My first brief visit to Hoi An Old Town ( 2007)

On 2007, when I and my mom were on trip to Hue, the ancient capital of Viet name. There was a problem with the check-in in our hotel. I did not know about those issues because on that trip I was with my mom’s team. I mean she was a teacher of a high school, so every year they did hold some trips for employees. Also at that time, I was still young.

As a result, we decided to visit Hoi An, which is an old town 100km south of Hue, it was just for one day, but I had a beautiful experience with this old town.

This is my first visit in Hoi An, which is about 10 year olds, in the last two years, I had come back to Hoi An then stayed there for 3 days, I would write about the second trip late. This first trip was very short,  I justed visited Japanese bridge and

I came to Hoi An when it was turning to afternoon, the street was up lights. It is the lanterns plentiful of all colors, sizes, designs are lit on the night 14 lunar month has created the ancient town of Hoi An unusual: brilliant, sparkling, fanciful, lively and very romantic as a mouth-shaking mouth of the Hoi An:

Hoi An is narrow but crowded

Purebred love affairs, colorful cotton leaves

Ancestors of Hoi An used to make lanterns called Duong Duong, which was then called the specialists to make lanterns for festivals or competitions. The New Year holidays, festivals, rich people Hoi An street people have new lanterns written in Chinese characters or paintings in the water hanging in front of the house. Hoi An lanterns are sold everywhere in Hoi An street. You can find them in different colors and sizes in Hoi An. Especially, at night, you will not be disapointed by the seemingly illusory color scheme of the beautiful lights glowing in the sparkling ancient night.

Firstly, Hoi An is famous for the Japanese Bridge Pagoda, so even though I was still late, I still tried to spend time in the place of being considered a soul, the symbol of Hoi An over four centuries ago. Located on a bridge across the creek in the ancient town of Hoi An. The bridge was built by Japanese merchants in the early 17th century, so people here call Japan. According to legend, the temple was seen as a sword plunged into the back of the monster mamazu, causing it not to tread the tail, causing the earthquake. In 1653, the temple was erected, connected to the northern railings, protruding between the bridge so that the local people called the bridge. It is the only architecture considered to be of Japanese origin. The two ends of the bridge have wooden statues stand, one is the dog statue, one is the monkey statue. Legend has it that the animals that the Japanese cult. It is also possible that the temple was built in the year of Than and completed in the year of the Dog.

Moreover, I travel not only to enjoy the scenery, but also to eat the region's specific dishes to feel the taste of life there. I turn into a street side restaurant, not too luxurious, but quite crowded but most are tourists. Calling a high floor, the food sounds very noble but can be enjoyed quite easily, I'm curious to find out. High floor is also called "noodles", noodles are only in the city area, dry noodles served with meat and fatty grease. Wheat noodles are soaked in soaked water, carefully filtered, ground into powder, mixed with several layers of cloth for plastic, dry, rolled to medium size, then chopped into strands, steamed several times and then dried to fiber. noodle upstairs In order to have standardized noodles, the ash water must be taken from the ash of firewood cooked in Cu Lao Cham (Tan Hiep commune) for soaking; Also, the grinding water must be taken from the Ba Le well in the ancient town of Hoi An - an ancient well of the Cham people dating back thousands of years and famous for fresh water, cool, not alum. with crispy fried crispy pork with vegetables and vegetables from the famous Tra Que vegetable village. Smoked meat with grass pork, meat firm, fragrant, thin skin just thin. When eating, high floor for the feeling of noodles, enough sour taste, spicy, bitter, harsh, sweet of vegetables and greasy shreds in the mouth meet new requirements ... These unique features of High floor has long become a typical cuisine of Hoi An ancient town, world cultural heritage in Quang Nam, and is the pride of Hoi An people.

As far as I know, Hoi An is home to the five large populations of the Chinese: Fujian, China, Chaozhou, Qiongou and Guangdong and correspondingly there are five associations. They are of relatively large size to be used as a community venue.

So I spent some of my meager time visiting the Cantonese Assembly Hall. The architecture of the hall usually follow the prototype that is: big front gate, next to a large yard decorated with ornamental plants, and two minor churches worshiping spirit and spirit, then the direction The place where the ceremonies are held, finished by the church, the largest of the whole. The assemblies are elaborately decorated, elaborate wood carvings are engraved, gilded lacquer painting, the roof adorn the enamelled glazed many colors. Nowadays, the assembly house has been modified, but the framework still retains many original elements. In addition to the function of maintaining community life, Assembly Hall also has another important function, which is the belief. Depending on the religious beliefs of each community, the congregation takes the basis of worship. In the five ancient societies of the United States in Hoi An, Fujian Assembly Hall is the largest and most well-known. Today Fujian Assembly Hall is located at 46 Tran Phu Street. In the beginning, this place was only a temple built by Vietnamese in 1697 to worship Buddha. Over time, the temple was damaged and the Vietnamese could not afford to repair it. The Fujian merchants bought the temple in 1759 and after many renovations, in 1792 changed to the Fujian Assembly Hall. The structure is Tam style, stretching from Tran Phu to Phan Chu Trinh, in the order: gate tam quan, yard, two blocks East West, main electricity, backyard and post. The main hall of the Assembly hall is decorated with the red pillars, hanging the wood to praise the Marian Mother Thien Mau. The statue of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is sitting meditation, in front of a large incense burner. On the sides of the incense, two statues of Thien Ly and Thuong Ai, two gods help Thien Hau help the Chinese merchant ships in distress.

Next I got into the main hall, going through the backyard to the post office. Here the middle section is dedicated to the six Fujian generals of Fujian, the left is the altar of three Sanh Thai princesses and 12 midwives, and the right is the church of the gods. In addition, the post office also worship those who have contributed to the construction of the church and Kim Son Pagoda. Every year, on March 23 of the lunar month, the feast of the Divine Mother Mara was organized by the Chinese with many activities such as lion dance, selling fireworks, fireworks, fortune ... attracted many Hoi An people and areas else come to attend.

So in a very short time, I discovered Hoi An vague in the lights, but they brought me more interesting experience. Leaving my foot and I wish to return to Hoi An again, maybe during the day, so that I have more time to meet and understand more about Hoi An people.

Then it was already dark, I got on my car and headed for Hue, the capital of Vietnam.

Although it was a short trip, I felt a lot of things, things that I have ever read, heard, feel about cultural exchange in Hoi An.

Seeing one day is not enough for me, I promise that oneday soon I will return to Hoi An, and spend more time to learn about this beautiful old town!