Lights are turned off, lanterns are lit and the city is transformed into a festival of lights. The river was full of boats lit up with lanterns taking people on trips. The river was also afloat with candle lanterns which people floated for good luck.
We walked around.the beautiful old city of Hoi An and listened to.soms.live music and also watched as people played a game, similar to bingo. It seemed to relate to words in a song, if you got 3 words on your board you won a lantern. We also watched some children doing a marshal arts display.
We bumped into a couple we had met in Thailand and also a couple we met earlier in Vietnam and caught upon what we had all been doing since we last met.
On our walk home we spotted a KFC and couldn't ignore the temptation to have a chocolate covered icecream cone!
