Biking and Beyond!!!

On Friday, we took a bike tour around Hoi An. We had two local guides who grew up in the area. One was from a farming family and the other family was fishermen. We started on the mainland, but quickly took a boat to an island made from the delta.

We biked through rice paddies (where you defiantly didn’t want to fall), small villages, open fields, and along the river. The tour should have been called “Hello Tour” because all the families would yell from inside, “Hello! Hello!” Some kids would even come to the gate at the edge of their property to see us bike by.

 

We ate at a local family’s house and learned about their culture. Traditional houses have three doors, the right one for women, the left for men, and the center is for their gods and ancestors. EVERY house has an altar. They place food for their ancestors around the altar, and when the insense burns out, the ancestors are done eating and the family can now finish the food. When someone dies, the family burns all of their belongings from iPhones to houses. Though, they don’t burn the actual material item but life-size items made out of paper. This is so the deceased can bring all their possessions into the next world. As you can see, the Vietnamese are VERY superstitious. For tet, they will also burn fake money outside of their shop because it supposedly brings prosperity for the next year. The deceased are buried under cylindrical mounds and it is very bad luck if you ever disrupt the grave. Hoi An is also the city of lanterns. These lanterns are supposed to bring the people longevity and happiness.

 

On Saturday we biked to the beach to have some fun in the sun! Tomorrow we fly to Siam Reap! Ta Ta Viet Nam!